Usuario:Cratón/Armada de Austria-Hungría

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Cratón/Armada de Austria-Hungría

La Marina de Austria-Hungría era la fuerza naval del Imperio Austro-húngaro. El nombre oficial en alemán era Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine (Marina Imperial y Real, abreviada y mejor conocida como K.u.K. Kriegsmarine).

Esta marina existió antes del establecimiento de la Monarquía Dual en 1867 y siguió en servicio hasta el final de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Antes de 1867, las fuerzas navales de Austria eran las del Imperio Austriaco. Hacia 1915 un total de 33,735 personal naval estaba en la K.u.K. Kriegsmarine.

Historia[editar]

Screw-driven corvette Erzherzog Friedrich in 1868, a veteran of the Battle of Lissa
Area donde servía el K.u.K.

El puerto de origen de la Marina Austro-húngara era su Seearsenal (base naval) en Pola, que contuvo uno de los diques secos flotantes más grandes en el Mediterráneo. Las bases suplementarias incluyeron el excelente puerto de Cattaro, el punto más al sur del Imperio Austro-húngaro y Trieste. Tanto Trieste como Pola tenían instalaciones de construcción naval principales.[1]

Trieste era también la oficina central de la línea mercante Austrian Lloyd (fundada en 1836 y, más tarde Lloyd Triestino), cuya oficina central estuvo de pie en la esquina de Piazza Grande y Sanita. Hacia 1913 Austrian Lloyd tenía una flota de 62 barcos que comprenden un total de 236,000 toneladas.[1]

Los buques de guerra austriacos tenían sus primeros encuentros militares en 1840 como parte de una flota británica que expulsó al virrey de Egipto, Muhammad Ali, de la Siria otomana.

Venecia también tenía un astillero naval austriaco, de cual cañonera conducida por tornillo "Kerka" (equipo, 100) fue lanzado en 1860 (no fue sacado del servicio hasta 1908). La 'flotilla de laguna' de buques de guerra austriacos de Venecia fue amarrada, en 1864, delante de la iglesia de San Giorgio e incluía la cañonera conducida por tornillo "Ausluger", el vapor de pala "Alnoch", y cinco cañoneras de pala de los Tipos 1 a IV.[1]

En 1863 el acorazado de la Marina Británica HMS Marlborough, el buque insignia del almirante Fremantle, hizo una visita de cortesía a Pola.[1]

During the invasion by Prussia and Austria of Schleswig-Holstein, Duchies then in Denmark, Rear-Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff commanded an Austrian flotilla from his flagship, the screw-driven SMS Schwarzenberg in the naval action off Heligoland on May 9, 1864.[1]​ SMS stood for Seiner Majestät Schiff.

La flota austriaca hizo su nombre en la era moderna en la Batalla de Lissa el 20 de julio de 1866, cerca de la isla de Vis en el Adriático. Esta fue una victoria decisiva para una fuerza naval austriaca superada en número, bajo la orden del contralmirante von Tegetthoff, sobre una fuerza italiana superior, y era la primera batalla de mar europea principal que implica barcos usando el hierro y vapor, y uno de los últimos para implicar chocar deliberado.

Peace-time[editar]

In 1873 the new sail and steam frigate SMS Laudon (crew 480) was added to the fleet, which took part in the International Naval Review off Gravosa in 1880.[1]

During peace-time Austrian ships visited the Asia, North America, South America, and the Pacific Ocean.

When Franz Joseph's brother accepted the ill-fated throne of México in April 1864 from Louis Napoleon, becoming Maximiliano I de México, the Austro-Hungarian warship SMS Novara conveyed him from the Adriatic to Vera Cruz, escorted by the frigates, SMS Bellona (Austrian) and Themis (French). Maximilian had served in the Austrian Navy and was an Admiral of the Fleet, and the Imperial yacht Phantasie led the warship procession from his Schloß Miramar out to sea.[2]

In 1869 the Emperor Franz Joseph travelled on board the screw-driven corvette SMS Viribus Unitis to the opening of the Suez Canal. The ship had been named after his personal motto.[3]

Polar Expedition[editar]

Austro-Hungarian ships were also involved in Arctic exploration, discovering Franz Josef Land.

