SMS Szent István
Encyclopedia
SMS Szent István was a dreadnought
(SMS Viribus Unitis, SMS Tegetthoff, SMS Prinz Eugen and SMS Szent Istvan), the only one built in the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary
. The Ganz
& Company's Danubius yard in Hungarian-owned Fiume (Rijeka) was awarded the contract to build the battleship in return for the Hungarian government agreeing to the 1910 and 1911 naval budgets. She was named after Hungary's first Christian king, Saint Stephen . She, and her classmates, were regarded as very compact and powerful ships and were the first dreadnoughts in service with triple main-gun turrets.
Her completion was delayed by the start of World War I
, but she was commissioned in December 1915. She spent the bulk of the war at anchor in Pola
, leaving harbour generally only for gunnery training. Her final mission began on the evening of 9 June 1918 when she sailed to rendezvous with the other dreadnoughts for an attack on the Otranto Barrage
, scheduled for the following day. Two Italian motor torpedo boat
s discovered Szent István and her half-sister early in the morning of 10 June 1918 while returning after a night patrol off the Dalmatia
n coast. They penetrated past her escorts and torpedoed her twice abreast her boiler rooms. They flooded, which knocked out power to the pumps, and Szent István capsized less than three hours after being torpedoed. All but 89 of her crew were rescued. She is the only battleship whose sinking was filmed during World War I. (Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWO-AUI8HDE&feature=related )
Her wreck was discovered in the mid-1970s, upside down, off the Croatian island of Premuda
. She has been declared a protected site by the Croatian Ministry of Culture
and casual diving is forbidden.
mainly in her machinery. She only had two shafts and two turbines, unlike the four shaft arrangement of the other ships of her class. External differences included a platform built around the fore funnel which extended from the bridge to the after funnel and on which several searchlights were installed. A further distinguishing feature was the modified ventilator trunk in front of the mainmast. She was the only ship of her class not to be fitted with torpedo nets
.
of 28 metre, and a draught of 8.6 metre at deep load. She displaced 20008 tonnes (19,692 LT) at load and 21689 tonnes (21,346.4 LT) at deep load. The skeg
for each propeller shaft was a solid, blade-like fitting, unlike the strut-type skegs used in her half-sisters, that had such a high transversal resistance that the rudder could only be laid at a maximum angle of 10° at full speed to avoid a heavy list. The hull was built with a double bottom 1.22 metre deep with a reinforced inner bottom that consisted of two layers of 25 millimetre (0.984251968503937 in) plates.
Szent István had two AEG-Curtis steam turbine
s, each of which was housed in a separate engine-room. The turbines were powered by twelve Babcock & Wilcox
boilers in two boiler rooms. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 26000 shp, enough for her designed speed of 20 kn (24.4 mph; 39.2 km/h), but no figures from her trials are known to exist. She carried 1844.5 tonnes (1,815.4 LT) of coal, and an additional 267.2 tonnes (263 LT) of fuel oil
that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for 4200 nautical miles (7,778.4 km) at a speed of 10 kn (12.2 mph; 19.6 km/h).
Szent István mounted twelve 305 millimetres (12 in)/45-caliber
K 10 guns in four triple turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 centimetres (5.9 in)/50 K 10 guns mounted in casemate
s amidships. Twelve 66 millimetres (3 in)/50 K 10 guns were mounted on open pivot mounts on the upper deck, above the casemates. Three more 66-mm K 10 guns were mounted on the upper turrets for anti-aircraft
duties. Four 21 inches (53.3 cm) submerged torpedo tube
s were fitted, one each in the bow, stern and on each broadside
; twelve torpedoes were carried.
The waterline armour belt
of the Tegetthoff-class dreadnoughts measured 280 millimetres (11 in) thick between the midpoints of the fore and aft barbettes and thinned to 150 millimetres further towards the bow and stern, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. It was continued to the bow by a small patch of 110–130 mm (4.3–5.1 ) armour. The upper armour belt had a maximum thickness of 180 millimetres (7 in), but it thinned to 110 millimeters from the forward barbette all the way to the bow. The casemate armour was also 180 millimetres thick. The sides of the main gun turrets, barbettes and main conning tower were protected by 280 millimetres (11 in) of armour, except for the turret and conning tower roofs which were 60 to 150 mm (2.4 to 5.9 ) thick. The thickness of the decks ranged from 30 to 48 mm (1.2 to 1.9 ) in two layers. The underwater protection system consisted of the extension of the double bottom up to the lower edge of the waterline armour belt, with a thin 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) plate acting as the outermost bulkhead. It was backed by a torpedo bulkhead
that consisted of two layered 25-millimetre plates. The total thickness of this system was only 1.6 metre which made it incapable of containing a torpedo warhead detonation or mine
explosion without rupturing.
