Coastal defense battleship "Admiral General Apraksin". Coastal defense battleship Norwegian coastal defense battleships

Zvonimir Frifogel
Nikolay Mityukov

(Since the photographs in the original article were of poor quality, they were replaced by others. - Hereinafter notes in gray D. Adamenko)

In the summer of 1917, the Austrian command decided to transfer the battleships "" and "" to Trieste to support the coastal flank of its troops. And therefore, when the battle of Caporetto began, the heavy guns of the Austrian ships played a decisive role in it. But the frontline battleships proved tempting targets for the young and ambitious Italian officers serving on the torpedo boat flotillas. On the night of December 9-10, destroyers 9 PN And 11 PN two boats were towed out of Venice MAS 9 And MAS 13 and at a distance of 10 miles from Trieste they were released on an independent voyage. Under the cover of darkness and fog, the boats were able to penetrate the bay’s protective fences under their own power and enter the inner roadstead. Both Austrian targets were located here in Muchia Bay. Commander MAS 9 Lieutenant Commander Luigi Rizzo chose the nearest target, instructing his subordinate Lieutenant Andrea Ferrarini to MAS 13 attack a more distant one. The engines roared and the boats rushed to attack. At 2:30 a.m., two explosions alerted the Italian sailors that the torpedoes MAS 9 reached their goal. After some time, two more explosions followed, but the Italians, who were leaving at full speed, no longer saw their results.

For the Austrians, the attack came as a complete surprise, but to their credit, they quickly got their bearings. When the battleship "" was hit by a torpedo, they even tried to level the rapidly increasing list with counter-flooding. But everything turned out to be in vain - the old ship was simply not equipped for such manipulations, and therefore within five minutes after the explosions it capsized and went under water. His colleague was luckier - Italian torpedoes exploded at the jetty of the seaplane base and therefore did not cause him the slightest harm.

That night the Austrian fleet lost 32 sailors killed and 17 wounded. Despite the highly problematic value of the "drowned", the Austrian services immediately began rescue efforts, quickly establishing that, although there were two explosions, the ship was destroyed by a single torpedo. The lack of anti-torpedo protection simply left him no chance of salvation...

Victory over the Italian fleet at Lisse ( in 1866) showed that things were not as bad for the Austrian fleet as skeptics thought. Since the Austrian Empire only reached the coast of the relatively calm and small Adriatic Sea, the only type of attack ship of the empire was the coastal defense battleship. Therefore, comparing Austrian battleships with ships of this class from Italy, it seemed that the former had no chance. But Admiral Tegetthof proved the opposite. Thus, a forced measure, which also made it possible to save money on an already small budget, turned out to be elevated to an absolute. And the ideas of the French “young school” that soon appeared provided a necessary theoretical basis. Indeed, nothing is as permanent as something temporary!

In the 1880s, Austrian adherents of the “young school” ( direction in naval theory at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. It assumed a refusal to achieve superiority in battleships and relied on small ships armed with torpedoes, as well as on cruisers, destroying the enemy’s maritime trade and thereby undermining its economic potential ) and the Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, Admiral Maximilian Sterneck von Ehrenstein, found what seemed like the right “solution” to reconcile limited budgetary opportunities with strengthening their fleet to such an extent that it would meet global challenges. It was seen in the “Elswick” type of cruiser, the starting point of which was the Chilean “Esmeralda”, built by George Rendel at the Armstrong shipyard. The cruiser was protected only by an armored deck and carried two large-caliber and six medium guns. Austro-Hungarian “new trends” were expressed in two similar cruisers of the “” type ( both ships of this type were built after the three ships of the Monarch class and took into account the operating experience of the latter ). By the way, the sailors who directly had to sail on this product of compromise directly nicknamed the armored cruisers “Sterneck tin cans.”

The paradox of this situation was that Sterneck himself developed an entire doctrine of coastal defense on the high seas. In his opinion, to ensure reliable coastal defense it is necessary to “just” prevent the enemy from approaching them. The possibility of creating an effective defense based on flotillas of numerous small and cheap destroyers, and indeed the idea of ​​the “young school”, was liked by the government, but as a professional in his field and the hero of Lissa Sternek, he understood that only battleships, which are parliamentarians, can give stability to light forces stubbornly refused to finance. Fortunately, on this issue he found complete understanding with the second man in the fleet, Vice Admiral Maximilian von Pittner, thanks to whose persistence the Austrian fleet was replenished with a new generation of battleships.

Finally, after the fiery speech of the commander-in-chief at a meeting of the Reichstag ( Parliament of the Austrian Empire ), in which, among other things, he pointed to the growing strength of the Italian fleet, a potential enemy of the Austrians, parliamentarians voted for two new battleships. So, after an eight-year break after Tegetthof ( casemate battleship built in 1878, which was renamed "Mars" in 1912 after the launch of the "Tegetthof" class dreadnought "), the Austrians had the opportunity to build two new battleships of the same type. But, as it turned out, the difficulties with financing did not end there, and in the end, when combining debit with credit, the second battleship turned out to be a smaller copy of the first.

On January 25, 1884, the keel of the first battleship, called "", was laid at the state-owned shipyard in Pola, and on November 12 of the same year, at the private shipyard of San Rocco in Trieste, the second - "". The ships received their names in honor of the son of Emperor Joseph I, heir to the throne Rudolf, and the brother of the monarch, who was killed by rebels in 1867, the former king of Mexico Maximilian I. On June 6 and April 14, 1887, the ships went afloat. During construction, the name of the second ship was considered not to correspond to current political motives and it was renamed in honor of Rudolf’s wife - “”. As a result of all the manipulations, the ships differed from each other in size, armor, artillery and the mechanisms used. However, the latter also had a positive quality - the Austrian sailors had the opportunity to form their own personal idea of ​​​​the advantages and disadvantages of each technical solution.

For the first time in Austrian practice, the hulls of battleships were entirely made of steel. They were built according to a transverse-longitudinal design with a double bottom and a very good division into waterproof compartments. Despite their rather large size, the ships had to remain buoyant even when two adjacent compartments were flooded. The second general innovation was the use of a barbette layout for the main caliber guns (before that, blindly copying the Lissa experience, the Austrians built exclusively casemate battleships). It is noteworthy that all ship installations were single-gun, despite foreign experience in the use of two-gun barbettes. Of course, having subsequent experience, it is easy to criticize, but the Austrian naval headquarters quite reasonably reasoned that with the development of the level of mechanization of that time, the rate of fire when servicing one gun is higher than two, due to the abundance of personnel, which will inevitably interfere with each other in such a responsible operation. And besides, the Austrian industry simply did not yet have experience in creating two-gun heavy-caliber installations. Therefore, "" received two single-gun barbettes with 305-mm guns, standing side by side in the bow, and "" received two exactly the same barbettes and another single barbette in the stern.

For the first time in the fleet, battleships also received a powerful medium caliber in the form of 150 mm guns. But their layout differed again. If the main and 120-mm medium caliber "" were on the same deck, then the "" 150-mm guns were on the deck below the main ones. By the way, also for the first time in the Austrian fleet, battleships received “long” guns of the main and medium caliber - with a barrel length of 35 calibers. The fly in the ointment in all these epithets “for the first time” was that since the Skoda company could not yet independently produce either caliber, all the artillery was ordered from the Krupp company.

