|Table of contents

A Message to Readers...... 6 CHAPTER 1 The summer of 1914...... 7 CHAPTER 2 A cruel surprise...... 8 CHAPTER 3 The of the Austro-Hungarian Navy...... 9 CHAPTER 4 The war begins ...... 19 CHAPTER 5 The first successes...... 25 CHAPTER 6 Help for the Turks...... 34 CHAPTER 7 The blockade of Montenegro ...... 37 CHAPTER 8 Italy enters the war ...... 40 CHAPTER 9 Who will be master of the Adriatic? ...... 48 CHAPTER 10 The Balkan offensive ...... 57 CHAPTER 11 The occupation of Durazzo...... 63 CHAPTER 12 operations of other warring states, and precautions taken by the Entente nations...... 68 CHAPTER 13 The unrestricted submarine war A precarious balance...... 82 CHAPTER 14 Defences increase ...... 97 CHAPTER 15 Construction of other submarines...... 105 CHAPTER 16 The Agony...... 109 CHAPTER 17 The secondary battlefields...... 115 CHAPTER 18 The end of the war and the break-up of the Dual Monarchy.129 Conclusion...... 134 APPENDICES...... 135 Submarine SCALE profiles...... 139 Bibliography...... 149 Ship’s index...... 150

Acknowledgements I would like to name everyone to whom I am grateful during the writing of this book. However, there are many of them and I would not like to forget anybody. Allow me to mention those whose share is the mostSAMPLE significant. My great thanks go to the technical editor of the ARES publishers and owner of the photo-archives Mare-Czech Mr Marek Přikryl for the additional photos, Mr Vladimír Francev for his remarks, and Mr Zdeněk Tollar for the compilation of tables. My thanks also go to Ing René Greger for his technical advice, to the management of the (Škoda Museum) and the (Západočeské muzeum v Plzni (the West Bohemia Museum in Plzeň) for their permission to use ar- chived historical materials. My thanks to all who provided me with their period photos; I do not mention the name of organisations or persons here, because they are added to description of each photo. Author

5 | A Message to Readers

Few people today living across parts of than a part of the nation’s history over which Central and Eastern Europe may realise that men fought and died. as recently as the beginning of the 20th cen- Unfortunately, this attitude has transferred tury their grandfathers’ generation could be to literary and scientific works, where little at- called on to serve at sea under the banners of tention has been given to the Austro-Hungarian the Austro-Hungarian Emperor. At that time, Navy, even if its development has been linked the boundaries of the Habsburg Empire also in- with the Czech industry. Its naval operation un- cluded a part of the Adriatic Sea coast stretch- doubtedly belong in Czech military history, due ing roughly from Trieste to Kotor. Besides nu- to presence of many Czechs and Slovaks. merous merchant fleets, the Monarchy had also However, thanks to the way the country’s quite a strong navy at its disposal. After the col- history has been approached, the story of the lapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, anti-war rebellion that occurred in the Bay of some of this coastal territory became part of Kotor in February 1918, emerged in the histo- Italy, and the rest became part of the newly- ry books. Without this story, the existence of formed Yugoslavia (until 1929 known as the the Austro-Hungarian Navy would be known State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs). only to a few experts and a close group of rel- The Czechoslovak Republic became one atives and descendants of the former sailors. of those successor states that were situated in- Fortunately the situation is slowly changing for land. Further revolutionary changes, including the better; perhaps this publication will contrib- the 2nd World War, then overlapped the older ute to greater knowledge of, and interest in, this events, and the sea became a symbol of pleasant period of history. holidays for the succeeding generations, rather

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6 Moored ships in harbour small ports Bar (Antivari) and Ulcinj (Dulcigno), guns would be able to sink anchored warships had to be quickly put into entered the war on the side of Serbia. Imposing below them or even appreciably hamper activity fighting condition at the a blockade on the Montenegro coast therefore in the important naval base. Nevertheless, it was beginning of the war. (Mare- became a priority for the Austrian Navy. A few essential that the threat be removed, especially Czech collection) old cruisers and some were suffi- when powerful Entente nations entered the war cient to blockade the two ports, because of the as the Montenegrin positions could report by proximity of the Bay of Kotor and the fact that radio all Austrian Navy movements in the bay Montenegro did not have a single warship or to the British and French navies with impunity. any coastal artillery. The only advantage for The Austrian Army did not have sufficient force Montenegro was the presence of Lovčen moun- to storm the inaccessible mountain base. tain, towering 1,749 metres above the bay from The Austro-Hungarian Navy’s primary op- The old cruiser Zenta was which the naval base could be observed and ponent became the much larger French fleet, sunk near the Montenegrin fired on. which was concentrated in the Mediterranean. coast on August 16, 1914. Montenegrin guns sounded on August 8 for The French fleet had the ability to control access (Author’s collection) the first time. It was highly unlikely that the to and from the Adriatic, break the Montenegro

