Erzherzog Karl-class battleship

Class overview
Operators	Austria–Hungary
Preceded by	Habsburg-class
Succeeded by	Radetzky-class
Completed	3
Retired	3
Preserved	0
General characteristics
Type	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	10,700 tons standard 12,500 tons full load
Length	124.5 m
Beam	21.8 m
Draft	7.5 m
Propulsion	2 shaft vertical triple expansion steam engines 12 Yarrow type coal fired boilers 18,000 hp
Speed	20.5 knots (38 km/h)
Range	3,500 nmi at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement	740 including 37 officers
Armament	4 - 240 mm (9.4 in) guns 12 - 190 mm (7.5 in) guns 12 - 66 mm guns 6- 450 mm torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt - 200 mm Deck - 50 mm Bulkhead - 50 mm Main turrets - 50 mm Secondary turrets - 150 mm Casemates 100 mm Conning tower 200 mm

The Erzherzog Karl class was a class of pre-dreadnought battleships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

History

As depicted in a contemporaneous Austro-Hungarian publication

Built in Triest shipyard Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, launched 1903 and commissioned 1905, the Erzherzog Karl class battleships were considered modern for their size. Dock space limitations and budgetary constraints resulted in a compact class, but nevertheless well designed and adequately protected.

However they were inferior to the more modern Dreadnought type designs – with their all big gun armament and turbine propulsion – which appeared immediately afterwards. This limited their usage during World War I to shore bombardment and other secondary tasks.

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I the 3 ships formed the III division of the Austrian-Hungarian battle-fleet and spent most of the war based at Pola. In company with other units they took part in the bombardment of Ancona on May 24, 1915 expending 24 rounds of 240 mm shells at signal and semaphore stations as well as 74 rounds of 190 mm shells aimed at Italian gun-batteries and other port installations. In February 1918 they undertook further duties in quelling a mutiny at the port of Cattaro before returning to Pola. They were stationed at Cattaro from April 1918 until the end of the war, thereafter Erzherzog Karl being ceded as war reparation to France and the two others to the United Kingdom. The first sank on the way and was scrapped in Italy in 1920 the two latter being scrapped in the U.K. in 1921.

Ships

• Erzherzog Karl (1905)
• Erzherzog Ferdinand Max (1905)
• Erzherzog Friedrich (1905)

See also

Media related to Erzherzog Karl class battleship at Wikimedia Commons

• Austro-Hungarian Navy