) as , commemorating the Hungarian national hero. Ganz & Company was awarded the contract to build the battleship in return for the Hungarian government agreeing to the 1910 and 1911 naval budgets. This involved great expense by the Hungarian government, as the yard had hitherto only built smaller merchant ships for, amongst others, Austrian Lloyd
, and therefore had to be itself refitted for the building of larger vessels. However she was renamed Szent István by order of the Emperor Franz Joseph
before she was launched on 17 January 1914. It was customary for either the Emperor
or his heir to be present at the launching of a major warship, but Franz Joseph was too feeble and his heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand
, refused to be there as a consequence of his anti-Hungarian attitudes. Franz Joseph sent a telegram of congratulations that negated the snub offered by his heir. During the launching itself there was an accident when the starboard anchor had to be dropped to prevent the ship from hitting a ship carrying spectators, but the anchor chain had not been shackled to the ship and it struck two dockworkers, killing one and crushing the arm of the other. Her fitting out was delayed by the start of the war, but she was finally commissioned on 13 December 1915.
Szent István was based at Pola (Pula) for the duration of her career. In fact she rarely left port except for gunnery practice in the nearby Fažana
Strait. She only spent 54 days at sea during her 937 days in service and made only a single, two-day, trip to Pag Island
. Only 5.7% of her life was spent at sea; for the rest of the time she swung at anchor in Pola Harbour. She was never even drydocked to get her bottom cleaned.
Her tenure in Pola was livened up by a visit from the new Emperor Karl I on 15 December 1916 and another by Kaiser Wilhelm on 12 December 1917 during his inspection of the German submarine base there. The Italians conducted no less than eighty air raids on Pola between 1915 and 1917 which undoubtedly kept the crews of her anti-aircraft gun busy.
By 1918, the Allies had strengthened their blockade on the Strait of Otranto. As a result, it was becoming more difficult for German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats to get through the strait and into the Mediterranean. In response to these new measures at blockading the straits, the new commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Konteradmiral Miklós Horthy
decided to launch an attack on the Allied defenders with battleships, scout cruisers, and destroyers. During the night of 8 June, Horthy left the naval base of Pola with Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen. At about 11:00 PM on 9 June 1918 Szent István and Tegetthoff, escorted by one destroyer
and six torpedo boat
s, departed Pola, after some troubles getting the harbour defense barrage opened. They were enroute to the harbour at Slano
, north of Dubrovnik
(Ragusa) to rendezvous with Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen, for a coordinated attack on the Otranto Barrage
. At about 3:15 AM on 10 June,There is some debate on what was the exact time when the attack took place. Sieche (see page 127 and 131) states that the time was 3:15 AM when the Szent István was hit while Sokol (see page 134) claims that the time was 3:30 AM. two Italian
MAS boats
, MAS 15 and MAS 21, spotted the smoke from the Austrian ships while returning from an uneventful patrol off the Dalmatian coast. The MAS platoon was commanded by capitano di corvetta
Luigi Rizzo
, who had sunk the Austro-Hungarian coastal defense ship in Trieste six months before. The individual boats were commanded by Capo timoniere Armando Gori and Guardiamarina di complemento
Giuseppe Aonzo
respectively. Both boats successfully penetrated the escort screen and split to engage each of the dreadnoughts. MAS 21 attacked Tegetthoff, but her torpedoes failed to hit the ship. MAS 15 fired her two torpedoes successfully at 3:25 AM at Szent István. Both boats evaded any pursuit although MAS 15 had to discourage the torpedo boat by dropping depth charge
s in her wake. Tegetthoff thought that the torpedoes were fired by submarine
s and pulled out of the formation and started to zigzag
to throw off any further attacks. She repeatedly fired on suspected submarine periscope
s until she rejoined her half-sister at 4:45.