Since progress does not stand still, battleships, among other things, became the first Austrian ships with steel-iron armor, or, as it was called in naval reference books of that period, compound armor. But if the "" main belt reached only to the barbettes, covering less than half the length of the waterline, ending with the abeam bulkhead, then on the "" it was continuous from stem to stem. Of course, an inevitable condition for this was a reduction in its maximum thickness and width. On top of the belt there was an armored deck adjacent to the upper edge of the belt. Outside the “armor box”, it had bevels that went under the waterline. And again, according to the fashion of that time, both battleships had medium-caliber artillery, other than armored shields, no longer had protection.

Regarding the power plant, a number of naval reference books indicate that he received triple expansion machines. If so, then this would be another innovation by the Austrian shipbuilders. But in fact, the ship received Austrian-made machines that double-expanded the compound system. This time, the Austrian sailors quite reasonably decided to get a proven, albeit not entirely progressive, solution, and in general they were right - during the entire service, no serious problems arose with the vehicles on the battleship. But "" did acquire triple expansion machines, but, alas, not domestic, but British, produced by the well-known company "Model". Steam for the machines was supplied from ten cylindrical boilers, which made it possible for both ships to develop up to 16 knots.

"" and "" also became the first Austrian battleships without spars, although the original design included full sailing weapons.

Despite a number of shortcomings and the archaic nature of certain elements, the Austrians eventually received two good coastal defense battleships, as required by the technical specifications. And in June 1890, both ships carried out their first diplomatic mission - they participated in joint maneuvers with the German fleet in the Baltic and North Sea. However, the fate of both ships was not replete with bright episodes, and against the backdrop of routine tasks and maneuvers, one can only highlight the participation of "" in the blockade of the island of Crete during the crisis of 1897. By the way, for the brilliant performance of his duties, the commander of the battleship, Captain 1st Rank Knissler, was awarded . And the very next year both battleships were put into reserve. Although they were nominally listed as coastal defense battleships, in fact already in 1910 “” became a floating barracks, and “” became a blockhouse ( an old, non-propelled ship or barge left in the harbor to accommodate a hospital, customs warehouse, prison, warehouse and other services ). Literally at the end of his career, the "" was noted in the famous uprising in Qatar Bay, and in addition, after the war, it gained fame for becoming the largest ship of independent Yugoslavia, the "Kumbor", the only battleship in its entire history.

But let's go back to 1891. After "" and "" entered service, it was necessary to determine ways for the further development of the fleet. In Sterneck's vision, the core was to be composed of four new battleships, which would finally replace the veteran battleships with a central battery. The three large cruisers already built by this time would have been a separate squadron capable of supporting the main forces in battle. Of the old battleships, only the modernized “ ” and “ ” with “ ” were considered (and then for a very short time) for “working” with the new battleships. According to Sterneck's concept, the fleet required three squadrons of three battleships, two cruisers, four destroyers and 24 destroyers. In 1891, only two squadrons could be formed from the available personnel; the third still had to be created anew. Sterneck himself saw coastal defense battleships weighing 3,800 tons as the core of the fleet. And for it they still had to fight with... Archduke Albrecht, the chief inspector of the army, who considered a large fleet a burden for the country and did not want to approve the construction of new battleships. Thus, the sailors had to artificially call the new combat units “coastal defense battleships,” and this classification was officially legalized.

As design progressed, the new Austro-Hungarian turned from a 3,800-ton ship with three 240 mm and four 150 mm guns, first into a 4,900-ton ship with 4,240 mm and 6,150 mm, and then, as offensive capabilities increased capabilities and reservations, at 5,600 tons.

The construction of the ships was approved in May 1892, and this was facilitated not only by the assertiveness of the sailors, but also by the difficult political situation. In 1892, the Triple Alliance was concluded between Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck sought to maintain good relations with the Russian Empire, however, due to the short-sightedness of Wilhelm II, Russia “gave a hand of friendship” to France, with which it concluded “ Alliance Military Convention» ( Entente). Austria-Hungary’s response to this Alliance was “”, designed to protect the Adriatic from any French or Russian encroachments.

In addition, the unexpected decision to build three battleships of the same type at once was facilitated by the relative cheapness of the project. The battleship "" (even after a significant reduction in cost compared to "") still cost the treasury 8.9 million crowns (in today's currency - almost 70 million US dollars). The cruiser "" cost 5.5 million crowns ($43 million), the armored cruiser "" - 7.5 million crowns ($60 million). And the lead coastal defense battleship of 4,900 tons was supposed to be “squeezed” into 5.6 million, which in cost was almost equivalent to the Elswick cruiser. As they say, an offer you can't refuse. However, as work was done to improve the project and the displacement bar was raised to 5,600 tons, the price first rose to 6.4 million crowns, and as a result, the ships that entered service cost from 9.75 to 10 million crowns each.

The miser pays twice, because the financial side, of course, affected the “shrinking” of the size of the Austro-Hungarian troika. Their 5,600 tons could not be compared with the British Royal Sovereigns and Majestics built in the same period (14,400 and 15,140 tons, respectively), or the Italian Amiraliodi San Bon type (10,000 tons). However, comparing them with oceanic armadillos is not entirely correct. The Austrians did not need to go anywhere further than the Adriatic or the eastern Mediterranean. And, of course, to match their modest displacement was the main caliber - 240 mm, comparable only to the German Kaiser and Wittelsbach types. Although the fleets of Great Britain, the USA, and France switched to the main artillery of 305,330 and even 343 mm, the Italian allies, who continued to be considered as the main opponents in the Adriatic, had the San Bon and Emmanuele Filiberto with 254 mm artillery, quite comparable to the Austrian, but were much larger and faster, although they were inferior in armor.

The more modest size of the "" compared to their foreign counterparts also had an unpleasant consequence. The forecastle of the battleships was heavily flooded in almost any weather, with the possible exception of complete calm, which greatly limited the capabilities of the bow turret and significantly reduced habitability conditions.

Open hearth steel was used to build the hull. For two-thirds of the hull there was a double bottom, rising from the keel to the stringer, which lay just above the waterline. For their time, the "" were considered very well designed in terms of unsinkability. 142 waterproof compartments were located under the armored deck, with another 13 compartments above. At the time of construction, such a division was considered quite sufficient to avoid the fate of the notorious Victoria, but, for example, after just half a century, battleships increased their number by an order of magnitude (for example, on the Nagato there were 865 of them, and on the Yamato - 1,065!). However, even such division was sometimes not enough to prevent capsizing. One of the congenital defects of the Austrian battleships, like almost all of their contemporaries, consisted of a single longitudinal bulkhead laid along the center plane, running along the engine and boiler rooms. If the latter were filled with water on one side, capsizing became inevitable! Another bad practice of the time was to have "watertight" doors. Since it was not at all possible to somehow control them, the overall success in the fight for survivability was almost always determined by the condition of whether these doors were battened down in time or not. In general, the loss of the "" during the World War once again proved how imperfect the underwater defense was, which was unable to prevent the loss of the ship even from a single small-caliber torpedo.

