Huszár class
|
|
|---|---|
| Huszár class | |
 SMS Streiter |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | destroyer |
| units | 14th |
| Shipyard |
1 Yarrows , Poplar |
| Order | 1904, 1909, 1911 |
| Keel laying | 1904-1912 |
| Launch | 1905-1910, 1913 |
| delivery | 1905-1911, 1914 |
| Namesake | Hussars |
| period of service |
1905 to 1918/1928 |
| Removed from ship register | 1 boat each 1908, 1917, 1918 |
| Whereabouts | 11 delivered in 1918 Ulan of Greece , separated in 1928  |
| Technical specifications | |
| Warasdiner a little different | |
| displacement |
400 to 420 t |
| length |
68.4 m above sea level |
| width |
6.25 m |
| Draft |
1.8 m |
| crew |
65–70 men |
| drive |
4 Yarrow coal boilers |
| speed |
28 kn , 2 screws |
| Range |
500 nm at 28 kn |
| Armament |
|
| last |
|
The Huszár class was a destroyer class of the Austro-Hungarian Navy . In 1904 she ordered prototypes of a 400-ton destroyer and a 200-ton torpedo boat from Yarrows . With the replicas at local shipyards, they then formed the Huszár class comprising twelve boats and the Kaiman class of 24 torpedo boats.
At the outbreak of war in 1914, the type, which is outdated by international standards, was the backbone of the light forces of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which until 1914 was only allowed to procure six modern destroyers of the Tátra class . The boats still present at the end of the war had to be handed over to the victorious powers. Only the Ulan was still used by the Greek Navy until 1928 , while the others were abandoned in Italy .
History of the class
The Huszár class arose from the prototype of a 400-ton destroyer built in 1904 at Yarrows in the London borough of Poplar. The boat, which was started in 1904, was launched on March 31, 1905 as the SM Torpedo Vehicle Huszár and was taken over by the Kuk Kriegsmarine in September 1905. The British shipyard developed the prototype from the 30 knotters for the British Royal Navy and the Ikazuchi class designed and built for Japan . These boats had already been delivered in 1899. At the same time, Yarrows was now building English destroyers of the larger River class .
Eleven replicas were ordered from Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) in Trieste and the new Danubius shipyard in Fiume . At the shipyard in Trieste, the five boats ordered there were started immediately after the prototype was taken over. In September 1906, the Ulan was completed as the first unit, which was then followed by Streiter , Wildfang , Scharfschützen and Uskoke (construction numbers 349 to 353) by December 1907. The newly built Danubius shipyard of the Ganz Group could only begin building the six destroyers it had commissioned in July 1907. The Turul , Pandur , Csikós , Réka , Dinara and Velebit built with construction numbers 11 to 16 were delivered between December 1908 and the end of 1909. At the same time, ten torpedo boats of the Kaiman class (building numbers 1 to 10) were built between July 1907 and June 1910 at the new shipyard.
The first boat of the class, Huszár , ran onto a reef off Cattaro on December 3, 1908 . Rescue attempts failed, but in a storm the abandoned boat drifted away and broke into three parts. In the naval arsenal in Pola , a replacement building in which so possible, salvaged parts, was the first Huszár were related. Officially a restoration of the stranded boat, a new boat of the class ( Huszár II ) was built there between November 1909 and February 1911 in order to still have twelve boats available.
Shortly after the outbreak of World War I , the Austro-Hungarian Navy received another boat of the class. At STT in Trieste there was a boat from a Chinese order that was not accepted and has now been accepted.
Technical specifications
The destroyers of the Huszàr class displaced 400 t with normal equipment and 420 t with maximum load. The hull of the class was 68.4 m above sea level. (67.1 pp.) Long, up to 6.25 m wide and had a draft of 1.8 m.
The boats were propelled by two four-cylinder triple expansion engines , which were supplied with steam by four Yarrow boilers and produced 6000 hp. Over two waves, the machines enabled the boats to reach a top speed of 28 knots (52 km / h; 32 mph).
The destroyers had four funnels, of which the front one was moved considerably to the rear compared to the model (Ikazuchi class). The distance between the chimneys was different. Due to the arrangement of the chimneys, the bridge house could be moved further back and was drier in heavy seas.
