العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
EspañolAUSTRO-HUNGARIAN NAVY
The 'Austro-Hungarian Navy' was the naval force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The official name in German was the ''Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine'' (Imperial and Royal Navy, also known by the acronym ''K.u.K.'').
This navy existed from establishment of the Dual Monarchy in 1867 until the end of World War I. Prior to 1867, Austria's naval forces were those of the Austrian Empire. By 1915 a total of 33,735 naval personel were in the K.u.K.
History
Area where the K.u.K served.
Peacetime
During peace time Austrian ships visited the Asia, North America, South America and the Pacific Ocean. During Ferdinand Maximilian’s ill-fated spell on the Mexican throne, Austro-Hungarian warships supported him.
Polar Expedition
Main articles: Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition
Austro-Hungarian ships were also involved in Arctic exploration, discovering Franz Josef Land.
The naval schooner ''Tegetthoff'' left Tromsø in July 1872. At the end of August she got locked in pack-ice north of Novaya Zemlya and drifted to hitherto unknown polar regions. It was on this drift when the explorers discovered an archipelago which they named after Emperor Franz Joseph I.
In May 1874 Payer decided to abandon the ice-locked ship and try to return by sledges and boats. On 14 August 1874 the expedition reached the open sea and on 3 September finally set foot on Russian mainland.
Crete Rebellion
Main articles: Greco-Turkish War (1897)
In late 1896 a rebellion broke out on Crete, and on January 21, 1897 a Greek army landed in Crete to liberate the island from the Ottoman Empire and unite it with Greece. The European powers, including Austria-Hungary, intervened, and proclaimed Crete an international protectorate. Warships of the K.u.K patroled the waters off Crete in blockade of Ottoman naval forces. Crete remained in an anomalous position until finally ceded to Greece in 1913.
The Boxer Rebellion
Main articles: Boxer Rebellion
Austria-Hungary was part of the Eight-Nation Alliance during the Boxer Rebellionin China (1899 - 1901). As a member of the Allied nations, Austria sent two training ships and the cruisers ''Kaiserin und Konigen Maria Theresia'', ''Kaiserin Elisabeth'', ''Aspern'', and ''Zenta'' and a company of marines to the North China coast in April 1900, with their base at Port Arthur.
In June they helped hold the Tianjin railway against Boxer forces. They also fired apon several junks on the Hai River near Tong-Tcheou. They also took part in the seizure of the Taku Forts commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and the boarding and capture of four Chinese destroyers by Capt. Roger Keyes in HMS Fame. In all K.u.K forces suffered only several casualties during the rebellion.
After the uprising a cruiser was maintained permanently on the China station and a detachment of marines was deployed at the embassy in Peking.
Lieutenant Georg Ritter von Trapp, later know for the musical ''The Sound of Music'', would be decorated for bravery aboard the ''Kaiserin und Konigen Maria Theresia'' during the Rebellion.
Montenegro
Main articles: First Balkan War
During the First Balkan War Austria-Hungary joined Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy in blockading the seaport town of Bar in the Kingdom of Montenegro.
World War I
Main articles: The Adriatic Campaign of World War I
The Austro-Hungarian navy saw little action during the First World War, spending most of its time in its base at Pula, Croatia, but the mere fact of its existence tied up the Italian Navy and the French Navy in the Mediterranean for the duration of the war.
On 15 May 1915, when Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian navy left their harbors in Pula, Šibenik and Kotor to bombard the eastern Italian coast between Venice and Barletta. Main targets were the cities of Ancona, Rimini, Vieste, Manfredonia, Barletta and bridges and railway tracks along the coast.
The Battle at Durazzo
Main articles: Battle off Durazzo
In December 1915 a K.u.K cruiser squadron attempted to make a raid on the Serbian troops evacuating Albania. After sinking a French submarine and bombarding the town of Durazzo the squadron runs into a minefield, sinking one destroyer and damaging another. The next day the squadron ran into a squadron of British, French, and Italian cruisers and destroyers. The resulting battle left two Austrian destroyers sunk and light damage to another, while dealing only minor damage to the Allied warships.
Battle of the Otranto Straits
SMS ''Novara'' after the Battle of Otranto Straits.
As the Allies controlled the Strait of Otranto the Austro-Hungarian navy could not leave the Adriatic sea. This, together with a lack of coal, and a fear of mines in the Adriatic, limited the Austro-Hungarian navy to be used for shelling the Italian and Serbian coastlines.
