IV. MEđuNARODNA KONFERENCIJA O INDUSTRIJSKOJ BAštINI 127 THE TWO BATTLESHIPS THAT WERE NEVER BUILT IN RIJEKA – THE “IMPROVED TEGETTHOFF-CLASS” AND THE GANZ-DANUBIUS Dva bojna broda koja nikad nisu izgrađena u Rijeci – “poboljšana klasa Tegetthoff (Ersatz Monarch)” i Ganz-Danubius Mihály Krámli, PhD Budapest, Hungary
[email protected] Summary In February and March 1911 the Hungarian and Austrian delegations voted for the extraordinary credit of 312 million Crowns allowing the construction of the four dreadnoughts of the Tegetthoff-class. In December of the same year the Navy begun the planning works on the following dreadnought-class. According to the international trends, the future ships had to be bigger, better protected and with a heavier main armament, which meant a greater calibre. The Naval Technical Committee (NTC) made a series of predesigns of 23 000-25 000 ton ships, with 8-10 pieces of 34,5 cm or 35,5 cm guns between December 1911 – March 1912. The Navy preferred the heavier, 35,5 cm calibre. The NTC in May 1912 made a new series of 25 200 ton designs. On 7. July 1912 the Navy requested the Ganz-Danubius shipyard in Rijeka, to make an own 24 500 ton battleship design. The tonnage limit was caused by the need to fit the ship into the greatest floating dock of the Navy (Dock No. 22). In early 1913 the Ganz-Danubius presented its own design. On the basis of the 7. July specifications the NTC presented its own 24 500 ton design, which later become the basis of the final design.