Despite the formal uniformity, the ships differed in detail. Thus, “” and “” each carried five cylindrical boilers, while “” received 16 new-fangled Belleville system boilers purchased from the British company “Model”. The steam produced in them powered two vertical triple expansion engines, which were supposed to produce 6,000 horsepower. at natural and 8,500 hp with formed traction. And if for “” and “” the hopes for these indicators were fully justified, then “” was able to reach 9,180 hp during testing. As a result, if the maximum speed of the first two was 17.5 knots, then it became the fastest of the three with its 17.8 knots.

It is traditionally believed that the outstanding performance of the Austrian coastal defense battleships was achieved by sacrificing autonomy. But this is deeply wrong. The capacity of the coal pits "" was 500 tons, but usually ships took up to 457 tons of coal or 444.7 tons of pressed coal briquettes. The autonomy with a full reserve was 2,200 miles at a speed of 12 knots. or 3,500 miles at a cruising speed of 9 knots. For comparison, modern "" French battleships, despite their much more substantial size, carried approximately the same coal reserves ("Brennes" with 11,000 tons of displacement - 550 tons, "Jemapes" with 6,000 tons - 350 tons), as a result of which their the range was much shorter. However, the reasons for this step were very prosaic - both the French and the British had much more coal stations in the Mediterranean than the imperial and royal fleets.

Even at the design stage, the Austrians paid great attention to the armor. Comparative tests were carried out on armor plates with a thickness of 270 mm from various manufacturers: the German Dilingen and Krup, the English Vickers and Cammel and the Austrian Vitkowitz. At the same time, Dillingen, Cammel and Vitkowitz presented homogeneous steel-nickel plates, Krupp presented a garveyized steel-nickel plate, and Vickers presented one homogeneous and garveyized carbon steel plate each. Unexpectedly for everyone, the winners turned out to be homogeneous Vickers and Vitkowitz slabs, since the superiority of garveyized steel was initially assumed. For the Austrians, this was a landmark event, meaning that the domestic manufacturer was quite close in quality to the world’s best “brands”. This news came in handy for the budget as well, since there was no longer any need to order armor abroad.

By the way, many sources, including the memoirs of Hayward Harvey himself, claim that Harvey’s armor was used on the “”, but this is not true - all the armor material was supplied by the Vitkowitz plant.

The main belt of the battleship was 2.1 meters wide; with a standard displacement of 90 cm, the belt was above the water. In the space between the tower barbettes its thickness was 270 mm, directly in the area of ​​the barbette - 250 mm, then towards the bow the thickness dropped first to 200 mm, then to 150 and finally to 120 mm. At the lower edge, the 270 mm belt dropped to 180 mm. Above the main belt, along two-thirds of the hull, there was an armored parapet of 60 mm thickness. The armored citadel was enclosed by 250 mm armored transverse bulkheads. The medium artillery battery, unlike "" and "", was protected by 80 mm armor. The main caliber towers had a thickness of 250 mm, barbettes - 200 mm. The main armored deck had a maximum thickness of 60 mm outside the armored citadel and 40 mm inside it.

But in the matter of artillery, the Austrians quite reasonably decided to turn to the Krupp company for help, which supplied guns for "" and "". It should be noted here that very soon the domestic Skoda will become the supplier of artillery for all warships of all calibers.

On October 21, 1893, it was decided to order 24 cm/40 ( the number after the slash indicates the barrel length in calibers ) guns of the 1889 model, but in the end the ships were equipped with even more modern 24-cm/40 model of 1894. With this step, the main caliber of the Austrian battleships was standardized not only with the ships of their fleet (such guns were on the cruiser ""), but and with the main power of its ally - five Kaiser-class battleships, five Wittelsbach-class battleships and the armored cruisers Fürst Bismarck and Prinz Heinrich. The main caliber of the Austrian battleships, like their German counterparts, stood in two two-gun turrets.

But this is not the end of the story with the main caliber of battleships. Since during the World War ships of this type were involved in supporting the coastal flank of the army, a very original project was developed and implemented to increase the firepower of hopelessly outdated ships. From the army arsenals, the fleet was given a 380-mm ultra-high-power howitzer, which had the army marking No. 2 and its own name “Gudrun”. During May-April 1918, the main caliber bow turret was dismantled in Pole and a howitzer was openly installed in this place. Thus, he became the owner of the largest-caliber gun in the entire history of the Austrian fleet!

However, the Austrians themselves considered this measure to be temporary, and they tried to reduce all work to a minimum. The bow cellars were adapted for storing ammunition, and since the existing supply mechanisms were simply not adapted for this kind of operation, a hatch was cut into the cellar, and an ordinary crane was installed on the upper deck. On June 5, 1918, three test shots were fired from the howitzer. Then, in the Pheasant Channel, practical shooting followed on August 6. The range was 13 km, but a 20 percent hit rate on the target was considered clearly insufficient. Further tests were stopped due to a lack of ammunition and the howitzer was dismantled on October 11.

But Austrian companies handled the supply of the rest of the weapons quite well: six quick-firing 150-mm guns for each battleship of the model KruppC 91 with a barrel length of 40 calibers and ten rapid-fire 47-mm with a barrel length of 44 calibers were supplied by Skoda; 8-mm machine guns - Schwarzlose company; 66-mm landing guns - Uhatius company.

As for living conditions, the battleships were a significant step forward compared to previous Austrian ships: for example, sailors in the cockpits for the first time could enjoy the delights of artificial ventilation. But, despite the obvious progress, in comparison with foreign fleets, living conditions on the "" were still terrible. For example, there were no recreational facilities, so sailors often left their stuffy and cramped quarters, spending the night on the upper decks.

The battleship "" (or battleship "A", as it was called during design) was built by the naval arsenal in Pola, and its brothers "" ("B") and "" (C) by the Tecnico Triestino Stabilimento shipyard "in Trieste. The first, in 1897, entered service, and a year later it was joined by two other battleships. The private shipyard of Trieste met a shorter construction time than the Pola arsenal, and therefore all subsequent battleships of Austria-Hungary (with the exception of the dreadnought "", built in Fiume) came off the slipways of private shipyards.

I personally attended the descent ceremony. The ship was baptized by Archduchess Maria Teresa (wife of the emperor's younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig). The descent took place on Sunday, May 9, 1895 - the anniversary of Admiral Tegetthoff's victory at Heligoland. But during the descent of "" a non-trivial situation arose: the guest of honor - the mayor of the capital of Austria - was absent from the ceremony. The previous head of the city passed away in February 1894, and the new one was elected only in September 1895. The battleship was baptized by Countess Kilsmannsegg, the wife of the governor of Lower Austria. Unlike "", there were no problems with the descent of "". The city of Budapest was represented by a large delegation led by Mayor Carolai Rath. And the ship was baptized by Countess Mary Andrássy, the wife of the governor of Fiume. There was not even a problem with Admiral Sterneck's illness; he was replaced at the ceremony by Vice Admiral Hermann-Freiherr von Spaun, who later replaced Sterneck as commander-in-chief of the fleet.