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20 The Austrian submarines bore distinct stripes on their bows at the begin- ning of the war. The boat later known as U12, shown here, still has the temporary designation U7. (Ing Greger collection)

blockade and destroy the Austrian-Hungarian could not make up for the lack of regular patrol- Navy in a decisive battle. Austria however, had ling in adjacent waters. The only vessels which no intention of exposing its naval forces to fatal had nothing to fear from the French surface na- losses in a straight fight. As a result, the modern vy’s superiority were submarines. surface fleet remained in well-protected Pula where it could threaten the Entente nations as a ‘fleet in being’. The French therefore im- “Enemy in sight!” posed a blockade on the Strait of Otranto, and occasionally made forays up the middle of the When von Thierry had received the go- Adriatic Sea. The French fleet was keen to pro- ahead from the commander in chief to take voke Austria into an encounter on the open sea, possession of S.S.3, he sent a standby submarine while protecting the transport of necessary sup- crew under Seefähnrich (Midshipman) Lerch plies to Serbia and Montenegro. with the auxiliary tugboat Gigant to Fiume to The first French raid led to a confronta- prepare the boat for towing to Pula. Over the tion in which the old Austrian light cruiser succeeding weeks von Thierry sent numerous Zenta was sunk in an unequal fight near the proposals to Admiral Haus recommending the Montenegrin coast. However, this loss did not deployment of submarines to the Bay of Kotor. end the Austrian blockade but changed the Haus prevaricated on these submissions, and or- manner in which it was implemented. With dered the transfer of the Submarine Station to the existing balance of forces it was not pos- a small port on the island of Brioni in order to sible to prevent one or two steamers entering protect the entrance to Pula. Bar, when the transports were protected by the Although it was clear that this move would French fleet. The Austrian Navy concentrated increase the submarines’ operational abili- on hampering the supply of materials to the ties, Thierry’s direct superior Vice Admiral Montenegrin ports, keeping the trickle from be- von Chmelarz voiced strong opposition. Von coming a flood, to ensure that the needs of the Chmelarz had been irked by the submariners’ Balkan front could not be fully met. requests for special privileges and was unhap- Sea mines wereSAMPLE laid in front of Bar and a se- py with the way submarines had made attacks ries of surprise raids on the coast were staged. on his surface ships during training exercises. A favoured target for shelling was Montenegro’s Von Chmelarz’ biggest complaint, however, only powerful wireless telegraphy station. The was with von Thierry’s predecessor Heyssler rapidity with which the station was repaired af- who had commented unfavourably on von ter each attack demonstrated its importance to Chmelarz’ orders during fleet manoeuvres. Von both sides. Chmelarz had retaliated by ordering the subma- Such irregularly-taken action caused sig- rines to patrol in waters too shallow for them to nificant damage to Montenegrin resources, but submerge.

