SMS Empress Elisabeth

SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth before the renovation in 1906
Overview
Type	Protected cruiser
units	Sea Arsenal , Pola
Keel laying	July 1, 1888
Launch	September 25, 1890
Namesake	Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary
Commissioning	January 24, 1892
Whereabouts	November 2, 1914 Sinking itself in Tsingtau
Technical specifications
displacement	4063 t, max. 4566 ts
length	103.68 m over everything
width	14.75 m
Draft	6.09 m
crew	419-427 men
drive	4 double-ended cylinder boilers , 2 triple expansion machines , 2 shafts, 9,000 PSi
speed	19.17 kn
Range	3200 nm at 10 kn (710 t coal)
Armament	2 × 24 cm Krupp cannons 6 × 15 cm Krupp cannons 13 × 4.7 cm Hotchkiss rapid fire cannons 2 × 3.7 cm Hotchkiss rapid fire cannons in the mast 4 × 40 cm torpedo tubes
Armament from 1906	2 × 15 cm Skoda L / 40 C.96 rapid charging guns (SLG) 6 × 15 cm Krupp L / 35 C.86 (apt.) - SLG 12 × 4.7 cm Skoda -L / 44-C.97-Rapid Fire Cannons (SFK) 2 × 4.7-cm-Skoda-L / 33-C.90-SFK 2 × 7-cm-Skoda-L / 18-C.95-Boots- and landing guns 4 × 40 cm torpedo tubes
Coal supply	710 t
Armor deck turret command post	37 to 56 mm 40 to 90 mm 50 mm
Sister ship	SMS Emperor Franz Joseph I.

SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth was a protected cruiser of the Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-I. -Class of the Austro-Hungarian Navy .

It was named after Elisabeth from the Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen family , Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary.

history

As the second ship of this class and in response to the Italian cruiser of Giovanni Bausan - and Etna series to put his SMS Empress Elisabeth as a torpedo-Rammkreuzer on 1 July 1888 at naval arsenal Pola to Kiel . The launch took place on September 25, 1890, the commissioning on January 24, 1892.

In view of the rapid development in the field of weapon technology, the two ships of this class became outdated very quickly, and design-related defects made modernization imperative. The main artillery was exchanged, the casemate guns of the middle artillery, because of the unfavorable mounting too close to the water surface and therefore only usable in calm seas, were relocated to the upper deck. In contrast to the type ship , the Empress Elisabeth did not have any gun turrets, but kept the weakly armored gun platforms at the bow and stern . After the conversion work was completed, the ship was reclassified as a 2nd class cruiser in 1908. In 1911 there was another reclassification as a small cruiser.

The value of the ship was doubtful, so in specialist circles of the kuk Kriegsmarine this class was disparagingly referred to as "Sterneck's sardine cans" based on the then Commander in Chief of the Navy, Admiral Maximilian Daublebsky von Sterneck .

The cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth was the target of the first sea-based air raid in history off Tsingtau on September 6, 1914, the ship was not hit. The attack was carried out by the Japanese aircraft mother ship Wakamiya , which had launched and launched the Farman double-decker seaplanes built in France using an on-board crane.

Trips, missions, whereabouts

• 1892–1893: World tour of the second in line to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the throne from 1896)
• 1895: Friendship visit to the kuk Schiffsverband in Kiel on the occasion of the opening of the Kiel Canal .
• 1895: Demonstration trip to the Levant
• 1896: Levant journey
• 1899–1900: Station ship in East Asia
• 1900–1902: returned to China on the occasion of the Boxer Rebellion
• 1904–1905: Station ship in East Asia
• 1906: Training trip to the Mediterranean
• 1907: Training trip to the Mediterranean
• 1908: Training trip to the Mediterranean
• 1908–1910: Station ship in East Asia
• 1911: Training trip to the Mediterranean
• 1912: Training trip to the Mediterranean
• 1913: Station ship in the Levant
• 1914: Station ship East Asia
• July 22, 1914: Relocation to Tsingtau . Considerations to assign the ship to the German East Asia Squadron of Count Spee could not be carried out because of the low maximum speed of the ship.
• August 14, 1914: Order to disarm the cruiser, crew is ordered to Tientsin .
• August 26, 1914: Order to remove and install bow and stern guns on the land front. Empress Elisabeth shoots land targets with the remaining artillery.
• November 2, 1914: After the ammunition had been used up, it was scuttled in the bay of Tsingtau. The crew goes with the German garrison after the Siege of Tsingtao in Japanese captivity and is released 1920th