Like "" with "", the first time after entry into service it became the calling card of Austria-Hungary in the international arena. But unlike them, even with the entry into service of the next generation of battleships of the “” type, “” continued to be used very actively, which, among other things, was also the cause of numerous accidents.

On June 1, 1897, during a practical voyage, a group of sailors, while working in a coal bunker, decided to use an open fire for lighting. The result of such a malicious violation of safety regulations was not long in coming - an explosion of accumulated coal gas occurred, in which one sailor was killed and three more were injured. And after that the battleship was forced to undergo minor repairs. However, this incident did not radically affect the subsequent plans of the command and on June 26, "" represented Austria at the grandiose naval parade in Spithead.

And on July 19, 1899, during one of the trips to sea, the destroyer “Buzzard” was rammed, however, even here the damage received was quickly repaired.

In the pre-war period, battleships also had a chance to take part in real conflicts. Thus, “” was involved in the blockade of the island of Crete in 1897. In 1903, during another deterioration in relations with Turkey, accompanied by the murder of Austrian citizens, “”, “”, together with the newer battleship “” and the destroyer “”, carried out more months in Thessaloniki, with the muzzles of their guns, sobering violent heads from rash actions. And on March 15, 1909, in connection with the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all three battleships, along with the rest of the ships, were put on full combat readiness. However, the political demarches expected by the Austrian Foreign Ministry did not follow, and already on April 1, the ship’s crews returned to their usual routine.

Only with the commissioning of the "" type battleships, the weakness and obsolescence of the "" became obvious, and after that they were used mainly for training purposes. But even in this situation, unlike “ ” and “ ”, “ ” were put into reserve for a long time exclusively for the next modernization.

The outbreak of World War II contributed to another peak in the activity of already quite outdated ships. On the one hand, they were not as valuable as more modern ships, and they could easily be used with older ones in order to solve real combat missions. Therefore, on August 1, 1914, the entire trio was reduced to the 5th division of battleships. On August 11, the division arrived at Cattaro Bay and on the 13th fired the first shell at the Montenegrin Kretak battery, thus becoming the first Austrian battleship to open fire on the enemy in this war. In the following weeks, almost daily, the battleships fired at Montenegrin positions with both main and auxiliary calibers.

Of the three, the fighting career of "" turned out to be the most eventful. On December 30, 1915, the ship, together with the cruisers "" had to resist the latest French and Italian guns in Kukulzhina Bay. And since the range of its artillery was clearly too short, the elevation angle of the guns was slightly increased by flooding the compartments on the opposite side and creating an artificial roll. Therefore, the battleships made a significant contribution to the capitulation of Montenegro, which followed on January 12.

All three "" remained in Cattaro until 1917, after which "" and "" were recalled to Pola - it was necessary to counter the Italian monitors operating in the northwestern sector of the Adriatic. The two veterans arrived in Trieste on August 26, 1917 and on the same day became the targets of numerous attacks by Italian airplanes. The Austrians quickly drew the proper conclusions, strengthening the ships' air defense by installing 7-cm guns (one per battleship). And yet, despite these measures, on September 5, "" was hit by a bomb that hit a boat thrown overboard. The side plating was damaged, a number of compartments were flooded, serious repairs were required, and both battleships returned to Pola. But already on October 30, the ships were again at the forefront and supported the offensive of the Austro-Hungarian troops with their artillery fire. The next major operation was the action of both battleships off Cortelazzo on October 30th. The ships were covered by nine destroyers, five minesweepers and interacted with three seaplanes that corrected the fire of the battleships. The Italian coastal batteries were the first to open fire on the approaching Austrians. The latter began firing from a distance of 10,000 m, and continued to approach to bring 150 mm guns into battle, eventually approaching only 6,500 m.

Such pressure forced the Italians to take retaliatory measures. Seven destroyers and three torpedo boats urgently left Venice for the sea, for the support of which even the battleships Amirapiodi San Bon and Emmanuele Filiberto were allocated. Although one of the boats soon returned due to engine failure, the other two launched an ineffective torpedo attack on the Austrians. Having received a message from seaplane pilots about the approach of Italian battleships, the Austrians hastened to wind down their operation and return to Trieste. "" received seven hits during the battle, but avoided serious damage. "" also received a hit from a coastal battery: the shell hit below the waterline, but the armor belt was not penetrated, and the battleship was also practically undamaged. Both ships had no casualties in personnel. In fairness, it should be noted that the damage caused to the coastal batteries also turned out to be negligible. But, fearing further Austrian shelling, the Italians carried out their famous night attack on Trieste on the night of December 9-10, which ended in the death of “” - after unsuccessful experiments with a 380-mm howitzer, it was also turned into floating housing.

On October 31, "" and November 1, "" came under the control of the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which decided to raise red, white and blue Croatian flags on ships. However, the commander of "" Lieutenant Mirko Pleiweis refused to carry out the order and raised the Montenegrin flag over his ship. But this event had little impact on the future career of the ships. Both old battleships continued to be used as floating barracks. By the way, during the visit of the British submarine cruiser M1, the “Englishman” even served as a berth.

According to the terms of the post-war division of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, "" was to be transferred to Great Britain in 1920, but it considered it more prudent to sell this very dubious trophy to Italy, which used it for metal. Unlike “”, “” immediately went to the Italians, but just like its brother, in fact, only in order to “go on pins and needles”.

Thus, with the advent of the trio of the “” type, the Austrians seemingly received five modern battleships, but in reality “”, “” and “” surpassed the previous types so much in their combat characteristics that they quietly went into the shadows. The battleship's strong armament, high speed, excellent armor and sufficient range for the Adriatic made it probably one of the most successful coastal defense battleships of the late 19th century.

In this regard, it is very indicative that several countries approached the Austrians with the aim of acquiring "" KruppC 91. These negotiations went the furthest with Spain.

In 1895, Spain, in anticipation of the conflict with the United States, was making attempts to urgently increase its ship strength, used dynastic connections (the Spanish Queen Regent was an Austrian princess as a maiden) and tried to acquire ships from Austria-Hungary. The Spanish naval mission visited Pola and thoroughly examined the ships that interested it - the battleships "", "" and "". Unfortunately, the negotiations then reached a dead end, since at first the Austrians were ready to offer only all sorts of junk like the frigate Schwarzenberg. During further meetings, the parties seemed to come to an agreement regarding "", but in the end, due to a breakthrough in negotiations in Italy, the Spaniards focused on purchasing two Garibaldi-class cruisers there ("Cristobal Colon" and "Pedro de Aragon") However, this had its own “homegrown truth” - the “Garibaldi” was much more consistent with its characteristics of the main striking power - cruisers of the “Infanta Maria Teresa” type.

But the story of the “Spanish trace” did not end there; the Spanish side retained too much charm from the balance of its combat qualities and moderate cost. In terms of its characteristics, it seriously surpassed even the modernized cruisers of the Infanta Maria Teresa type with their two 240 mm and eight 140 mm guns, while being almost half the price! As a result, taking into account the goodwill of the Austrian side, the transfer of drawings of the battleship and promises of technical assistance in their construction to the Spaniards followed. Therefore, after the defeat in the Spanish-American War, four shipbuilding programs that followed one after another involved the construction of Spanish Monarchs. The maximum number in the most ambitious projects reached up to 16 units! However, all these plans ended the same way: the Cortes inevitably vetoed new military shipbuilding. So Austria-Hungary never went further.