The naval schooner Tegetthoff left Tromsø in July 1872. At the end of August she got locked in pack-ice north of Novaya Zemlya and drifted to hitherto unknown polar regions. It was on this drift when the explorers discovered an archipelago which they named after Emperor Franz Joseph I.

In May 1874 Captain Payer decided to abandon the ice-locked ship and try to return by sledges and boats. On 14 August 1874 the expedition reached the open sea and on 3 September finally set foot on Russian mainland.

Austro-Hungarian naval yard at Pola (modern Pula); ca. 1890

Rebelión en Creta[editar]

A finales de 1896 una rebelión estalló en Creta, y el 21 de enero de 1897 un ejército griego desembarcó en Creta para liberar la isla del Imperio Otomano y unirla con Grecia. Los poderes europeos, incluso Austria-Hungría, intervinieron, y proclamaron Creta un protectorado internacional. Buques de guerra del K.u.K patrullaron las aguas de Creta en el bloqueo de las fuerzas navales otomanas. Creta permaneció en una posición anómala hasta que fue cedida finalmente a Grecia en 1913.

The Boxer Rebellion[editar]

Austria-Hungary was part of the Eight-Nation Alliance during the Boxer Rebellion in China (1899 - 1901). As a member of the Allied nations, Austria sent two training ships and the cruisers SMS Kaiserin und Koenigin Maria Theresia, SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth, SMS Aspern, and SMS Zenta and a company of marines to the North China coast in April 1900, based at the Russia concession of Port Arthur.

In June they helped hold the Tianjin railway against Boxer forces, and also fired upon several armed junks on the Hai River near Tong-Tcheou. They also took part in the seizure of the Taku Forts commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and the boarding and capture of four Chinese destroyers by Capt. Roger Keyes of HMS Fame (1896). In all K.u.K forces suffered only several casualties during the rebellion.

After the uprising a cruiser was maintained permanently on the China station and a detachment of marines was deployed at the embassy in Peking.

Lieutenant Georg Ritter von Trapp, made famous in the musical The Sound of Music, was decorated for bravery aboard the SMS Kaiserin und Koenigin Maria Theresia during the Rebellion.

Montenegro[editar]

During the First Balkan War Austria-Hungary joined Germany, Francia, the United Kingdom and Italia in blockading the seaport town of Bar in the Kingdom of Montenegro.

European naval arms race[editar]

Among the many factors giving rise to World War I was the naval arms race between Great Britain and Imperial Germany. However, that was not the only European naval arms race. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy were in a race of their own for domination of the Adriatic Sea.[cita requerida] The Austro-Hungarians built four Dreadnoughts in the form of the Tegetthoff class battleships; these were opposed by six Dreadnoughts of the Italian Regia Marina.

World War I[editar]

Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts at Pula.
Austro-Hungarian fleet manouevres in February 1913

La marina Austro-húngara vio un poco de acción durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, pero antes de la entrada italiana pasó la mayor parte de su tiempo en su base naval principal en Pula, Croacia. Después de la declaración de guerra italiana, el mero hecho de su existencia amarró a la Marina italiana y a la Marina francesa en el Mediterráneo for the duration of the war.

On 15 May 1915, when Italia declared war on Austria-Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian navy left their harbors in Pola, Sebenico and Cattaro to bombard the eastern Italian coast between Venice and Barletta. Los objetivos principales eran las ciudades de Ancona, Rímini, Vieste, Manfredonia, Barletta y puentes y pistas de ferrocarril a lo largo de la costa. Hacia 1917 la flota Austro-húngara estuvo aún en gran parte intacta.

