- Yes
- No
- Italian tech tree
- Austro-Hungarian subtree in the Italian tech tree
- German tech tree
- Austro-Hungarian subtree in the German tech tree
- I said no
Tegetthoff-class battleship, SMS Viribus Unitis
Hello, and welcome to my suggestion for the battleship SMS Viribus Unitis!
TL;DR: An Austro-Hungarian battleship and pioneer - the first dreadnought commissioned between the major Mediterranean powers, the first dreadnought commissioned with three-gun turrets, and the continuation of what was a major Austro-Hungarian naval power resurgence.
Brief History
After an extensive development period, started by Admiral Montecuccoli, SMS Viribus Unitis was built between 1910 and 1912. Upon launching, she was the only battleship in the world with three-gun turrets, mainly provided with them in response to information that the Italians were planning on such for their battleship Dante Alighieri. With a relatively compact armament on a small frame, minor construction issues plagued her, although most modern interpretations overblow a singular report stating that she had useless air ventilation systems during combat - which is more than likely only due to the lack of the commander’s understanding of the actual ventilation systems. Staying in port for the majority of her life, she had no ship on ship combat up to her sinking. Renamed Jugoslavija by her new owners, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, she was sunk by a limpet mine one day after her transfer from the collapsing Austro-Hungarian navy. She took 300-400 souls down with her.
For a more in-depth look:
In-Depth Background
The Viribus Unitis, and specifically the Tegetthoff class as a whole, can trace its origins to a number of initiating factors - most importantly, the ascension of (previously Vice-Admiral) Rudolf Montecuccoli to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the K.u.K Kreigsmarine (Kaiserliche und Königliche Kreigsmarine, or the Imperial and Royal War Navy). While significant naval expansion had been previously attempted by the previous Admiral Spaun, it had only really been for smaller, seagoing pre-dreadnoughts and nothing comparable to any of Austria’s allies. Montecuccoli arrived at a more beneficial time than his predecessors, however. Due to the unfortunate suicide of Kronprinz Rudolf in 1889, Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been made heir-apparent, and throughout his time as such, he was an extremely avid supporter of the navy. The awarding of the rank of Admiral to the popular figure had done much for the public image of the navy, and had in several aspects reversed the Reichsrat’s (Austrian parliament) and the Diet of Hungary’s frugality when it came to naval expansion.
In 1905, Montecuccoli released his full layout for a future Austro-Hungarian Navy. Included among a number of smaller craft were 12 battleships - a fairly large number, considering the navy had barely 9 modern battleships (of those nine, 3 were not completed for another couple years, 3 were small coastal defense craft, and all were considered fairly unimpressive by the international community). After a speech at the Reichsrat and Diet of Hungary, funding was secured for the first wave of ships from this plan. Dealing with very limited shipyard sizes, approx. 16,000 tons, the Navy chose a design that would be known as the Radetzky-class, the last of the Austro-Hungarian pre-dreadnoughts. Not everyone would be satisfied with this design, however. Siegfried Popper, the head of design staff and one of the most prolific naval architects in the Empire, advocated for an alternative design - designs “B”, “C”, and “D” on the accompanying image - that would be an “all big gun” design, replacing the normal layout of only 2 main gun turrets for either a total of eight 11-inch guns or six 12-inch guns. Popper was eventually overruled, mainly due to the limited budget, available drydocks, and need for a newly-constructed floating drydock if the other designs were selected, but his interest in those shunned designs never ended.
While the Radetzky class was nearing completion, Montecuccoli was aware of the missed opportunity of the alternative designs, as Dreadnought had been launched and the Anglo-German naval arms race was in its beginning. Calling a meeting on May 7th, 1908, Montecuccoli and the MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee, or Naval Technical Committee) laid out the first outlines for a new-generation battleship. On July 6th, 1908, the specifications were released as an official design contest:
- Displacement of up to 20,000 tons
- Minimum of eight 30,5cm (12-inch) guns mounted on the centerline
- Either 19cm (7.5-inch) and 10cm (4-inch) secondary weapons
- 230mm belt armor thickness and 250mm barbette armor thickness
Two companies were invited to compete - the Hungarian company Ganz-Danubius and the Italio-Austro company STT (Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino). Ganz-Danubius declined due to the limited shipbuilding capacity offered by their docks, and so the competition landed squarely on the shoulders of STT. Coincidentally, Popper, who had retired in 1907, was at that point working for STT as a designer and consultant.