Armament
The Huszàr-class destroyers were armed with one 7 cm L / 45 and seven 4.7 cm L / 44 Škoda cannons and two 45 cm torpedo tubes. The 7 cm, actually 6.6 cm, gun stood on a pedestal above the arched ( turtleback ) foredeck. Six of the 4.7 cm guns were on the outside of the boats at the end of the forecastle, between the 2nd and 3rd chimneys and behind the 4th chimney. The 7th gun was on the center line far aft.
The two launchers (torpedo discharge tubes) stood on the center line between the "turtleback" forecastle and the bridge house and behind the four chimneys.
From 1912, the 4.7 cm guns on all units were replaced by five 6.6 cm L / 30 cannons.
The Warasdiner , still commissioned by the Chinese Empire , was taken over by the Navy in August 1914. The planned armament with two "12-pounder" (76 mm) and four "3-pounder" (47 mm) Armstrong-Whitworth guns did not take place because of the unclear situation in China. Before the takeover by the Navy, the boat was armed with local artillery pieces. The destroyer received two 66 mm L / 45 cannons in the forward and aft positions on the center line and four 66 mm L / 30 cannons in the side positions. In addition, instead of the two 450 mm single torpedo tubes, two torpedo tube twin sets were on board.
During the World War, the nose gun was exchanged for a 75 mm L / 30 cannon on several units of the class.
Mission history
During the World War, the destroyers of the Huszàr class performed a multitude of tasks, as the kuk Kriegsmarine only had the six destroyers of the Tátra class available on more modern units and only four replicas were added in the course of the war with two early losses. Montenegro , which is closely connected
to Serbia , was one of the war opponents in the First World War , from whose territory Cattaro , one of the bases of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, was observed and fired at. The navy had a great interest in preventing Montenegro's access to the Adriatic and French support. Their units often fired at positions in Montenegro. The destroyers were also used. It came in August 1914 in front of Antivari to a battle between the French fleet and the old cruiser Zenta and the Ulan . The Zenta accepted the battle and was sunk to enable the Ulan to escape to Cattaro.
When the former ally Italy entered the World War on the side of the Entente in May 1915 , the Navy attacked the Italian coast with a large number of units at various points. The destroyers of the Huszàr class took on independent tasks, such as fighters destroying a signal station, or securing heavier units during their advances, such as Velebit the battleship Tegetthoff during the attack on Ancona .
On December 5, 1915, the destroyers Warasdiner , Huszár (2), Pandur , Turu advanced with three torpedo boats from Cattaro against the Serbs-occupied San Giovanni di Medua in northern Albania. On the march back, the Warasdiner destroyed the French submarine Frésnel, which had been stranded after hunting by Austrian units in the Bojan estuary, by artillery fire and captured the 27 crew members.
On August 2, 1916, the destroyers Warasdiner and Wildfang were pursued by the British cruiser Liverpool , the Italian cruiser Nino Bixio and the Italian destroyers Nievo , Pilo , Abba , Mosto , Ardente and Indomito after a bombardment of Molfetta . There was a 45-minute firefight, in which the rapid cruiser Aspern, which was securing the destroyers, intervened. The Austrians were able to escape without damage or loss.
On the night of December 23, 1916, snipers , Dinara , Réka and Velebit attacked the Otranto barrier . Six alerted French destroyers came to the aid of the attacked guard ships. The Austrians were able to meet Casque and Commandant Riviére of the Bouclier class in the night battle and temporarily put them out of action. The Italian destroyers Abba , Pilo and Nievo tried to intercept the kuk destroyers on their way back to Cattaro near Cape Rodoni , but only met the French unit. Since the Allies could not coordinate their maneuvers properly, Casque and then Boutefeu collided with the Abba . The three damaged ships reached Brindisi, while the Huszar destroyers escaped to Cattaro without further contact.