21 a pontoon crane for final assembly to take place. build six boats of this type under licence, which The experience recently gained with the sub- it was hoped could be completed by the middle marines destined for the eased the of the following year. process, and the entire reassembly was complet- However, Hungary demanded a share of the ed in less than three weeks. work for its own firms. This was problematic The first vessels acquired from the German as they lacked experience, did not have access Navy were numbered U10 and U11 (Austrian to materials that were as high-quality as those submarines were numbered in a continuous se- used by the Austrian yards, and tended to pro- quence without distinguishing between types) duce poorer results while taking longer than and entered service in June and July 1915. In Austrian yards. After a series of conflicts and September, these were followed by U15, U16 negotiations within the Austro-Hungarian gov- and U17, which were the boats ordered directly ernment, it was agreed that four craft would be by Austria in April. built by the Hungarian Ganz-Danubius Group These BI submarines were of the type and two by CNT. These would become the U29- known as the ‘Ocarina’, of which several had U32 and the U27 and U28 respectively. Later, been supplied to Turkey through Austria earlier as a sop to the Austrian industry, a further two in the war. The design had certain advantages. submarines were ordered from CNT in January Not least of these was their capability for be- and August 1916, which became the U40 and ing broken down into sections small enough to U41 respectively. transport by rail. They could also be construct- A widespread lack of materials hampered ed quickly with completion time around five the construction even more than the dispute be- months. tween the different elements of the Monarchy. In other respects, however, the BI was less The implementation of necessary improvements than perfect. Its maximum speed surfaced was also added to the construction time, so the first between 6.47 and 7.45 knots, which fell to be- of these submarines did not enter service un- tween 5.51 and 6.24 knots when submerged. til February 1917, while the last took a further The single Körting engine was relatively fuel- year. efficient, but its power output of 60hp limited By this time, the German Navy was more the submarines’ speed. The use of a single die- willing to sell BII submarines to Austria. This sel engine meant reliability was paramount. The benefitted the German forces as they wished to Contemporary drawing of failure of the engine would inevitably result in free up experienced submarine crews in older the coastal German BI-type the loss of the submarine, unless it was so close types to man newer designs of boat which were submarine. to port it could return on whatever charge re- becoming available. Therefore a further two mained in the batteries. BII submarines were purchased directly in July The new submarines were not popular with 1917. These submarines were in a shabby condi- the Austrian crews. They disliked the lack of per- tion, but the Austro-Hungarian exchequer was formance and worried about the consequences in a dire state and could afford nothing better. of the failure of the single engine. They also dis- Unlike the previous purchases, the second-hand liked the absence of internal watertight bulk- BIIs UB43 and UB47 retained their German heads, limited armament of only two torpedoes numbers, only losing the type designation to and a machine gun. The fact that the boats were become U43 and U47. so small also drew criticism as it compromised The BII represented a significant improve- handling in rough conditions and limited the ment over its predecessor. It had two engines, time the submarineSAMPLE could stay submerged. which gave a far greater degree of security, was When two of the older Austrian sub- double the displacement of the BI, and mount- marines were lost in August 1915 the small ed an effective 75mm deck cannon. A maxi- number of available boats once again made it- mum surface speed of 9 knots was sufficient to self felt. Austria turned to Germany again, ask- overhaul most merchant vessels, and a range ing for two boats of the improved BII type. The of 4,000 miles meant the ability to do serious German Navy could not spare any of these craft damage to trade into the Mediterranean as well however, but AG Weser agreed terms for the as in the Adriatic. Austrian Cantieri Navale Triestino (CNT) to

43 Assembly of the U10 at Pula. (Ing Greger collection)

Submarine U10 initially Shortly after the arrival of the German BII agreements with the American Holland firm. had a German crew and boats, the Austrian Navy took delivery of two The commander of the submarine station cut commander, who trained submarines ordered in the April 1915 con- the Gordian knot by simply seizing all plans Austrian crews in the use of tract. These were built along similar lines to and drawings from Whitehead’s Fiume yard on the new boats before they a design which had proved successful for the behalf of the Austrian Navy. The designs were eventually took command. Whitehead yard as an export model before the given to Ungarische Unterseebootbau AG - on (Západočeské muzeum v war - the Danish Havmanden type. Ironically, the face of it a new, entrepreneurial shipbuilding Plzni) Whitehead could not build boats to this design firm which had recently sprung up, being regis- for Austria because it was bound by licensing tered the same month the contract was issued.

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44 | CHAPTER 13 the unrestricted submarine war - a precarious balance

