The Last Storm The Austro-Hungarian Imperial & Royal Marine In World War I [Exhibit at Kobariški Muzej, Kobarid (Caporetto, Karfreit) from April 21 to September 30, 2001: a similar exhibit was held at the K. u k. Marine-Bibliothek in Pula in July-August 2000] In the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century, Austria-Hungary became one of the leading maritime powers. Due to the relatively strong Austro-Hungarian fleet on the east Adriatic coast, during World War I Allies' maritime forces did not undertake major operations in this area, but limited their activities to the inspection of the Strait of Otranto (at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea) to prevent transit of Austro-Hungarian and German submarines to the Mediterranean.The Imperial and Royal (namely the Austro-Hungarian) fleet kept sea links along the coast until the end of the war and provided for the supply of their Army in Albania, and sporadically attacked the Italian fleet. The fleet lost one modern ("Szent István") and one old battleship, 2 cruisers, 4 destroyers, 2 torpedo boats and 8 submarines (the total tonnage lost equalled to 35,000 tons). Merchant navy suffered the greatest lost in 1914 when the passenger ship "Baron Gautsch" sunk, coming across a mine near Rovinj (her wreck is visited by divers even nowadays). Austro-Hungarian Navy was not defeated during the war, although the adversaries had at their disposal much stronger forces (33 battleships, 22 armoured cruisers, 18 light cruisers, 90 destroyers, 80 torpedo boats and 55 submarines as against 16 Austro-Hungarian battleships, 3 armoured cruisers, 11 light cruisers, 30 destroyers, 80 torpedo boats and 27 submarines). Although there was no decisive battle between the Austro-Hungarian fleet and Allies' maritime forces (Italian, French and British), the adversaries lost 3 battleships, 3 armoured cruisers, 1 auxiliary cruiser, 7 destroyers, 1 torpedo boat and 11 submarines.On October 31, 1918, the Austro-Hungarian fleet was handed over to the representatives of the People's Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (from Zagreb), but on November 1 Italian diversionists sank the flagship Viribus Unitis. The Allies states did not recognise the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian fleet to the People's Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, but divided the fleet among themselves (the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes got only a few small and old-fashioned units). The maritime tradition of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Navy is still alive, besides other places also in Pula (Pola) - former central war port of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Every year, the day "Viribus Unitis" was sunk, Croatian Navy, the Society "Viribus Unitis" from Pula and the Austrian Marine Association Federation (Österreichische Marineverband) commemorate the 350 sailors, with whom died also the first Croatian admiral Janko Vuković Podkapelski. The representatives of the Austrian Black Cross and other organisations and associations also regularly visit the restructured Navy Cemetery (a cultural monument). Beside numerous buildings, the Navy Church and the Navy Cemetery, a part of the former Austro-Hungarian Navy library ("K.u.k. Marine-Bibliothek", a registered cultural monument of the Republic of Croatia, with about 20,000 volumes of books) and the navy collection called "The Imperial and Royal Navy in Pula" are preserved in Pula in the building of the former Austro-Hungarian Navy Club (nowadays the House of Croatian Armed Forces, Leharova 1).
In the near future, in one of the numerous Austro-Hungarian military fortresses, we do hope to be able to arrange in Pula also a museum dedicated to the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic, which would present the rich historical, navy, cultural and architectural heritage, common to Pula, Croatia and central European countries in the period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Zvonimir Freivogel and Bruno Dobrić |
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This page compliments of Bruno Dobrić Created: Wednesday,
October 22,
2003; Last updated:
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
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