Szent István was hit by two 45 centimetres (18 in) torpedoes abreast her boiler rooms. The aft boiler room quickly flooded and gave the ship a 10° list to starboard. Counterflooding of the portside trim cells and magazine
s reduced the list to 7°, but efforts to use collision mats to plug the holes failed. While this was going on the dreadnought steered for the nearby Bay of Brgulje
at low speed. However, water continued to leak into the forward boiler room and eventually doused all but the two boilers on the port side. This killed the power for the pumps and only left enough electricity to run the lights. The turrets were trained to port in a pointless effort to counter the list and their ready ammunition was thrown overboard. An attempt by Tegetthoff to take the crippled battleship into tow was also abandoned after it became clear that Szent István was doomed. Flooding continued, and Szent István capsized at 6:05 AM off Premuda
Island. Only 89 sailors died—41 from Hungary—the low death toll partly attributed to the fact that all sailors with the KuK
Navy had to learn to swim before entering active service.
Film footage exists of Szent Istváns last half-hour, taken by Linienschiffsleutnant
Meusburger of the Tegetthoff with his own camera as well as by an official film crew. The two films were later spliced together and exhibited in the United States
during the Great Depression
.
The wreck of the Szent István was located in the mid-1970s by the SFR Yugoslav Navy. She is upside down at a depth of 66 metres (217 ft). Her bow broke off when it hit the seabed while the stern was still afloat, but is immediately adjacent to the rest of the heavily encrusted hull. The two holes from the torpedo hits are visible in the side of the ship as is another deep hole which may be from a torpedo fired at Tegetthoff by MAS 21. She is a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and diving is forbidden without permission. In 2008, divers from Hungary placed a wreath on the Szent Istváns wreck during a ceremony that was attended by members of the Austrian and Croatian governments. All three countries were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
, commander of the proposed attack, cancelled the attack because he thought that the Italians had discovered his plan and ordered the ships to return to Pola.
In fact the Italians did not even discover that the Austrian dreadnoughts had departed Pola until later on 10 June when aerial reconnaissance photos revealed that they were no longer there. Capitano di fregata Luigi Rizzo was awarded his second Gold Medal of Military Valor
, his first was for sinking the pre-dreadnought battleship in 1917, and appointed a knight in the Order of the Crown of Italy
. After the war MAS 15 was installed in the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II as part of the Museo del Risorgimento in Rome
. The anniversary of the sinking has been celebrated by the Regia Marina
, and its successor, the Marina Militare
, as its Navy Day
.
Dreadnought
The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...
(SMS Viribus Unitis, SMS Tegetthoff, SMS Prinz Eugen and SMS Szent Istvan), the only one built in the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. The Ganz
Ganz
The Ganz electric works in Budapest is probably best known for the manufacture of tramcars, but was also a pioneer in the application of three-phase alternating current to electric railways. Ganz also made / makes: ships , bridge steel structures , high voltage equipment...
& Company's Danubius yard in Hungarian-owned Fiume (Rijeka) was awarded the contract to build the battleship in return for the Hungarian government agreeing to the 1910 and 1911 naval budgets. She was named after Hungary's first Christian king, Saint Stephen . She, and her classmates, were regarded as very compact and powerful ships and were the first dreadnoughts in service with triple main-gun turrets.
Her completion was delayed by the start of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, but she was commissioned in December 1915. She spent the bulk of the war at anchor in Pola
Pula
Pula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 .Like the rest of the region, it is known for its mild climate, smooth sea, and unspoiled nature. The city has a long tradition of winemaking, fishing,...
, leaving harbour generally only for gunnery training. Her final mission began on the evening of 9 June 1918 when she sailed to rendezvous with the other dreadnoughts for an attack on the Otranto Barrage
Otranto Barrage
The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Albanian side of the Adriatic Sea in World War I. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening Allied operations...
, scheduled for the following day. Two Italian motor torpedo boat
Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...
s discovered Szent István and her half-sister early in the morning of 10 June 1918 while returning after a night patrol off the Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
n coast. They penetrated past her escorts and torpedoed her twice abreast her boiler rooms. They flooded, which knocked out power to the pumps, and Szent István capsized less than three hours after being torpedoed. All but 89 of her crew were rescued. She is the only battleship whose sinking was filmed during World War I. (Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWO-AUI8HDE&feature=related )
Her wreck was discovered in the mid-1970s, upside down, off the Croatian island of Premuda
Premuda
Premuda is a little island in Croatia, off the northern Adriatic coast. It belongs to the north Dalmatian islands which are situated north-west from the county center Zadar. Premuda is approximately 10 km long, up to 1 km wide, and has an area of 9.2 square kilometers...
. She has been declared a protected site by the Croatian Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Culture (Croatia)
The Ministry of Culture is a ministry of the Croatian government, whose work is aimed at preserving the cultural and natural heritage and overseeing its development...
and casual diving is forbidden.