The coastal defense battleship Pingyuan can be called the first full-fledged Chinese armored vessel. In the spring of 1886, a graduate of the Fuzhou Technical School, Wei Han (1851-1929), was sent to France to purchase ship steel and other materials.
The 35-year-old engineer used his stay in Europe to expand his technical knowledge. Returning home in the fall of the same year, he enlisted the support of the head of the Fuzhou Admiralty, Pei Yinsen (1823-1895), and on December 7, 1886, he laid the keel of the new ship on the slipway.

On January 29, 1888, the battleship was launched. The ceremony was honored by the presence of the head of the Fuzhou Arsenal, who performed traditional rites in honor of the goddess Mazu - the Lady of the Sea, the spirit of the Minjiang River and the patron spirit of the ship. After this, it was time to complete the construction of the battleship afloat, which continued until the spring of 1889. Thus, the construction of the Lunwei took a little more than two years. The cost of the ship was 524,000 silver liang.

On May 15, 1889, the battleship began sea trials, in which the Admiralty authorities again took part. By forcing the speed, the mechanics managed to accelerate the Lunwei to 12.5 knots, significantly exceeding the design speed. Perhaps this load was excessive. Shortly after noon, the battleship's hull was suddenly shaken by a strong vibration, and its walking speed dropped sharply.
When a diver examined the stern, it turned out that the ship had lost its right propeller. Having barely reached the plant, Lunwei went into repairs, which lasted three whole months.
It came out for repeated testing only on September 28, 1889 - this date should be considered the beginning of the battleship’s service. The first commander of the ship was Lin Yunmo. Together with the crew (at different times - from 145 to 204 people), he constantly had to deal with problems of varying severity.

By this time, the battleship had the following weapons: one 260-mm Krupp barbette gun of the 1880 model, two 150-mm Krupp guns on the side sponsons, four 47-mm rapid-fire Hotchkiss guns and two 10-barrel Gatling mitrailleuses. The barrel length of the 260 mm gun was 22 caliber. The weight of the barrel was 21.7 tons, and the machine accounted for another 15 tons.
The gun used three types of projectiles weighing about 162.1 kg - armor-piercing, high-explosive and shrapnel. The weight of the powder charge was 48 kg. The firing range reached 7400 m with a maximum elevation angle of 16.5°; at the muzzle, an armor-piercing projectile penetrated 391 mm of iron armor. According to some reports, the Pingyuan was armed with two 450-mm mine vehicles.

This statement seems doubtful, since the Chinese fleet of that time adopted German Schwarzkopf “tubes”, which had a smaller caliber. Thus, two 350-mm devices were probably installed at the ends of the battleship.

The ship had a characteristic and not very elegant appearance: sides with a noticeable slope inward, a low forecastle and a high bridge reminiscent of a bookcase. A single mast and a tall chimney completed the picture. On April 10, 1889, the battleship moved from Fuzhou to Shanghai. From there the ship was to proceed to Tianjin.

On May 8, 1890, a detachment of ships of the Beiyang Fleet, led by the battleship Dingyuan, entered Fuzhou. When they went to sea on the 28th of the same month, the Pingyuan was already taking its place in the column. Upon the fleet's arrival in Weihaiwei, Li He, a graduate of the Fuzhou Naval School, was appointed commander of the battleship.

The main event in the battleship's career was the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The victories won by the Japanese in Korea forced the Chinese command to worry about the urgent transfer of reinforcements. For this purpose, it was decided to use chartered steamships heading to the port of Dadongou, at the mouth of the river. lu. The death of the transport "Koushing" ("Gaosheng"), shot by the Japanese cruiser "Naniwa" on July 25, 1894, forced Admiral Ding Zhuchang to use the main forces of the fleet to cover the transport.
On September 12, the fleet left Weihaiwei and arrived at the mouth of the Yalu four days later. The Pingyuan, the light cruiser Guangbing, two alphabet gunboats and a pair of destroyers entered the river to guard the landing site. The remaining ships of the squadron anchored 12 miles from the coast. At 10 a.m. on September 17, 1894, thick smoke appeared in the south. It soon became clear that the entire Japanese squadron was approaching the ship's mooring site. Twelve large ships of the Beiyang Fleet were opposed by eleven cruisers of the admiral

Ito Sukeyuki. The Japanese did not have battleships, so Ding Zhuchang had an advantage in tonnage, armor and the number of heavy guns. Perhaps that is why the Chinese admiral was in no hurry to call the Pingyuan from the river.

At 12.30, the Japanese flagship Matsushima raised the topmast flag, signaling the start of the battle. Superior to the Chinese in rapid-fire artillery, the Japanese divided into two detachments and actively maneuvered, showering the enemy with a rain of shells. The advantage in speed was also on the side of the Mikado sailors.

Closer to 14.00, the Chinese ships at the mouth of the Yalu finally saw a signal instructing them to join the squadron. Operating in tandem, the Pingyuan and Guangbing went to sea and found themselves on the right wing of the Chinese battle formation.
At 14.30, the battleship began a battle with the cruiser Matsushima at a distance of 2300 m. The Japanese flagship, which was subjected to the most intense shelling in the battle, had already had several hits. Gradually drawing closer, the ships fought an artillery duel, during which the Pingyuan gunners managed to achieve success. A 260-mm shell hit the middle part of the left side of the Matsushima and ended up in the wardroom, which was turned into a dressing station. Flying through it, it pierced the one-inch bulkhead and hit the mine compartment on the port side. Having torn off a loaded (!) mine apparatus from the machine and killed 4 sailors, the shell pierced another bulkhead and disabled the locking mechanism of the cruiser's 320-mm gun, facing the stern. At the same time, the shell broke apart, but no explosion occurred.

Only a miracle saved the Japanese from detonating their own ammunition. In total, during the battle, the cruiser Matsushima received 13 hits from heavy shells and lost about 100 crew members. A shell from the Pingyuan caused the most serious damage to it, forcing Admiral Ito to transfer his flag to the sister cruiser Hasidate. Meanwhile, the Pingyuan hit the cruiser Itsukushima at about 15.30. After that, he himself came under concentrated Japanese fire and caught fire. Its 260-mm gun was disabled and at about 16.30 the battleship left the battle, fighting numerous fires and slowly leaving in the direction of Port Arthur. Another hour later the cannonade subsided and the battle ended.

After initial repairs, the Pingyuan moved from Port Arthur to Weihaiwei, where it remained until the end of the war. On February 12, 1895, after the surrender of the remnants of the Beiyang Fleet, the battleship passed into the hands of the victors. Thanks to the identity of the hieroglyphs, the Japanese easily accepted the Chinese name of the ship, which in their mouths began to sound like “Heien”.
In addition, the battleship retained decorations in the form of massive carved dragons attached to the middle part of the hull, in the area of ​​the chimney. They favorably distinguished the trophy and flattered the pride of the winners. On March 21, 1898, the ship was classified as a 1st class gunboat and received new weapons.