Two attempts of breaking through the blockade were made. The first of these led to the biggest battle of the Austro-Hungarian navy ever, the 'Battle of the Otranto Straits'. During this battle, in May of 1917, the allies lost two destroyers, 14 steamships and one glider while the Austro-Hungarian navy suffered only minor damage and few losses. The Austro-Hungarian navy had to return to its ports up north in order to repair and resupply the allies rebuilt the blockade.
The Mutiny of 1918
Main articles: Gulf of Kotor Mutiny
In February 1918 a mutiny started at the Gulf of Kotor naval base. Sailors on about 40 ships had joined the mutiny over demands for better treatment and a call to end the war.
The mutiny failed to spread beyond the Fifth Fleet, stationed at Kotor, and within three days a loyal naval squadron had arrived. Together with coastal artillery the squadron fired several shells into the rebel ships, and then assaulted them with Royal Austrian Marines in a short and successful skirmish. About 800 sailors were imprisoned, dozens were court-martialed and four seamen were executed (including the leader of the uprising, Czech social democrat František Raš).
Late WWI
A second attempt to force the blockade took place in June 1918. A surprise attack was planned but the allied forces spotted and destroyed one of the four Austrian Dreadnoughts, the SMS ''Szent István''. This loss together with the lost element of surprise made the Austro-Hungarian navy break off its attack.
In 1918, in order to avoid giving the fleet to the victors, the Austrian Emperor gave the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy and merchant fleet, with all harbours, arsenals and shore fortifications to the People's Council of the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. They in turn sent diplomatic notes to the governments of France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States and Russia, to notify them that the State of SCS was not at war with any of them and that the Council had taken over the entire Austro-Hungarian fleet. However, the navy was soon attacked and dismembered by the Italian Regia Marina.
European naval arms race
Among the many factors giving rise to World War I was the naval arms race between Great Britain and Imperial Germany. However, that was not the only European naval arms race. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy were in a race of their own for domination of the Adriatic Sea.
Naval problems
Except for the period before the Battle of Lissa the army-controlled Austrian War Ministry oversaw naval expenditures. Not surprisingly, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was a bit of an afterthought. The navy’s problems were further exacerbated by the eleven different ethnic groups comprising the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Officers had to speak at least four of the languages found in the Empire. Germans and Czechs generally were in signals and engine room duties, Hungarians became gunners while Croats and Italians were seamen or stokers. The Dual Monarchy of the Empire, in which the Emperor of Austria was also the King of Hungary, was reflected in the navy’s title, the Imperial and Royal Austrian Navy. K. u K. (Kaiser und Koenig). With this background, the Empire’s warship designs were generally smaller and less capable than those of other European powers.
The Dreadnought Era
Great Britain had already taken the lead. The battleship ''HMS Dreadnought'' had been completed in 1906. Battlecruisers ''HMS Indomitable'', ''HMS Inflexible'', ''HMS Invincible'', and battleships ''HMS Bellerophon'', ''HMS Temeraire'' and ''HMS St Vincent'' had already been launched; and the battleships ''HMS Superb'' and ''HMS Collingwood'' were on the ways.
Austria’s naval designers were certainly aware of the inevitable dominance of all big gun dreadnought type designs. But Austria lacked the necessary naval infrastructure to build such a ship, another result of the Imperial Navy’s political weakness. Alone, among the European States, only Imperial Germany had the foresight to enhance her naval infrastructure, such as building new dry docks and enlarging the Kiel Canal. Even the Royal Navy, with its great political clout, suffered from a lack of foresight. British warship designers labored under width, length and tonnage constraints imposed by size limitations of existing facilities.
Austrian Naval Air Arm
Albatross D.III of the ''K.u.K. Seefliegerkorps''.
In August 1916, the Royal Naval Air Corps or ''K.u.K. Seeflugwesen'' was established. This was later renamed ''K.u.K. Seefliegerkorps'' in 1917. The K.u.K. served at the following airfields in Albania and southern Dalmatia: Berat, Kavaja, Tirana, Scutari and Igalo. They also had airfields at Podgorica in Montenegro.
