SMS Aspern

Aspern

SMS Aspern in the USA 1907

Ship data flag  Austria-Hungary Ship type Small cruiser class Zenta class Shipyard kk Naval Arsenal Pola Keel laying October 4, 1897 Launch May 3, 1899 Commissioning May 29, 1900 Decommissioning March 1918 Whereabouts scrapped

Ship dimensions and crew length 96.4 m ( Lüa ) width 11.9 m Draft Max. 4.49 m displacement Standard: 2417.32 tons   crew 292

Machine system machine 8 Yarrow water tube boilers, 2 standing 4-cylinder 3-way expansion machines Machine performance 7200 PSi Top speed 21 kn (39 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 8 × 1 Škoda 12 cm L / 40 8 × 1 47mm L / 33 2 × 1 torpedo tube Ø 45 cm

SMS Aspern was a small cruiser of the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the second ship of the Zenta class . It completed several missions abroad and, although technically out of date, was still used in the First World War. After the war it was awarded to the victors as booty and then sold for scrapping. The ship was named after the Battle of Aspern in 1809.

Building history

In its overall concept, lagging behind the general development, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was forced to lay two new types of cruiser on the keel in 1896. On the one hand, this concerned the Kaiser-Karl-VI. -Class as an armored cruiser type and the Zenta -class in an unarmored version. The Zenta class was designed by the designer Siegfried Popper, who with this ship was able to meet the requirement for a large radius of action at relatively high speed, which also met the requirements for reconnaissance and security service in overseas areas. For this purpose, a total of 586 m² of auxiliary sails was planned, but this soon proved to be superfluous. The vital areas were protected by a curved, lightly armored upper deck. Only guns from the Škoda company were used as armament .

When Austria-Hungary laid this class on Kiel, Italy already had three, Germany six, France five and Great Britain 33 of these ships. This in turn illustrated the clumsiness and the snail-like speed with which the Austro-Hungarian administration used to work - the ships of this class were already considered obsolete when they were commissioned and should have been replaced as early as 1910. Nevertheless, they were ready for action at the beginning of the war , even if they were of little use and therefore only little involved in combat operations.

The cruiser was laid down on October 4, 1896 in the Sea Arsenal in Pola , launched on May 3, 1899 and commissioned on May 29, 1900. The Aspern was completed after her sister ship Zenta and in front of the Szigetvár . Completion was delayed because the guns intended for the ship had meanwhile been sold to Spain.

Calls

• Summer 1900: Participation in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China
• 1903 - 1905: Station ship in East Asia
• 1905: Participation in the fleet demonstration in the Levant
• 1907: Together with St. George to the United States to visit the 300th anniversary of Jamestown / Virginia
• 1909 - 1910: Station ship in Trieste
• 1912: Participation in the fleet demonstration in the Levant
• 1913: On the occasion of the Balkan War, a fleet demonstration off the Montenegrin coast . Securing the evacuation of Scutari .
• 1914: Patrols in the Adriatic Sea
• December 29, 1915: Leaked out within a unit to reinforce the Heligoland group in action .
• August 2, 1916: Support group for two Austro-Hungarian destroyers in action . 45-minute gun battle with British cruiser Liverpool , Italian cruiser Nino Bixio and eight Italian destroyers. No damage or loss of your own.
• March 14, 1918: designated as a barge for the naval mines' command in Pola.
• March 15, 1918: Decommissioned.

Whereabouts

Awarded to Great Britain by an Allied naval delegation in late January 1920 . Then sold to Italy and scrapped there.

Technical specifications

• Water displacement: 2417.32 ts / 2522.64 ts max
• Length: 96.4 m
• Width: 11.93 m
• Draft: 4.48 m
• Drive: 8 Yarrow water tube boilers, 2 standing 4-cylinder 3-way expansion machines , 2 screws
• Power: 7200 PSi
• Top speed: 21 knots
• Travel distance: 3800 nm at 12 knots
• Armament: 8 × 12 cm L / 40 cannons from Škoda in single mounts - 8 × 4.7 cm L / 44 SFK - 2 × 47 mm L / 33 SFK - 2 × 45 cm surface torpedo tubes on the side
• Armor: deck 20 - 50 mm - gun shields 45 mm - command tower 50 mm - gun bay 35 mm
• Crew: 292 men

Naming

The ship was named after the Battle of Aspern

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., Wölfersheim-Berstadt et al. 1994, ISBN 3-7909-0506-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Manfried Rauchsteiner : The Army History Museum in Vienna. Photos by Manfred Litscher. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 2000, ISBN 3-222-12834-0 , p. 90.
2. ↑ Commemorative coin for the Boxer Rebellion of the Austrian Mint

Web links

SMS Aspern on kuk-kriegsmarine.at