By February 1909, the designs were ready to be presented - one homebrewed by the MTK and seven by Popper at STT. Five of the designs were equipped with 10 main guns, two were equipped with the minimum of 8, and one equipped with 12. The MTK design was made with recently-outdated triple expansion engines, while the Popper designs were all equipped with modern Parsons steam turbines. 30,5cm l/50 guns had been suggested, although procurement issues had put their possibility in doubt. By April 20th, MTK requested 2 more designs from STT - both with 12 main guns in six dual turrets. Via personal request by Montecuccoli, however, STT prepared another 12 main gun design - this time involving triple gun turrets. This request most likely stemmed from the new knowledge of Italian battleship Dante Alighieri, which had gotten far along in planning. Due to significant issues within the Italian naval arms industry, however, this ship would have quite a while before it saw completion.
During this incredibly important designing window, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had been granted permission to look at plans of the German Kaiser-class battleships that were under construction. Alfred von Koudelka, a frigate captain, was sent by Montecuccoli to Berlin, where he met up with Admiral Tirpitz of the Imperial German Navy. While Koudelka was observing the German plans, Tirpitz commented on the Austro-Hungarian plans, in part objecting to the thin belt armor and relatively below-standard torpedo protection. During tests a few years prior, Popper had calculated a mathematical formula he believed gave the best idea of underwater protection given the weight restrictions on Austro-Hungarian warships, which unfortunately left internal bulkheads with almost half the dividers as German designs. Despite run-ins with a British spy during his stay, as the British viewed the dreadnoughts as a possible German attempt to outpace them in warship construction, Koudelka returned home safely and securely, and with detailed reports of the meeting. In accordance with the advice given by Tirpitz, several plans were redrawn with an increased belt armor, with a finalized thickness of 280mm.
June 9th, 1909 saw the issuing of the final design competition. Allowed displacement had been increased to 20,500 tons, and main guns had been finalized as 30,5cm l/45. Significant issues had plagued the design of the l/50, and so they were ultimately removed from the requirements altogether. Secondary armament had been resized, with a secondary battery of 15cm (6-inch) and a new tertiary battery of 7cm (2.66-inch, as the “7cm” cannon was really 66mm). Belt armor had been increased to 280mm, and steam turbines were authorized - powered by a mix of coal-fired boilers and auxiliary oil-fired ones. Within a few weeks, the final designs were presented. Two senior engineers, Theodor Novotny and Franz Pitzinger, submitted a design each, and Popper capped off his impressive record with 6 separate designs. Popper’s design “F” was eventually chosen, and soon after finalized.
By the time the ships were ready to be constructed, issues had occurred. Count Stephan von Rajecz, the Joint Finance Minister of the Empire, was against the building of newer ships, and on top of that, the Diet of Hungary had effectively collapsed, leaving it without a prime minister for over a year - entirely stopping any possibility of a budget being passed. Realizing the employment issues they would face if no warship was presented to fill up slips, Witkowitz Ironworks and Škoda secretly offered a risky venture. They would begin construction on the ships, at their own risk, with the understanding that once the Diet of Hungary had conferred, they would be paid in full. After lengthy negotiations, the proposal was accepted by Montecuccoli. This proposal, however, had not named the number of ships being built, and therefore only 2 were started - the soon to be named Viribus Unitis and Tegetthoff. In the chance of a failure to accrue the funds, Field Marshall Hötzendorf wrote that the ships would be sold to a “reliable ally”, most likely Germany.
Naming of the ships would prove to be, surprisingly, a bit of an issue. Ever since the first of the modern Austro-Hungarian capital ships, the SMS Monarch and her sister ships, the Diet of Hungary had included a caveat while providing funding for warships - at least one out of each capital ship series would be named with a Hungarian name, to reflect the contribution made by them to the Empire (see SMS Budapest, SMS Árpád, SMS Zrínyi - interestingly, the Erzherzog Karl class lacked this standard). This was noted in the first series of name suggestions provided by the navy:
- SMS Tegetthoff
- SMS Prinz Eugen
- SMS Don Juan
- SMS Hunyadi
Despite the change from 1 out of 3 ships in the previous capital ship classes to 1 out of 4, this appears to have been well accepted by the Diet of Hungary. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, however, had objections - he wished to rename the 4th ship, the SMS Hunyadi, into the SMS Laudon. Objections, swiftly raised by the Diet, challenged the Archduke, and continued for longer than what was healthy for the program. This was only finally resolved by the intervention of Emperor Franz Joseph I, who essentially demanded that the ship names be:
- SMS Viribus Unitis
- SMS Tegetthoff
- SMS Prinz Eugen
- SMS Szent István
(On a side note, Viribus Unitis was ordered specifically by Franz Joseph I and was not part of any preliminary lists - it was the motto of Franz Joseph I, and as such was the name of the first ship, taking the place of what would have been Tegetthoff. Other proposed names for the 4th ship, the Hungarian one, were SMS Corvin Mátyás and SMS Erzsébet Királyné.)