Instead of the old Krupp 150-mm guns, the Heien received 6-inch Armstrong quick-firing guns with a barrel length of 40 calibers, and in place of the 47-mm bow pair, two 120-mm guns were installed (according to some information, by the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War the latter were removed). The aft superstructure housed two 47-mm cannons with shields.

Under the command of Captain 2nd Rank K. Asabane, as part of the 7th Detachment of the Imperial Navy, he took part in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905. She was destined to become the last event in the fate of the ship. On September 18, 1904, the Heien was located off Iron Island (Chinese name - Tedao), at the entrance to Pigeon Bay, west of Port Arthur.
The Japanese sailors did not know that two days earlier the Russian destroyer Skory (commander - Lieutenant P.M. Plen) secretly placed a barrage of 16 mines in the area. At 7:45 a.m. evening, a powerful explosion thundered along the starboard side of the Heyen.
There are two versions regarding its consequences. According to the first, the ship died in a matter of minutes, taking 198 people to the bottom.
According to other sources, the Heyen sank in shallow water and could have been saved if not for the storm that broke out the next morning.

Coastal defense battleships of the Admiral Ushakov class

Coastal defense battleship(BBO) - due to its specifics, it had a relatively low freeboard and was inferior in seaworthiness to squadron battleships. BBO is a warship with a shallow draft, good armor and armed with large-caliber guns. Designed for combat in shallow waters and coastal defense. Was in service with most maritime states. Coastal defense ironclads were a logical development of monitors and gunboats.

Appearance

Floating batteries

The first head of state who ordered the creation of armored ships was Emperor Napoleon III. The chief shipbuilder of the French fleet, Dupuy de Lom, tested iron plates by shooting and created floating batteries Lave ,Tonnante And Devastation. These ships were sheathed with 120 mm iron sheets and carried 18 240 mm caliber guns.

Evolution of the class

Death of USS Monitor

It was precisely because of the low seaworthiness of the monitors that Vice Admiral Popov proposed his ship design, later called “Popovki”. They were named that way because of their round shape, but despite this, they had good seaworthiness. In 1873, the barbette battleship Novgorod was launched. In 1875, the barbette battleship “Vice Admiral Popov” was launched (when “Kyiv” was laid down in 1874).

The death of the coastal defense battleship "Admiral Ushakov"

The situation in the Baltic Sea required the construction of a new type of coastal defense battleships. They turned out to be ships of the Admiral Ushakov type. Armed with four 254 mm guns, the battleships of this series, not inferior to the German and Swedish battleships, were supposed to dominate the Baltic, but their fate was different. All three ships of this series were lost in the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

Germany

Gerania started building battleships later than all European countries. Fearing an attack by the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Empire, 8 coastal defense battleships of the type were laid down in 1888 Siegfried The armament consisted of three 240 mm caliber guns in barbette mounts. As a result of the Sino-Japanese and Spanish-American wars, wooden parts of ships were replaced with metal wherever possible. After the construction of ships of the type Siegfried, Germany switched to the construction of squadron battleships.

For actions in the Adriatic, Austria-Hungary in 1893. three ships of the type were laid down Monarch, entered service in 1898. Ships of this type were similar to the German Kaiser-class battleships, carried four main caliber 240 mm guns and had a high rate of fire. Compared to other coastal defense battleships, they were the best in their class.

Sweden

Coastal defense battleship Sverige

The Swedish Navy attached particular importance to coastal defense battleships, since they had limited resources, and the theater of operations corresponded to the purpose of these ships. In 1865-1867 three type monitors come into operation John Ericsson. These are single-turret monitors with two 240 mm guns. In 1881 the type monitor came into operation Loke armed with two 381 mm guns. Although all four monitors were slow (7 knots), the Swedish command believed that it was suitable for solving coastal defense problems.

In 1886, the first of three battleships of the type entered service. Svea. These were ships with a shallow draft and carried two 254 mm main caliber guns located in the bow turret and four 152 mm auxiliary caliber guns in the casemate. In 1897, a battleship of the type Oden. There were also three of these ships. The concept of building these battleships took into account the fight against light enemy forces (destroyers, light cruisers); in accordance with it, the main caliber was reduced to six 120 mm guns. Also on them, as on ships of the Svea type, searchlights were installed. As a continuation of this concept, a battleship of the type was built Dristigheten(1901). Two 210 mm main caliber guns and six 152 mm auxiliary caliber guns constituted the main firepower of the ship. This combination of guns remained on Swedish ships for a long time. Dristigheten served as the prototype for the next series of ships of the type Aran of four ships. The difference was that these battleships were less armored and therefore faster, and also that the 152 mm guns were installed in the turrets. This stage of construction was completed by the battleship Oscar II The only ship in its class with three funnels, the artillery was located in the turrets and consisted of two 210 mm cannons and eight 152 mm guns. In 1915, the strongest coastal defense battleship of the type Sverige. It is considered the pinnacle of development of this type of ship. Its armament consisted of four 283 mm main caliber guns and eight 152 mm auxiliary caliber guns. In 1939, the Swedish naval command doubted the concept of coastal defense battleships and began building light cruisers instead.

Norway

The Norwegian Navy developed along the same lines as the Swedish Navy. This was explained not only by the similar theater of operations, but also by the fact that the two countries were bound by a treaty and coordinated their military programs. In 1866-1872. four type monitors come into operation Scorpionen armed with one 270 mm gun. They formed the basis of coastal defense until 1897, when the British built two coastal defense battleships of the type Harald Haarfagre The main caliber of this type of ship consisted of two 210 mm guns and six auxiliary 120 mm guns. The Norwegians were satisfied with ships of this type and therefore ordered two more ships of the type Norge. Armadillos of this type are a development of the project Harald Haarfagre. Due to some lightening of the armor and increased displacement, the artillery armament was strengthened. The 120 mm auxiliary caliber guns were replaced with 152 mm guns. Quite modest in combat characteristics, these ships by the beginning of the First World War were the largest and most powerful in the Norwegian fleet.

Denmark

Until the middle of the 19th century, Denmark had a fairly powerful fleet, consisting of dozens of sailing battleships, frigates, corvettes, sloops, and gunboats. However, in the era of steam-powered armored ships, the basis of its fleet was made up of coastal defense battleships.

Battleship Rolf Krake

The Danes took a different route, abandoning the monitors, and ordered an armadillo from Cowper Coles in England to protect the coast. Rolf Krake. It was a ship equipped with a 700 hp engine and schooner sails and armed with four 203 mm guns mounted in two Kolz turrets. Kohls managed to design a tower, the design of which turned out to be more successful than Erickson's. Erikson's tower rested on the upper deck. To rotate, it was necessary to lift it on the central support column, rotate it along with the column and lower it again. The Kolza tower lay on rollers located around the perimeter of the tower, and on the central pin located under the upper deck; as a result, the rotation of the tower did not require any preliminary operations. In 1868, improving Rolf Krake, the Danes developed their own battleship Lindormen armed with two 229 mm caliber guns. A further development of this direction was Gorm. This battleship's main caliber was increased to 254 mm. The development of this direction is completed by the battleship Odin whose armament increased to four 254 mm guns.