Design
Szent István differed from her half-sistersSister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...
mainly in her machinery. She only had two shafts and two turbines, unlike the four shaft arrangement of the other ships of her class. External differences included a platform built around the fore funnel which extended from the bridge to the after funnel and on which several searchlights were installed. A further distinguishing feature was the modified ventilator trunk in front of the mainmast. She was the only ship of her class not to be fitted with torpedo nets
Torpedo nets
Torpedo nets were a passive naval warship defensive device against torpedoes. Their use was common practice from the 1890s through World War II...
.
General characteristics
Szent István had an overall length of 152.18 metre, a beamBeam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 28 metre, and a draught of 8.6 metre at deep load. She displaced 20008 tonnes (19,692 LT) at load and 21689 tonnes (21,346.4 LT) at deep load. The skeg
Skeg
A skeg is a sternward extension of the keel of boats and ships which have a rudder mounted on the centre line. The term also applies to the lowest point on an outboard motor or the outdrive of an inboard/outboard...
for each propeller shaft was a solid, blade-like fitting, unlike the strut-type skegs used in her half-sisters, that had such a high transversal resistance that the rudder could only be laid at a maximum angle of 10° at full speed to avoid a heavy list. The hull was built with a double bottom 1.22 metre deep with a reinforced inner bottom that consisted of two layers of 25 millimetre (0.984251968503937 in) plates.
Szent István had two AEG-Curtis steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s, each of which was housed in a separate engine-room. The turbines were powered by twelve Babcock & Wilcox
Babcock and Wilcox
The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
boilers in two boiler rooms. The turbines were designed to produce a total of 26000 shp, enough for her designed speed of 20 kn (24.4 mph; 39.2 km/h), but no figures from her trials are known to exist. She carried 1844.5 tonnes (1,815.4 LT) of coal, and an additional 267.2 tonnes (263 LT) of fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
that was to be sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate. At full capacity, she could steam for 4200 nautical miles (7,778.4 km) at a speed of 10 kn (12.2 mph; 19.6 km/h).
Szent István mounted twelve 305 millimetres (12 in)/45-caliber
Caliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
K 10 guns in four triple turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 centimetres (5.9 in)/50 K 10 guns mounted in casemate
Casemate
A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
s amidships. Twelve 66 millimetres (3 in)/50 K 10 guns were mounted on open pivot mounts on the upper deck, above the casemates. Three more 66-mm K 10 guns were mounted on the upper turrets for anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
duties. Four 21 inches (53.3 cm) submerged torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s were fitted, one each in the bow, stern and on each broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
; twelve torpedoes were carried.
The waterline armour belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
of the Tegetthoff-class dreadnoughts measured 280 millimetres (11 in) thick between the midpoints of the fore and aft barbettes and thinned to 150 millimetres further towards the bow and stern, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. It was continued to the bow by a small patch of 110–130 mm (4.3–5.1 ) armour. The upper armour belt had a maximum thickness of 180 millimetres (7 in), but it thinned to 110 millimeters from the forward barbette all the way to the bow. The casemate armour was also 180 millimetres thick. The sides of the main gun turrets, barbettes and main conning tower were protected by 280 millimetres (11 in) of armour, except for the turret and conning tower roofs which were 60 to 150 mm (2.4 to 5.9 ) thick. The thickness of the decks ranged from 30 to 48 mm (1.2 to 1.9 ) in two layers. The underwater protection system consisted of the extension of the double bottom up to the lower edge of the waterline armour belt, with a thin 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) plate acting as the outermost bulkhead. It was backed by a torpedo bulkhead
Torpedo bulkhead
A torpedo bulkhead is a type of armor common on the more heavily armored warships, especially battleships and battlecruisers of the early 20th century. It is designed to keep the ship afloat even if the hull was struck underneath the belt armor by a shell or by a torpedo...
that consisted of two layered 25-millimetre plates. The total thickness of this system was only 1.6 metre which made it incapable of containing a torpedo warhead detonation or mine
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
explosion without rupturing.
Construction
Szent István was laid down on 29 January 1912 at Ganz & Company's Danubius yard at Fiume (Rijeka), (the only large Hungarian shipyard in CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
) as , commemorating the Hungarian national hero. Ganz & Company was awarded the contract to build the battleship in return for the Hungarian government agreeing to the 1910 and 1911 naval budgets. This involved great expense by the Hungarian government, as the yard had hitherto only built smaller merchant ships for, amongst others, Austrian Lloyd
Austrian Lloyd
Austrian Lloyd Ship Management is a shipping company based in Limassol, Cyprus with shipping emphasis on bulk carriers, car carriers, container ships, and reefers. It is the flagship company of the Österreichischer Lloyd Group founded in 1991 by Hans-Georg Wurmböck and Eberhard Koch...