La presencia de tres marinas Aliadas en el Mediterráneo hizo cualquier medida de coordinación y doctrina común extraordinariamente difícil. El Adriático fue dividido en once zonas, de las cuales las autoridades navales británicas eran responsables de cuatro, los franceses de cuatro, y los italianos de tres. Diferencias de estructuras de orden, orgullo nacional y la barrera de los idiomas, todas contribuyeron a una carencia de cohesión en la aplicación del poder de mar Aliado, produciendo una situación en la cual el U-boot alemán y Austro-húngaro ataca en el próspero embarque . Un ejemplo de la carencia de coordinación era el hundimiento del transporte de tropa italiano Minas ligado de Italia a Salónica, que fue torpedeado en una de las zonas británicas en febrero de 1917 con la pérdida de 870 vidas, una escolta británica que no entiende un mensaje y fracasa al de relevar al destructor italiano que giró en la barrera de zona.

Batalla de Durazzo[editar]

En diciembre de 1915, un escuadrón de cruceros de la K.u.K. Kriegsmarine intentó hacer una incursión sobre las tropas serbias que evacuaban Albania. Después de hundir un submarino francés y bombardear la ciudad de Durazzo el escuadrón entró corriendo en un campo de minas, hundiendo a un destructor y dañando al otro. Al día siguiente, el grupo se topó con un escuadrón de cruceros y destructores británicos, franceses e italianos. La batalla resultante dejó a dos destructores austriacos hundidos y daños ligeros al otro, mientras que los Aliados sólo contaban con daños menores a sus buques.

Una conferencia de tres potencias del 28 de abril de 1917, en la isla de Corfú, habló de una estrategia más ofensiva en el Adriático, pero los italianos no estuvieron listos para considerar cualquier operación de grandes barcos, considerando el tamaño de la flota Austro-húngara. Los británicos y franceses parecieron poco dispuestos a moverse solo contra los Austro-húngaros, sobre todo si esto significara una batalla de escala llena. Pero los austríacos eran bastante activos cualquiera y justo cuando la conferencia Aliada estuviera en la sesión ellos planeaban una operación ofensiva contra la Presa Otranto.

Battle of the Otranto Straits[editar]

SMS Novara after the Battle of Otranto Straits

Throughout 1917 the Adriatic remained the key to the U-boat war on shipping in the Mediterranean. Cattaro, some 140 miles above the narrow Straits of Otranto, was the main U-Boat base from which almost the entire threat to Mediterranean shipping came.

The Otranto barrage, constructed by the Allies with up to 120 vessels used as net drifters and 30 motor launches, all equipped with depth-charges, was designed to stop the passage of U-Boats from Cattaro. However, this it failed to do and from its inception in 1916 the barrage had caught only two U-Boats, the Austrian U-6 and the German UB-44 out of hundreds of possible passages.

However, the barrage effectively meant that the Austro-Hungarian surface fleet could not leave the Adriatic sea unless it was willing to give battle to the blocking forces. This, and as the war drew on bringing supply difficulties especially coal, plus a fear of mines, limited the Austro-Hungarian navy to shelling the Italian and Serbian coastlines.

There had already been four small-scale Austro-Hungarian attacks on the barrage, on March 11, April 21, and 25, and May 5, 1917, but none of them amounted to anything. Now greater preparations were made, with two U-Boats despatched to lay mines off Brindisi with a third patrolling the exits in case Anglo-Italian forces were drawn out during the attack. The whole operation was timed for the night of May 14/15, which led to the biggest battle of the Austro-Hungarian navy in World War I, the Battle of the Otranto Straits.

The first Austro-Hungarian warships to strike were the two destroyers, the SMS Czepel and SMS Balaton. An Italian convoy of three ships, escorted by the destroyer Borea, was approaching Valona, when, out of the darkness, the Austrians fell upon them. The Borea was left sinking. Of the three merchant ships, one loaded with ammunition was hit and blown up, a second set on fire, and the third hit. The two Austrian destroyers then steamed off northward.

Meanwhile, three Austro-Hungarian cruisers under the overall command of Captain Miklos Horthy, the SMS Novara, SMS Saida, and SMS Helgoland, had actually passed a patrol of four French destroyers north of the barrage, and thought to be friendly ships passed unchallenged. They then sailed through the barrage before turning back to attack it. Each Austrian cruiser took one-third of the line and began slowly and systematically to destroy the barrage with their 4 inch guns, urging all Allies on board to abandon their ships first.