Coastal defense battleship Niels Juel

The consistent development of previous projects led Danish designers to the creation of a completely seaworthy coastal defense battleship Helgoland with a freeboard height of 3 meters. The 260 mm guns were located in a casemate located in the middle part of the ship (two guns on each side). The turret with one 305 mm gun was located on the forecastle. Rapid-firing 120-mm cannons were placed one at a time on the forecastle and stern. Two masts could carry, if necessary, the schooner's sailing rig. For many years she remained the largest and most powerful Danish warship. The next battleship Tordenskjold was unsuccessful, since the Danes wanted to combine a high-speed ram and a stable firing platform in one ship. Reservation was limited to a 114 mm armored deck, and the armament consisted of one 305 mm main caliber gun and four 120 mm caliber guns. In 1886, a coastal defense battleship was launched Iver Hvitfeldt. The armament consisted of two 260 mm main caliber guns housed in single-gun barbettes and four 120 mm auxiliary caliber guns. After 10 years, the Danes launch Skjold. In an attempt to create a ship with a draft of 4 meters, the Danes reduce the armor and artillery and as a result get a coastal ship, similar in design to monitors. During the First World War, it was listed as an armored floating battery. Armed with one 240 mm gun and three 120 mm guns. In 1897, a series of coastal defense battleships of the type Herluf Trolle. Armed with two 240 mm and four 152 mm guns. The last Danish coastal defense battleship Niels Juel was laid down in 1914 and entered service in 1923. As a result of the First World War, the original armament of two 305 mm and ten 120 mm guns was abandoned and ten 152 mm guns were installed.

Finland

Latest European type coastal defense ironclads Vainamoinen were built in Finland. They were intended to protect the flank of the Finnish army overlooking the Gulf of Finland. They were supposed to be used as heavy batteries in attack or defense. Armed with four 254 mm guns and eight 105 mm guns. Prototype to create Vainamoinen German ships of the Deutschland type served. In 1947 Vainamoinen sold to the USSR and joined the Baltic Fleet under the name "Vyborg".

Sunset of class

Coastal defense battleship Henri IV

The very idea of ​​the appearance of coastal defense battleships was that in order to attack the coast, a large seaworthy enemy battleship would be forced to enter coastal waters, where a smaller coastal defense battleship could fight it on an equal footing. But the increase in firing range led to the fact that the coastal defense battleship had to go further out to sea, where it lost its advantages. In addition, due to the increase in the range of naval artillery, the trajectories of shells became more and more vertical and the frequency of hits was not on board , and the deck has increased significantly. Low-sided ships thus lost their main advantage - a small silhouette and a large area of ​​​​the side protected by armor - and were no longer so profitable. Their shortcomings became too relevant in the new conditions of war at sea. The latest attempt to revive the French battleship class Henri IV turned out to be not entirely successful and was never repeated.

In this regard, by the beginning of the 20th century, coastal defense battleships were built almost exclusively for the fleets of the Scandinavian powers, whose coasts were replete with small bays, bays and skerries, and visibility conditions in northern waters most often left much to be desired. Scandinavian engineers believed that in such conditions, large enemy ships would not be able to realize their advantage in long-range artillery, and would be forced to enter shallow coastal waters and fight in narrow straits at a very short distance. In such a situation, small, well-protected coastal defense battleships with not too powerful, but fast-firing heavy artillery (caliber from 203 to 280 millimeters) could still be effective.

However, if this rule still worked against squadron battleships and early dreadnoughts, then the rapid naval arms race at the beginning of the 20th century finally put an end to coastal defense battleships. The appearance of super-dreadnoughts with 320-406 mm artillery meant that any coastal defense battleships of reasonable size were in a losing position; the development of aviation, torpedo boats and destroyers meant that the enemy, most likely, simply would not send his heavy battleships and cruisers into shallow coastal waters. This was confirmed with the latest coastal defense battleships of the type Sri Ayuthia built for the Thai Navy.

Combat use

October 17, 1855 floating batteries Lave ,Tonnante And Devastation approached the Russian fortification of Kinburn at the mouth of the Dnieper. After a three-hour shelling on the Russian forts, 29 out of 62 guns were destroyed, parapets and casemates were damaged. The fortification had to be surrendered. Each battery received more than 60 hits, but the armor was not penetrated.

During the American Civil War, on March 9, 1862, a battle took place at the Hampton Roadstead between the founder of this class USS Monitor and casemate battleship CSS Virginia. Formally, the fight ended in a draw, although each side declared the fight a victory. The “southerners” argued that they sank two enemy ships and the USS Monitor left the battlefield, the “northerners” replied that the blockade had not been lifted, so the goal was not achieved. But experts argued that the armor won.

February 18, 1864 Rolf Krake in a duel with Prussian field batteries, he successfully withstood over 100 hits from 152 mm rifled guns!

On May 15, 1905, the coastal defense battleship Admiral Ushakov was discovered by Japanese armored cruisers Iwate And Yakumo After the previous battle, it was damaged and reached a speed of no more than ten knots. The battleship responded to the offer to surrender with fire. After several hits, the Japanese cruisers moved out of range of the Russian guns and shot the ship from long range. According to Japanese data, the last battle of the battleship Admiral Ushakov took place 60 miles west of Oki Island. The ship disappeared under water at about 10:50 am. May 15, 1905. Coordinates of death: 37°02’23″ N. latitude, 133°16" E.

At the end of 1917, two battleships of the type Monarch Wien And Budapest moved to Trieste, from where they went out to bombard Italian troops on the Piava River. But on the night of December 10, two Italian torpedo boats quietly overcame the booms and attacked the Austrian battleships right at the anchorage. One torpedo hit Wien and it quickly sank.

On April 9, 1940, a detachment of destroyers under the command of Captain 1st Rank Bonte set out to capture Narvik. Two Norwegian Navy type battleships Norge were expecting an attack. Therefore, the battleship Norge took a position in the fiord, which allowed him to keep the entrance to the port at gunpoint. Meanwhile, the same Eidsvold stood on the roadstead in combat readiness. The Germans failed to take the Norwegians by surprise and therefore sent the envoy on a boat. After refusing to surrender, the German officer, moving to a safe distance, gave a sign, and the destroyer fired a salvo from torpedo tubes. Two torpedoes hit the target and Eidsvold exploded. An attack immediately followed Norge. Of the six torpedoes, two hit the target, after which the battleship sank very quickly.

Types of coastal defense battleships of different countries

All performance characteristics in this table are presented for the lead ships of the series.