★ 'Flik 1' - Igalo from June - November 1918
★ 'Flik 6' - Igalo from November 1915 - January 1916
★
★ - Scutari from January 1916 - June 1917
★
★ - Tirana from July 1917 - June 1918
★
★ - Banja from June - July 1918
★
★ - Tirana from July - September 1918
★
★ - Podgorica from September - November 1918
★ 'Flik 13' - Berat from August - September 1918
★
★ - Kavaja from September - October 1918
The following K.u.K squadrons served at Feltre also:
★ 'Flik 11' - from February 1918
★ 'Flik 14' - from June 1918 to November 1918
★ 'Flik 16' - from November 1917 - October 1918
★ 'Flik 31' - from June - July 1918
★ 'Flik 36' - from June - July 1918
★ 'Flik 39' - from January - May 1918
★ 'Flik 45' - during April 1918
★ 'Flik 56' - during December 1917
★ 'Flik 60J' - from March - September 1918
★ 'Flik 66' - from January 1918 - November 1918
★ 'Flik 101' - during May 1918
Feltre was captured by Austrian forces on 12 November 1917. There were two other K.u.K airfields nearby, at Arsie and Fonzaso. It was the main naval airstaion for the K.u.K. The K.u.K. Seeflugwesen used mostly modified German planes, but produced several variations of it's own. Notable planes for the service were the following:
★ Fokker A.III
★ Fokker E.III
★ Hansa-Brandenburg B.I
★ Hansa-Brandenburg D.I
★ Aviatik D.I
★ Albatros D.III
★ Phönix D.I
★ Fokker D.VII
Famous personnel
Dreadnought SMS 'Tegetthoff', named after Adm. von Tegetthoff
★ Wilhelm von Tegetthoff - admiral of the mid-19th century
★ Miklós Horthy - World War I admiral; Regent of Hungary during World War II
★ Georg Ritter von Trapp - World War I submarine officer; head of the Von Trapp Family Singers made famous in the musical ''The Sound of Music''
Commanders-in-Chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy
★ Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, VAdm.(Mar 1868-Apr 1871)
★ Friedrich von Pöck, Adm.(Apr 1871-Nov 1883)
★ Maximilian Daublebsky von Sterneck, Adm.(Nov 1883-Dec 1897)
★ Hermann von Spaun, Adm.(Dec 1897-Oct 1904)
★ Rudolf Montecuccoli, Adm.(Oct 1904-Feb 1913)
★ Anton Haus, Adm./GAdm.(Feb 1913-Feb 1917)
★ Maximilian Njegovan, Adm.(Apr 1917-Feb 1918)
Commanders-in-Chief of the Fleet (1914-1918) (''Flottenkommandant'')
Scale drawing of a ''Radetzky Class'' semi-dreadnought.
★ Anton Haus, Adm./GAdm(Jul 1914-Feb 1917)
★ Maximilian Njegovan, Adm.(Feb 1917-Feb 1918)
★ Miklós Horthy, KAdm./VAdm.(Feb 1918-Nov 1918)
Chiefs of the Naval Section (''Chef der Marienesektion'')
★ Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, VAdm.(Mar 1868-Apr 1871)
★ Friedrich von Pöck, Adm.(Oct 1872-Nov 1883)
★ Maximilian Daublebsky von Sterneck, Adm.(Nov 1883-Dec 1897)
★ Hermann von Spaun, Adm.(Dec 1897-Oct 1904)
★ Rudolf Montecuccoli, Adm.(Oct 1904-Feb 1913)
★ Anton Haus, Adm./GAdm.(Feb 1913-Feb 1917)
★ Karl Kailer von Kaltenfels, VAdm.(Feb 1917-Apr 1917)
★ Maximilian Njegovan, Adm.(Apr 1917-Feb 1918)
★ Franz von Hulob, VAdm.(Feb 1918-Nov 1918)
See also
★ List of ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy
★ List of Austrian U-boats
★ The Adriatic Campaign of World War I
★ Mediterranean naval engagements during World War I
★ Gulf of Kotor Mutiny
External links
★ The Genesis of the Austrian Navy - A Chronology
★ K.u.K. Kriegsmarine - Austro-Hungarian Navy officer rank insignia
★ Austro-Hungarian Navy in World War 1, 1914-18 including ship losses
★ Austro-Hungarian Navy Deployment, 1914
★ Austro-Hungarian Danube Flotilla 1914
★ The Austro-Hungarian Submarine Force
★ Viribus Unitis
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