During this battle the Allies lost two destroyers, 14 steamships and one glider while the Austro-Hungarian navy suffered only minor damage (the Novara's steam supply pipes were damaged by a shell) and few losses. The Austro-Hungarian navy returned to its bases up north in order to repair and re-supply, and the allies had to rebuild the blockade.

The Mutiny of 1918[editar]

In February 1918 a mutiny started in the 5th Fleet stationed at the Gulf of Kotor naval base. Sailors on, it is said, up to 40 ships, had joined the mutiny over demands for better treatment and a call to end the war.

The mutiny failed to spread beyond Kotor and within three days a loyal naval squadron had arrived. Together with coastal artillery the squadron fired several shells into a few of the rebel's ships, and then assaulted them with Royal Austrian Marines in a short and successful skirmish. About 800 sailors were imprisoned, dozens were court-martialed and four seamen were executed, including the leader of the uprising, František Raš, a Bohemian. Given the huge crews required in naval vessels of that time (a destroyer would normally have a crew of up to 500 men) this is an indication that the mutiny was limited to a minority.

Late World War I[editar]

Admiral Horthy.

A second attempt to force the blockade took place in June 1918 under the command of Rear-Admiral Horthy. A surprise attack was planned but an Italian torpedo boat by chance spotted the flotilla, and launched two torpedoes hitting one of the four Austrian Dreadnoughts, the SMS Szent István. The lost element of surprise made Horthy break off his attack. Huge efforts were made by the crew to save the Szent Istvan which had been hit below the water-line, and the Tegetthoff took her in tow. However just after 6 a.m., the pumps being unequal to the task, the ship, now listing badly, had to be abandoned and it sank soon afterwards.[3]

In 1918, in order to avoid giving the fleet to the victors, the Austrian Emperor gave the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy and merchant fleet, with all harbours, arsenals and shore fortifications to the People's Council of the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. They in turn sent diplomatic notes to the governments of Francia, the United Kingdom, Italia, the Estados Unidos and Russia, to notify them that the State of SCS was not at war with any of them and that the Council had taken over the entire Austro-Hungarian fleet.

However, the navy was soon attacked at its moorings by the Italian Regia Marina, and the French navy commandeered the new dreadnought Prinz Eugen which they took to France and later used it for target practice in the Atlantic, where it was destroyed.[3]

Ships Lost[editar]

Ships lost in World War I: [4]

Naval problems[editar]

Except for the period before the Battle of Lissa the army-controlled Austrian War Ministry oversaw naval expenditures. Not surprisingly, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was a bit of an afterthought.[cita requerida] The navy's problems were further exacerbated by the eleven different ethnic groups comprising the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Officers had to speak at least four of the languages found in the Empire. Germans and Bohemians generally were in signals and engine room duties, Hungarians became gunners while Croats and Italians were seamen or stokers. The Dual Monarchy of the Empire, in which the Emperor of Austria was also the King of Hungary, was reflected in the navy's title, the Imperial and Royal Austrian Navy - K. u K. Kriegsmarine (kaiserlich und königliche Kriegsmarine). Besides problems stemming from the difficulty of communicating efficiently within such a multilingual military, the Empire's warship designs were generally smaller and somewhat less capable than those of other European powers.[cita requerida]

The Dreadnought Era[editar]

Great Britain had already taken the lead. The battleship HMS Dreadnought had been completed in 1906, and was so advanced that some argued that all previous battleships were rendered obsolete, although Britain and other countries kept pre-dreadnoughts in service.

Austria-Hungary's naval designers, aware of the inevitable dominance of all big gun dreadnought type designs, then presented their case to the Marinesektion des Reichskriegsministeriums in Vienna, who, on October 5, 1908, ordered the construction of their own dreadnought, the first contract being awarded to 'Werft das Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT)', the naval weaponry to be provided by the Škoda Works in Pilsen. The Marine budget for 1910 was substantially enlarged to permit major refits of the existing fleet and more dreadnoughts. The battleships SMS Tegetthoff and SMS Viribus Unitis were both launched by the Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Trieste, amongst great rejoicing, on June 24, 1911, and March 21, 1912. They were followed by the SMS Prinz Eugen, and the SMS Szent Istvan. These battleships, constructed later than many of the earlier British and German dreadnoughts, were considerably ahead in some aspects of design, especially of both the French and Italian navies, and were constructed with Marconi Wireless rooms as well as anti-aircraft armaments. It is said they were the first battleships in the world equipped with torpedo launchers built into their bows.[3]