Two Huszar-class boats were lost during the World War: The wild caught ran after a mission with the sister boat Csikós , Tb 93 and airmen on its return on June 4, 1917 off Peneda near Pula on a floating mine . 25 crew members, including the commander, lost their lives in the sinking. The Streiter sank on April 16, 1918 off Lovran in the Kvarner Bay after a collision with the steamer Petka, which was secured by it . Four crew members died in this accident.
On October 2, 1918, there was a skirmish between Allied destroyers and the destroyers Dinara , Schärschützen and the torpedo boat Tb 87 , when a larger naval formation came up to bombard the Central Powers retreating from Durazzo . With the exception of the aforementioned boats and a hospital ship, the ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy had already cleared the Albanian port. The three boats paced up and down during the air raid in front of Durazzo to distract the attackers from targets on the coast. When the Entente fleet began bombarding and sending light forces against the boats, they departed north. The torpedo boat received a torpedo hit, which luckily did not explode. Sniper received some light hits that killed three crew members and wounded five. They escaped with the Dinara , which was not hit.
The end of the class
At the end of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was disbanded. All surviving Huszar- class boats had to be handed over to the victorious powers. Italy received eight and France two. From 1920 they were then canceled in Italy.
Only the Ulan was not canceled immediately, but handed over to Greece . The Greek Navy used the boat as a smyrni from 1920 to 1928 . The old destroyer was still armed there with six 76 mm L / 51 cannons . In 1932, the last surviving Huszar class boat was scrapped.
Units of class
| Surname | Bw | Keel laying | Launch | in service | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huszár | Yar | 9.1904 | March 31, 1905 | 09/19/1915 | Stranded on December 9th, 1908, sunk on December 12th |
| Ulan | STT | 09/27/1905 | April 8, 1906 | 09/21/1906 | 1920 to Greece, Smyrni , 1928 out of service. |
| Champion | STT | 10/30/1905 | 06/16/1906 | December 31, 1906 | Sank on April 16, 1918 after colliding with the steamer Petka off Lovran . |
| Tomboy | STT | December 7, 1905 | 08/29/1906 | 06/15/1907 | Sank on June 4, 1917 after being hit by mines off the island of Peneda. |
| sniper | STT | 04/12/1906 | December 5, 1906 | 09/15/1907 | to Italy 1920, canceled. |
| Uskoke | STT | 1.09.1906 | 07/20/1907 | December 31, 1907 | to Italy 1920, canceled. |
| Turul | GD | 07/27/1907 | August 9, 1908 | December 31, 1908 | to Italy 1920, canceled. |
| Pandur | GD | 2.08.1907 | 10/25/1908 | January 31, 1909 | to France 1920, canceled. |
| Csikós | GD | 02/21/1908 | 01/24/1909 | 11/16/1909 | to Italy 1920, canceled. |
| Réka | GD | 08/13/1908 | 04/28/1909 | December 31, 1909 | to France 1920, canceled. |
| Dinara | GD | 01/28/1909 | 10/16/1909 | December 31, 1909 | to Italy 1920, canceled. |
| Velebit | GD | 11/5/1908 | 07/24/1909 | December 31, 1909 | to Italy 1920, canceled. |
| Huszar (2) | pole | 11/29/1909 | December 20, 1910 | February 8, 1911 | to Italy 1920, canceled. |
| Warasdiner | STT | 1.04.1911 | 4.1912 | 08/28/1914 | built for China as Lung Tuan , confiscated on August 1, 1914 and completed in Pola; to Italy 1920, canceled. |
literature
- Norman Friedman: British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War . Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley 2009, ISBN 978-1-84832-049-9 .
- Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 . Conway Maritime Press, London 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- Paul G. Halpern: A Naval History of World War I . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1995, ISBN 1-55750-352-4 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Friedman: British Destroyers , p. 59
- ^ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 , pp. 337f.
- ↑ a b c d Conway's , p. 338
- ^ Conway's, p. 330.
- ↑ Destruction of Fresnel (Q-65) (+1915)
- ↑ Bouclier class 800 t, 30 kn, 2–100 mm, 4-65 mm guns, 2x2 TR
- ^ Halpern: World War I , p. 162
- ↑ Fall of SMS Wildfang (+1917)
- ↑ Fall of SMS Streiter (+1918)