SMS Tegetthoff

SMS *Tegetthoff*
Ship data
flag	Austria-Hungary
Ship type	Battleship
class	Tegetthoff class
Shipyard	Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino , Mulgs
Launch	March 21, 1912
Commissioning	July 14, 1913
Whereabouts	Wrecked 1924 to 1925
Ship dimensions and crew
length	152.2 m ( Lüa ) 151.0 m ( KWL )
width	27.3 m
Draft	Max. 8.6 m
displacement	Construction: 22,078 t ; Maximum: 22,860 t
crew	962 to 1,050 men
Machine system
machine	12 Yarrow boilers; 2 Parsons turbines
Machine ; performance	25,000 PS (18,387 kW)
Top ; speed	20.3 kn (38 km / h)
propeller	4th
Armament
	12 × 30.5 cm L / 45 Sk ; 12 × 15.0 cm L / 50 Sk; 18 × 7.0 cm Sk; 2 × torpedo tubes ∅ 53.3 cm (sides, under water);
Armor
	Belt: 100-280 mm; Citadel: 180-200 mm; Armored deck: 48 mm; Torpedo bulkhead: 36 mm; Towers: 205 mm; Barbettes: 280 mm; Casemates: 100 mm; Front command tower: 250–356 mm; aft command tower: 250 mm;

The SMS Tegetthoff was a Tegetthoff class battleship of the Austro-Hungarian Navy . The name goes back to the Austrian admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff , who defeated the Italian fleet in the sea battle of Lissa during the German war .

history

The ship was laid down on September 24, 1910 and launched in Trieste on March 21, 1912. The commissioning took place on July 14, 1913.

During the First World War , she and her sister ships SMS Viribus Unitis , SMS Prinz Eugen and SMS Szent István remained almost permanently in Pola . Exceptions were occasional advances down the eastern Adriatic coast and the bombardment of the Italian port city of Ancona on May 24, 1915.

After the war, the Tegetthoff was awarded to Italy and delivered on March 25, 1919, where the ship lay in Venice until 1923 and was finally scrapped in La Spezia from 1924 to 1925 .

Ship bell

The Tegetthoff's second, cast-iron ship's bell has a diameter of 51 cm (20 inches ) and was stored in La Spezia until 1942 . On November 22nd, 1942, the bell was handed over by the Italian Navy in a ceremonial act on board the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , because after the annexation of Austria , the German Reich was given the task of maintaining the tradition of the former Austrian Navy in the German Navy . Frigate captain Paul Schmalenbach was responsible for securing the bell as a traditional object after the Second World War (1939–1945) and keeping it in Olpenitz . In 1973 the bell was officially handed over to Austria by the Federal Republic of Germany. In a ceremony on July 23, 1973, it was again passed on by the Styrian Military Command to the Naval Comradeship Tegetthoff for preservation.

The ship's bell is now in the Graz Barmherzigenkirche , which also functions as a garrison church. It hangs on a pillar above the left end of the communion bench , the clapper can be easily reached on a piece of rope and anyone can strike it. A memorial service is held here on December 26th by the Tegetthoff Marine Comradeship , and the old bell is struck. This day was chosen because on December 26, 1943 the battleship Scharnhorst was sunk in the Arctic Ocean with almost 2,000 men on board.

Anchor of the Tegetthoff in front of the Palazzo della Marina in Rome

In addition, three anchors of the ship have been preserved. One is in the Naval Museum in Venice. A second anchor adorns an entrance on the Tiber side of the Navy Ministry in Rome . A third anchor of the ship was integrated into the "Monumento al Marinaio d'Italia" in Brindisi . A small Tegetthoff gun was also set up there.

Museum reception

The history of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is documented in detail in the Marinesaal of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna , with a cut-away model of the sister ship Viribus Unitis on a scale of 1:25 as well as contemporary representations in paintings and photographs by Tegetthoff .

literature

Wladimir Aichelburg : Kuk Fleet 1900-1918. Österreichische Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-8132-0573-8 .
Tegetthoff. In: Wladimir Aichelburg: Register of the k. (U.) K. Warships. From Abbondanza to Zrinyi. NWV Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Vienna et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7083-0052-1 , pp. 427-429.
Friedrich Prasky: The Tegetthoff class. Model making - technology - history. Verlag Österreich ua, Wien u.a.2000, ISBN 3-7046-1481-5 , with cutting plan 1: 200.

Web links

The SMS Tegetthoff on kuk-kriegsmarine.at
Bells and memorials in the Graz Garrison Church kleinezeitung.at, August 22, 2012 - image of the bell with a sketch of the article can be viewed free of charge

Footnotes

↑ Note. A first bell, probably made of cast bronze , was melted down for other use of the material in the war economy. See metal donation of the German people .
↑ Bauernfeind, Ingo: Radioactive to all eternity - The fate of the Prinz Eugen . ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-8132-0928-0 , p. 163 .
^ Manfried Rauchsteiner : The Army History Museum in Vienna. Photos by Manfred Litscher. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 2000, ISBN 3-222-12834-0 , p. 84 f.

[1] Note. A first bell, probably made of cast bronze , was melted down for other use of the material in the war economy. See metal donation of the German people .

[2] Bauernfeind, Ingo: Radioactive to all eternity - The fate of the Prinz Eugen . ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-8132-0928-0 , p. 163 .

[3] Manfried Rauchsteiner : The Army History Museum in Vienna. Photos by Manfred Litscher. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 2000, ISBN 3-222-12834-0 , p. 84 f.