Between the 22nd and 28th May 1914 the Tegetthoff, accompanied by the Viribus Unitis, made a courtesy visit to the British Mediterranean fleet in Malta.[3]

Among the European States, Imperial Germany enhanced her naval infrastructure, building new dry docks, and enlarging the Kiel Canal to enable larger vessels to navigate it. Imperial Russia too had commenced building a new modern navy[5]​ following their naval defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.

The British Royal Navy, with its great political clout, is nevertheless said to have suffered from a lack of foresight, with their warship designers labouring under width, length and tonnage constraints imposed by size limitations of existing facilities.

Austrian Naval Air Arm[editar]

Albatros D.III of the K.u.K. Seefliegerkorps.

In August 1916, the Royal Naval Air Corps or K.u.K. Seeflugwesen was established. This was later renamed K.u.K. Seefliegerkorps in 1917. The K.u.K. Seefliegerkorps served at the following airfields in Albania and southern Dalmatia: Berat, Kavaja, Tirana, Scutari and Igalo. They also had airfields at Podgorica in Montenegro.

  • Flik 1 - Igalo from June - November 1918
  • Flik 6 - Igalo from November 1915 - January 1916
    • - Scutari from January 1916 - June 1917
    • - Tirana from July 1917 - June 1918
    • - Banja from June - July 1918
    • - Tirana from July - September 1918
    • - Podgorica from September - November 1918
  • Flik 13 - Berat from August - September 1918
    • - Kavaja from September - October 1918

The following K.u.K squadrons served at Feltre also:

  • Flik 11 - from February 1918
  • Flik 14 - from June 1918 to November 1918
  • Flik 16 - from November 1917 - October 1918
  • Flik 31 - from June - July 1918
  • Flik 36 - from June - July 1918
  • Flik 39 - from January - May 1918
  • Flik 45 - during April 1918
  • Flik 56 - during December 1917
  • Flik 60J - from March - September 1918
  • Flik 66 - from January 1918 - November 1918
  • Flik 101 - during May 1918

Feltre was captured by Austrian forces on 12 November 1917. There were two other K.u.K airfields nearby, at Arsie and Fonzaso. It was the main naval airstaion for the K.u.K. The K.u.K. Seeflugwesen used mostly modified German planes, but produced several variations of its own. Notable planes for the service were the following:

Famous personnel[editar]

Dreadnought SMS Tegetthoff, named after Admiral von Tegetthoff

Commanders-in-Chief of the Navy (Oberkommandant der Marine; from March 1868 styled Marinekommandant)[editar]

Commanders-in-Chief of the Fleet (1914-1918) (Flottenkommandant)[editar]

Scale drawing of a Radetzky Class semi-dreadnought.

Chiefs of the Naval Section (Chef der Marienesektion)[editar]

See also[editar]

Archivo:2004 Austria 20 Euro S.M.S. Novara front.jpg
S.M.S. Novara coin

References[editar]

  1. a b c d e f Hubmann, Franz, & Wheatcroft, Andrew (editor), The Habsburg Empire, 1840-1916, London, 1972, ISBN 0-7100-7230-9
  2. Haslip, Joan, Imperial Adventurer - Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, London, 1971, ISBN 0-297-00363-1
  3. a b c d e Wagner, Walter, & Gabriel, Erich, Die 'Tegetthoff' Klasse, Vienna, January 1979
  4. Dario Petković: Ratna mornarica austro-ugarske monarhije, Pula 2004, Page 86, ISBN 953-6250-80-2
  5. Greger, René, The Russian Fleet, 1914-1917, London, 1972, ISBN 7-110-0255-X
  • Kemp, Peter, The Otranto Barrage, in History of the First World War, vol.6, no.1, BPC Publishing Ltd., Bristol, England, 1971, pps: 2265 -2272.

External links[editar]