, and therefore had to be itself refitted for the building of larger vessels. However she was renamed Szent István by order of the Emperor Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
before she was launched on 17 January 1914. It was customary for either the Emperor
Emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...
or his heir to be present at the launching of a major warship, but Franz Joseph was too feeble and his heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...
, refused to be there as a consequence of his anti-Hungarian attitudes. Franz Joseph sent a telegram of congratulations that negated the snub offered by his heir. During the launching itself there was an accident when the starboard anchor had to be dropped to prevent the ship from hitting a ship carrying spectators, but the anchor chain had not been shackled to the ship and it struck two dockworkers, killing one and crushing the arm of the other. Her fitting out was delayed by the start of the war, but she was finally commissioned on 13 December 1915.
Service
Fažana
Fažana is a village and a municipality in Istria, Croatia, a small port and fishermen's centre in the south-western part of the western Istrian coast in the Fažana Strait, 8 km northwest of Pula. It is located on a low part of the coast, well protected from the sea by Brijuni - Brioni Islands...
Strait. She only spent 54 days at sea during her 937 days in service and made only a single, two-day, trip to Pag Island
Pag (island)
Pag is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea. It is the fifth-largest island of the Croatian coast, and the one with the longest coastline....
. Only 5.7% of her life was spent at sea; for the rest of the time she swung at anchor in Pola Harbour. She was never even drydocked to get her bottom cleaned.
Her tenure in Pola was livened up by a visit from the new Emperor Karl I on 15 December 1916 and another by Kaiser Wilhelm on 12 December 1917 during his inspection of the German submarine base there. The Italians conducted no less than eighty air raids on Pola between 1915 and 1917 which undoubtedly kept the crews of her anti-aircraft gun busy.
Sinking
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
decided to launch an attack on the Allied defenders with battleships, scout cruisers, and destroyers. During the night of 8 June, Horthy left the naval base of Pola with Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen. At about 11:00 PM on 9 June 1918 Szent István and Tegetthoff, escorted by one destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
and six torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s, departed Pola, after some troubles getting the harbour defense barrage opened. They were enroute to the harbour at Slano
Slano
Slano is a village in southern Croatia and a small harbour in the bay of the same name. It is located 27 km northwest of Dubrovnik. Farming, olive-growing, viniculture, fruit-growing, tobacco, herbs , fishing and tourism are the villages chief occupations. Slano lies on the main road...
, north of Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
(Ragusa) to rendezvous with Viribus Unitis and Prinz Eugen, for a coordinated attack on the Otranto Barrage
Otranto Barrage
The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Albanian side of the Adriatic Sea in World War I. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from escaping into the Mediterranean and threatening Allied operations...
. At about 3:15 AM on 10 June,There is some debate on what was the exact time when the attack took place. Sieche (see page 127 and 131) states that the time was 3:15 AM when the Szent István was hit while Sokol (see page 134) claims that the time was 3:30 AM. two Italian
Regia Marina
The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...
MAS boats
MAS (boat)
Motoscafo Armato Silurante , commonly abbreviated as MAS was a class of fast torpedo armed vessel used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II...
, MAS 15 and MAS 21, spotted the smoke from the Austrian ships while returning from an uneventful patrol off the Dalmatian coast. The MAS platoon was commanded by capitano di corvetta
Corvette Captain
Corvette captain is a rank in many navies which theoretically corresponds to command of a corvette . The equivalent rank in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and USA is lieutenant commander...
Luigi Rizzo
Luigi Rizzo
Luigi Rizzo, Conte di Grado e di Premuda was an Italian naval officer. He is famous for sinking the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István in June 1918.-Biography:...
, who had sunk the Austro-Hungarian coastal defense ship in Trieste six months before. The individual boats were commanded by Capo timoniere Armando Gori and Guardiamarina di complemento
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
Giuseppe Aonzo
Giuseppe Aonzo
Giuseppe Aonzo was an Italian sailor famous for his involvement in the Battle of Premuda.- Life and career :Born in Savona he become a sailor as a teenager, in 1907 he was drafted into the Italian Navy , after two years he was discharged from service and he started his career as sea captain...
respectively. Both boats successfully penetrated the escort screen and split to engage each of the dreadnoughts. MAS 21 attacked Tegetthoff, but her torpedoes failed to hit the ship. MAS 15 fired her two torpedoes successfully at 3:25 AM at Szent István. Both boats evaded any pursuit although MAS 15 had to discourage the torpedo boat by dropping depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
s in her wake. Tegetthoff thought that the torpedoes were fired by submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s and pulled out of the formation and started to zigzag
Zigzag
A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular....
to throw off any further attacks. She repeatedly fired on suspected submarine periscope
Periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....
s until she rejoined her half-sister at 4:45.
