He was to be run down in the post war years by a tram he neither heard nor saw coming! His Dreadnought creations were conceived through a process that saw political scheming and ‘untruths’ told. ![]() Of all the battleships that were created in the years prior to the First World War, the four ships of the Tegetthoff class, ( SMS Viribus Unitis, SMS Tegetthoff, SMS Prinz Eugen and SMS Szent István) were probably the most flawed, born from a designer, Siegfried Popper with failing eyesight and a growing deafness, who refused to take sage advice from the German Admiralty in ship design. They were to be lost not to a blow by blow exchange of fire with their peers, but to Italian torpedoes and limpet mines carried into battle by fast torpedo boats and frogmen. But aside from a bombardment of the Italian mainland, they were never to fire their powerful main armament in anger. These status symbols were in their short lifetime to serve through 4 years of war and by the time the guns fell silent across the battlefields of Europe, 50% of that new dreadnought force lay on the seabed. Enjoy his examination of one of the First World War’s least known dreadnoughts!įor less than 5 years, (1913-1918) the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a navy that was in part comprised of the latest ‘must-haves’ for a pre-World War One ‘Super-power, the all big gun dreadnought, (or battleship). He was kind enough to share some information about the Tegetthoff class, giving you a small taste of what’s in store. Foreword – Andy South has revised his book on the Tegetthoff class dreadnought.
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