The Central Powers were at the peak of their Shortages in all kinds of goods were becom- fighting abilities in late 1916. Their armies were ing more prevalent. Therefore despite a rela- deep inside the territory of France, fighting on tively favourable situation on the battlefield, the Russian front was going well, as was the the Central Powers attempted to initiate peace war in the Balkans. Serbia was occupied and talks. Ceasing hostilities at this stage in the war Montenegro had surrendered. Romania, which would have allowed Austria, especially, to with- had entered the war on the Entente side in the draw with its honour intact, and in a strong hope of seizing Transylvania, had suffered a se- position with regard to territory. Even if the ries of defeats and large parts of the country had peace talks came to nothing, the fact that the had to be evacuated. Central Powers had made the first move would German attempts at a decisive offensive be seen positively in propaganda terms on the at Verdun, however, failed. The promising home front, in that further privations could be Austrian breakthrough in the Alps along the blamed squarely on the ‘warmongering’ ene- river Isonzo also ended in failure. Only with mies who did not want peace. great difficulty was an Italian counter-strike to- On December 12, the Central Powers sub- wards Trieste halted, as was the devastating on- mitted proposals for peace, and President slaught of Brusilov’s troops at the Russian front. Woodrow Wilson of the US was asked to medi- It was a similar story at sea, where none of ate. Wilson made considerable efforts, inviting the warring parties won a significant advantage both sides to submit their terms for settlement, in battle. The only clash of full battle fleets, be- and suggested the formation of an internation- tween the Imperial German High Seas Fleet and al organisation with the remit of maintaining the ’s Grand Fleet, ended with no a lasting peace. clear winner. More British ships were destroyed The Entente governments found themselves and men killed, but the German fleet fled the in a delicate position. They were aware of the battlefield and Britain’s strategic superiority re- growing difficulties of their adversaries. On the mained just as strong. The blockade, by land other hand, they knew that a quick victory was and sea, of the Central Powers was slowly stran- impossible, and their populations could not gling the allied nations, but had not delivered stand the scale of killing on the European bat- a knockout blow. The same could be said about tlefields indefinitely. SAMPLEthe German attempts to prevent supplies reach- The answer to Wilson’s call turned out quite ing Britain - harmful but not decisive. unexpectedly. The Central Powers were reluc- At the first glance it would seem there tant to fully reveal their conditions, but their was a deadlock. However, the Germans and opponents declared their objectives quite open- Austrians realised that the longer the war went ly on January 10, 1917. However, the extent on, more likely they were to succumb to the of Entente requirements took nearly everyone stronger and more populous Entente nations. aback. These were that all non-German and Austria-Hungary had exhausted its reserves, non-Hungarian people should be liberated from and Germany was also suffering financially. Habsburg rule, which in essence meant the

82 A representation of a German submarine of the type B III produced by Germania-Werft. The uncompleted boats being built under license by the Hungarian Danubius ship- 106 yard, U107 to U114, would have looked identical.SAMPLE | CHAPTER 18 The end of the war and the break-up of the Dual Monarchy

In the summer of 1918, there could be no and British armed forces before American troops doubt about the approaching triumph of the could arrive in significant numbers. Three con- Entente nations. The policy of unrestricted sub- secutive offensives resulted in significant terri- marine warfare failed to turn back the tide, al- torial gains, but the German front had extended though commercial shipping had at times seen its supply train to breaking point and worn out previously unimaginable losses. The German its men. Thousands of fresh American troops planners underestimated the resilience of the were arriving at the front line every day, erod- shipbuilding industries of the British, and in ing the chances of German success. The mas- particular the Americans, which were quickly sive Entente counter-offensive in the summer of able to adjust to a war footing. The relatively 1918 completely broke the exhausted German small numbers of submarines failed to inter- troops and rolled the Central Powers lines back rupt regular shipping, including well-protected steadily. transports from the United States to Europe The Austrians also decided to make two ma- The growing superiority of Austria- jor offensives on the Piave and in the Brenta re- Hungary’s adversaries slowly drove its subma- gion in mid-July 1918. They ran into a tough rines onto the defensive. Approximately 5,000 defensive line, but the real disaster was caused ships and 2,000 aircraft including airships were the sudden change of weather. The swollen riv- involved in anti-submarine operations by the ers brought down all the temporary bridges, war’s end. Tactics and ability were not yet at cutting off the front line from supplies. The a sufficient level to reliably tackle the subma- stranded men then had to retreat in extreme- rine threat, but sheer strength of numbers was ly precarious conditions with the loss of nearly helping to tip the balance. 200,000 soldiers. This grave blow undermined A decisive victory at sea did not take place. combat readiness throughout the Austria armed However, the Central Powers got an unexpected forces. The Italians did not rush to follow up chance on the continent. In March 1917, revo- the Austrian retreat, but waited while they built lution swept away the Russian Tzar. The sub- up their forces and hoped for the disintegra- sequent Bolshevik revolution plunged Russia tion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The ac- into civil war, and the new government could tive support of Austria’s allies ended suddenly, not meet the requirements of its alliance with when the capitulation of Bulgaria opened the the Entente nations.SAMPLE It was forced to negoti- way to the Balkan Peninsula. This suggested to ate for peace at almost any terms. The lengthy the Italians that Serbian forces might be first to Brest-Litovsk talks ended on March 3, 1918 in overrun Dalmatia and Trieste, and thus gain an a punishing peace treaty that also had the effect advantageous position in the anticipated post- of bringing an end to the isolated Romania’s war division of the conquered territories. A race resistance. was beginning. Dozens of freed-up German divisions head- On October 24, an offensive by the Italian ed to the Western Front, creating a temporary army began, reinforced by several divisions numerical superiority threatening the French of British and French troops, and also by