Technical specifications

• Displacement: 4063 ts
• Length: 102.56 meters
• Width: 14.72 meters
• Draft: 5.7 meters
• Drive:
  • 4 steam boilers
  • 2 standing 3-cylinder triple expansion machines
  • 2 screws
• Power: 8000 PSi
• Top speed: 19.17 knots
• Armament:

2 × 24 cm Krupp L / 35 C.86 cannons

6 × 15 cm Krupp L / 35-C. 86 cannons

5 × 4.7 cm Hotchkiss L / 44 rapid fire cannons (SFK)

4 × 4.7 cm Hotchkiss L / 33 SFK

2 × 3.7 cm Hotchkiss L / 33 SFK

2 × 7 cm Uchatius L / 15 boat cannons

4 × 40 cm overwater torpedo tubes (id design: 2 × broadside headwater lancing apparatus and 1 bow & stern headwater lancing apparatus each)

• After reconstruction in 1905/06

2 × 15 cm Skoda L / 40 C.96 rapid charging guns (SLG)

6 × 15-cm-Krupp-L / 35-C.86 / 99 (apt.) -SLG later designation: L / 35-C.86 (apt.)

12 × 4.7 cm Skoda L / 44 C.97 rapid fire cannons (SFK)

2 × 4.7 cm Skoda L / 33-C.90-SFK

2 × 7 cm Skoda L / 18 C.95 boat and landing guns

4 × 40 cm overwater torpedo tubes (id design: 2 × broadside headwater lancing apparatus and 1 bow and stern headwater lancing apparatus each)

• Armor:

Deck: 3.8 cm

Embankment: 5.7 cm

Barbettes : 9 cm

24 cm gun platform: 4 cm

Bay window for casemate guns: 4 cm

Shield for 15 cm deck guns: 4–6 cm

Navigating bridge: 4.5–5 cm

• Annotation:

For the sake of authenticity, the place names are given in the spelling of the Imperial and Royal Navy. The links refer to today's conditions.

Museum reception

The history of the kuk Kriegsmarine is documented in detail in the Marinesaal of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna , whereby the exhibition also includes ship models and contemporary representations in paintings and photographs by SMS Empress Elisabeth , including a high-quality painting by the marine painter Alexander Kircher .

The ship is featured in the exhibition Aonogohara - Austrian Prisoners of War in Japan 1914–1920 , on the occasion of 150 years of Japanese-Austrian relations - November 29, 2019 - March 13, 2020 in the Lower Austrian State Library, St. Pölten. Aonogohara was one of 15 POW camps for Germans and Austria-Hungarians in Japan.

literature

• Erwin S. Sieche: The cruisers of the k. and k. Marine. (= Naval arsenal with international naval news and naval overview. 27). Podzun-Pallas et al. a., Wölfersheim-Berstadt u. a. 1994, ISBN 3-7909-0506-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wilhelm M. Donko: Austria's Navy in the Far East: All trips by ships of the k. (U.) K. Navy to East Asia, Australia and Oceania from 1820 to 1914. Verlag epubli GmbH, Berlin, 2013, p. 4, 156–162 and 427.
2. ^ Manfried Rauchsteiner : The Army History Museum in Vienna. Photos by Manfred Litscher. Publishing house Styria, Graz u. a. 2000, ISBN 3-222-12834-0 , pp. 84 f.
3. ↑ Show shows prisoner-of-war camps in Japan orf.at, November 30, 2019, accessed November 30, 2019.
4. ↑ Special> Aonogahara Museum of Lower Austria, museumnoe.at, November 30, 2019 accessed November 30, 2019.