Type name	Quantity, pcs	Years in service	Total displacement, t	Speed, knots	Artillery, quantity, caliber	Armor
HMS Glatton	1	1871 - 1903	4990	12	2x305	245-304 / / 355 / 305-355
HMS Cyclops	4	1874 - 1903	3560	11	4x254	152-203 / 38 / 203-228 / 228-254

Type name	Quantity, pcs	Years in service	Total displacement, t	Speed, knots	Artillery, quantity, caliber	Armor (belt/deck/barbettes/forehead of the main battery turret), mm
Cerberus	4	1868 - 1900	3344	10	4x254	152-203/ / 178-203 / 203-254
Tonnerre	2	1879 - 1905	5765	14	2x270	254-330 / 51 / 330 / 305-330
Tonnant	1	1884 - 1903	5010	11,6	2x340	343-477 / 51 / 368 / 368
Henri IV	1	1888 - 1908	8949	17	2x274, 7x140	75-280 / 30-75 / 240 / 305

Type name	Quantity, pcs	Years in service	Total displacement, t	Speed, knots	Artillery, quantity, caliber	Armor (belt/deck/barbettes/forehead of the main battery turret), mm
"Hurricane "	10	1865 - 1900	1655	7,7	2x229	127/25-37 / / 279
"Tornado"	1	1865 - 1959	1402	9	4x196	102-114/25-37 / / 114
"Mermaid"	2	1868 - 1911	1880	9	2x381, 2x229	83-114/25-37 / / 114
"Novgorod"	2	1872 - 1892	2491	6,5	2x280, 1x87	229/53-76 / 356 /
"Admiral Ushakov"	3	1897 - 1905	4700	16	4x254, 4x120	203-254/38-63 / /152-254

List of types of BBO of Austria-Hungary

Three warships of this type were the first in the navy of the dual monarchy to use turret guns: SMS Monarch And SMS Budapest were each armed with four 240 mm (9 in) naval guns with a barrel length of 40 calibers ( 24 cm Type L/40), placed two in the bow and stern towers.

In 1890, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had only two, already obsolete, battleships - “Heir to the Throne Archduke Rudolf” ( SMS Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf) and "Heir to the throne Archduchess Stephanie" ( SMS Kronprinzession Erzherzogin Stephanie). The Admiralty felt it was time to replace them. But the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments decided that they needed to deal with the issues of protecting their own coastline, and not plan to seize someone else’s. Therefore, the estimate was approved for the construction of three coastal defense ships - with a displacement of only 5,600 tons (5,512 "long tons"), which is half the tonnage of similar ships that other developed countries built.

The approved project included:

• Displacement - 5,878 tons (5,785 long tons)
• Dimensions:
  • length - 99.22 m,
  • width - 17 m
  • draft - 6.6 m
• Engines: 12 coal-fired cylindrical boilers with a 4-cylinder triple expansion steam engine with a power of 8500 hp. (6338 kW)
• Speed: 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h)
• Range: 4100 km
• Weapons:
  • 4 × 240 mm (9 in) L/40 guns (2x2)
  • 6 × 150 mm (6 in) L/40 guns
  • 10 × 47 mm (1.9 in) L/44 guns
  • 4 × 47 mm (1.9 in) L/33 guns
  • 1 × 8 mm machine gun
  • 4 torpedo tubes
• Reservations:
  • side: 270 mm
  • towers: 280 mm
  • cutting: 220 mm
  • deck: 60 mm
• Crew:
  • officers - 26
  • lower ranks - 397

The first, on February 16, 1893, at the shipyard " Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino"Vienna and Budapest were laid down in Trieste. Moreover, on the second ship the propulsion system was replaced with 12 Belleville boilers, which increased the power to 9180 hp. (6846 kW). Naturally, this also affected the speed of the Budapest - it reached 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h).

"Monarch" with the same engine as the "Vienna" was laid down at the shipyard of the Naval Arsenal in Pula on July 31 of the same 1893, but it was launched earlier - on May 9, 1895, which allowed the new class of battleships to give exactly his name. On May 11, 1898, it was commissioned by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. A year earlier, on May 13, 1897, the battleship Vienna was commissioned (launched on July 7, 1895), and the Budapest on May 12, 1898, the day after the Monarch, and was completed in the same Pula (launched on July 24, 1896).

It was believed that each Monarch class ship could load 300 tons of coal, but the maximum figure reached 500 tons.

The ships were armored with the most modern armor at that time - the American engineer Harvey, developed in the early 1890s. The front layer was hardened in it. This combined the elasticity and viscosity of steel - the projectile first split, and then its fragments got stuck in the armor plate, the inner layer simultaneously extinguishing the impact energy. Harvey armor was replaced by Krupp armor in the late 1890s.

After commissioning, the battleship Vienna took part in the Diamond Jubilee of the British Queen Victoria in 1897, and then, in the same year, in the international blockade of the island of Crete during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. In 1899, all three warships took part in a cruise across the Adriatic and Aegean Sea to display the flag of Austria-Hungary. Of these, the 1st armored squadron of the fleet was formed.

However, just five years after their commissioning, the Monarch class ships turned out to be obsolete, although the experience of their construction and operation was taken into account when building a new type of battleship - the Habsburg class. In January 1903, this was proven in practice when the SMS Habsburg conducted a training voyage with all three ships of the Monarch class. A year later, the exercise was repeated with the participation of SMS Arpad from the same new Habsburg class. In the same year, 1904, three Monarch-class battleships “opposed an enemy squadron” of three Habsburg-class battleships and, naturally, lost to it. Although it is worth noting that these were the first maneuvers in the history of the Austro-Hungarian Navy using so many modern battleships.

The results of the maneuvers of 1904 led to the fact that the ships of the Habsburg class formed the 1st squadron, and the Monarch class were transferred to the 2nd. Over time, more and more modern battleships entered service in the Navy of the dual monarchy (first the “Archduke Charles” class, then the “Radetzky” and “Viribus Unitis”), and the “Monarch” class “fell” lower and lower until the beginning of the First World War ended up in the 5th squadron in the role of coastal defense battleships and training ships.

With the outbreak of hostilities, Monarch-class battleships were used to bombard enemy coastlines. In August 1914 SMS Budapest was transferred from Pula to Cattaro and from there went out to shell the fortifications on. August 9 SMS Monarch fired at a French radio station in Budva in Montenegro. On August 17 - a radio station in Bar and on the 19th - in Wolowitz, where the barracks were also bombed. After this, the Monarch was entrusted with the protection of the harbor.

On December 28–29, 1915, the Budapest took part as a guard ship in the campaign of the Austro-Hungarian fleet to the port of Durazzo, from which it returned without bombing the enemy. On January 9, 1916, “Budapest” again fired at Montenegrin positions on Mount Lovcen and contributed to its capture by the ground forces of the Habsburg army.

At the end of January 1917 SMS Budapest And went to Trieste, where they fired from the sea at Italian positions that threatened shipping in the bay.

On December 10, 1917, two Italian torpedo boats managed to get into Trieste harbor, where they fired torpedoes at Budapest and Vienna. Near the first, a torpedo passed by, but the second battleship received two at once and 10 minutes later sank in the shallow waters of Trieste. In this case, 26 sailors and officers were killed.

In 1918, the Budapest suffered the same fate as the Monarch three years earlier - it was turned into a floating barracks for the crews of German submarines. In June of the same year, she underwent repairs, as a result of which the bow guns were replaced with 380-mm (15-inch) L/17. But they never fired at the enemy again...

After the war, all two remaining Monarch-class ironclads were transferred as part of British reparations. In 1920, they decided to send them for scrap - one was dismantled in Italy in the same year, and the second two years later, in 1922.