129 140

SAMPLEU4 (in 1918) - Germania type.

U5 - Holland type. 141 Ships index

11 (torpedo-boat) 110 Cressy (cruiser) 8, 53 13 (torpedo-boat) 24 Csepel ( ) 75, 76, 103 17OS (torpedo-boat) 56 Cugnot (submarine) 25, 26 51T (destroyer) 55 Curie (submarine), see also U14, 26, 27, 29, 50, 51, 73, 55T (torpedo-boat) 117 133, 135, 143 64F (torpedo-boat) 117 D 65F (torpedo-boat) 75 D4 (submarine) 73 66F (torpedo-boat) 71, 75 Dague (destroyer) 38 74T (torpedo-boat) 96, 124 Dante Alighiery (battleship) 126 76T (torpedo-boat) 124 HMS Dartmouth (cruiser) 103, 104 79T (torpedo-boat) 124 Dinara (destroyer) 96, 102, 126 80T (torpedo-boat) 114 Don Juan d’ Austria (hulk), 16 87F (torpedo-boat) 126 HMS Dublin (cruiser) 52, 137 89T (torpedo-boat) 118 Dubrovnik (steamer) 75 99M (torpedo-boat) 117 E 100M (torpedo-boat) 78, 96 E4 (submarine) 73 A Elektra (hospital ship) 75 Aboukir (cruiser) 53, 54 Erzherzog Karl (battleship) 113 Admiral Spaun (cruiser ) 101, 123 F Airone (torpedo-boat) 123, 138 F7 (submarine) 117, 118 Albanien (steamship) 75 F12 (submarine) 123, 138 Ampère (submarine) 75 Fiore Albania (sailing ship) 60 Ancona (steamer) 71, 102, 110 Foucault (submarine) 77 Archimède (submarine) 75 Fourche (destroyer) 65, 137 Atropo (submarine) 75 Fresnel (submarine) 73 B G B10 (submarine) 76 Gäa (depot ship) 23, 24, 28, 59, 61, 70, 71, 112, 125 Babenberg (battlesip) 111 Giuseppe Garibaldi (cruiser) 52, 53, 137 Balaton (destroyer) 74, 100, 102, 103 Giacinto Pullino (submarine) 76 Balilla (submarine) 75 Gigant (tugboat) 16, 17, 21 Baron Call (hospital ship) 126 Giorgio (cruiser) 127 Benedetto Brin (battleship) 56, 86 Gratz (steamer) 126 Bernouilli (submarine) 75, 76, 128 H Berthilde (armed merchantman) 88 H1 (submarine) 128 Bisson (destroyer) 56, 139 H3 (submarine) 75 Borea (destroyer) 103 H5 (submarine) 128 Bormida (steamer) 66, 138 Habsburg (battleship) 111 Bosforo (steamer) 93 Helgoland (light cruiser ) 62, 74, 101, 103, 114 Boutefeu (destroyer) 103 Hercules (auxiliary ship) 76 Bravo (auxiliary ship) 76 Herzegovina (steamer) 7, 126 SAMPLEBristol (cruiser) 103 Hogue (cruiser) 53 C HMS Hornet (destroyer ) 104 Casque (destroyer) 102 Huszár (destroyer ) 65, 75, 101, 128 Circé (submarine) 118, 126, 128, 137 I Cirkvenica (auxiliary ship) 76 Impetuoso (destroyer)65, 137 Citta di Catania (cruiser) 55 Insidioso (destroyer) 66 Citta di Messina (auxiliary cruiser) 65 Intrepido (destroyer) 61 Courbet (battleship) 29, 30, 31 Inverbervie (armed steamer) 67

150