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
s reduced the list to 7°, but efforts to use collision mats to plug the holes failed. While this was going on the dreadnought steered for the nearby Bay of Brgulje
Molat (island)
Molat is an island in Croatian part of Adriatic Sea. It is situated near Zadar, southeast from Ist, separated by Zapuntel strait. It has area of 22.82 km²....
at low speed. However, water continued to leak into the forward boiler room and eventually doused all but the two boilers on the port side. This killed the power for the pumps and only left enough electricity to run the lights. The turrets were trained to port in a pointless effort to counter the list and their ready ammunition was thrown overboard. An attempt by Tegetthoff to take the crippled battleship into tow was also abandoned after it became clear that Szent István was doomed. Flooding continued, and Szent István capsized at 6:05 AM off Premuda
Premuda
Premuda is a little island in Croatia, off the northern Adriatic coast. It belongs to the north Dalmatian islands which are situated north-west from the county center Zadar. Premuda is approximately 10 km long, up to 1 km wide, and has an area of 9.2 square kilometers...
Island. Only 89 sailors died—41 from Hungary—the low death toll partly attributed to the fact that all sailors with the KuK
Austro-Hungarian Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Its official name in German was Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine , abbreviated as k.u.k. Kriegsmarine....
Navy had to learn to swim before entering active service.
Film footage exists of Szent Istváns last half-hour, taken by Linienschiffsleutnant
Captain Lieutenant
Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of different navies worldwide.It is generally equivalent to the Commonwealth or US rank of lieutenant, and has the NATO rank code of OF-2, though this can vary....
Meusburger of the Tegetthoff with his own camera as well as by an official film crew. The two films were later spliced together and exhibited in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
The wreck of the Szent István was located in the mid-1970s by the SFR Yugoslav Navy. She is upside down at a depth of 66 metres (217 ft). Her bow broke off when it hit the seabed while the stern was still afloat, but is immediately adjacent to the rest of the heavily encrusted hull. The two holes from the torpedo hits are visible in the side of the ship as is another deep hole which may be from a torpedo fired at Tegetthoff by MAS 21. She is a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and diving is forbidden without permission. In 2008, divers from Hungary placed a wreath on the Szent Istváns wreck during a ceremony that was attended by members of the Austrian and Croatian governments. All three countries were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Consequences
Konteradmiral Miklós HorthyMiklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
, commander of the proposed attack, cancelled the attack because he thought that the Italians had discovered his plan and ordered the ships to return to Pola.
In fact the Italians did not even discover that the Austrian dreadnoughts had departed Pola until later on 10 June when aerial reconnaissance photos revealed that they were no longer there. Capitano di fregata Luigi Rizzo was awarded his second Gold Medal of Military Valor
Gold Medal of Military Valor
The Gold Medal of Military Valor is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia "....per bassi ufficiali e soldati che avevano fatto azioni di segnalato valore in guerra" .The face of the medal displayed the profile of the king, and on its reverse was a flag...
, his first was for sinking the pre-dreadnought battleship in 1917, and appointed a knight in the Order of the Crown of Italy
Order of the Crown of Italy
The Order of the Crown of Italy was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861...
. After the war MAS 15 was installed in the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II as part of the Museo del Risorgimento in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The anniversary of the sinking has been celebrated by the Regia Marina
Regia Marina
The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...
, and its successor, the Marina Militare
Marina Militare
The Italian Navy is the navy of the Italian Republic. It is one of the four branches of military forces of Italy; formed in 1946, from what remained of the Regia Marina . As of 2008, the Italian Navy had 35,200 active personnel with 180 commissioned ships, 19 Floating Docks, and 123 aircraft...
, as its Navy Day
Navy Day
Several nations observe or have observed a Navy Day to recognize their navy. The term is also used in Britain to mean an open day at a dockyard such as HMNB Portsmouth, when the public can visit military ships and see air displays, roughly along the lines of an American Fleet Week .- Argentina...
.