Secrecy was also a major issue with the warships. As previously mentioned, the British had heard rumors of the possible Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts, and the British Admiralty viewed them as possibly being built for Germany - as payment for diplomatic support during the Bosnian Crisis in 1908, an event which had actually influenced the construction of the warships - but only as direct evidence to convince the Reichsrat and Diet of Hungary that such a series of new, better battleships would be needed. British papers, Admirals, and a select few politicians still held on to the German collusion idea, even after the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Alois von Aehrenthal denied any possibility of that. The ascension of Winston Churchill to the position of First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911 ended these rumors, as he personally believed them to be completely false. The heightened secrecy was also noticed by France, as the French Naval Attaché to Austria-Hungary at the time complained to Paris about the prevention of photography at Pola Naval Yard, the future home port of the Tegetthoffs, and consistent presence of Austro-Hungarian police. The ships were eventually leaked to the public via the Social Democratic newspaper Arbeiter-Zeitung and the Christian Social Party’s paper Reichspost.
On March 10th, 1910, the newly formed Nemzeti Munkapárt (National Party of Work) handily won the Hungarian Parliament elections. With the source of money finally stabilized, Montecuccoli revealed the 2 partially built ships and requested money for the whole 4-ship class in October of 1910. While at any other point, this probably would have failed, the revelation of Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts led to a chain reaction wherein Italy laid down an additional 3 dreadnought battleships, the Conte di Cavour class, in the summer of 1910. Seeing the situation as a full-on arms race, funding was given with almost no dissent. A large portion of the success can be attributed to an agreement brokered in the Diet of Hungary - funding would be provided by the Nemzeti Munkapárt under the condition that the 4th ship, SMS Szent István, would be built in a Hungarian dockyard. Ganz-Danubius, despite declining from the initial design competition due to limited dockyard size, was dragged into this deal by the Diet of Hungary with very little say, and rapidly was forced to increase dockyard capacity. While unknown at the time, this rush would lead to significant quality issues within Szent István, becoming a major issue that led to her sinking in 1918.
Construction, which had begun in 1910, was completed swiftly due to the apparent imminence of need. Viribus Unitis, laid down on the 24th of July, was launched exactly 11 months later, on the 24th of June 1911 (Archduke Franz Ferdinand, despite being expected at the coronation party for King George V, chose to attend the launching of Viribus instead). Tegetthoff had been laid down on the 24th of September 1910 and launched on the 21st of March, 1912. Prinz Eugen and Szent István had both been laid down in January of 1912, on the 16th and 29th respectively, but while Prinz Eugen experienced relatively few issues with her construction at the same STT dockyard in Trieste as her sisters and launched on the 30th of November, 1912, Szent István struggled at her relatively unprepared Ganz-Danubius slipway in Fiume. She launched nearly 2 years later, on the 17th of January 1914. Commissioning followed soon after, with the ships being commissioned on the 5th of December 1912, 14th of July 1913, 8th of July 1914, and 13th of December 1915 respectively.
In-Depth Service History
After her commissioning in 1912, SMS Viribus Unitis began with a relatively peaceful but tragic career. She, like all the other Tegetthoff class, was designed for 20.3 knots, but still managed to reach 20.49 knots on her speed trials. Being the new flagship of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, and the pride of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, she accompanied him when they visited Bosnia to oversee military maneuvers in 1914. She dropped the Archduke off at the entrance to the Neretva river, where Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie then proceeded to Sarajevo. 5 days later, on the 30th of June 1914, Viribus Unitis carried the bodies of the ill-fated royals back to Trieste.
After World War One had broken out, given Italy’s initial neutrality, the only bit of service Viribus Unitis initially saw was the “protection” of the German warships SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau during August 1914. Although war was not official between Austria-Hungary and Britain until the 12th of August, the mere presence of the Austrian fleet and the obvious signs of partial mobilization had concerned the First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill, into explicitly warning his ships to avoid contact with Austrian warships. 4 days after war had been declared, the combined French-British Mediterranean fleets initiated the Battle of Antivari, hoping to draw out the Austro-Hungarian fleet, including Viribus Unitis, into a decisive battle. The delayed knowledge of the battle and suspicions of Austro-Hungarian officers led to no such battle.
Wishing to preserve his fleet, Anton Haus, who had risen to Commander-in-Chief of the K.u.K Kreigsmarine after Montecuccoli’s retirement in 1913, refused to send out his major warships until 1915. When it was evident that Italy would soon declare war on Austria-Hungary, the warships prepared themselves for action, and on the 24th of May 1915, the entire fleet amassed on the coast of Ancona. With the bombardment of military and civilian installations as the primary objective, mainly railway lines along the province, a combined force of Viribus Unitis, Tegetthoff, Prinz Eugen, and a large number of pre-dreadnought battleships and cruisers (Szent István had not even been commissioned by this point) commenced firing for quite some time (approximately 30 minutes for the dreadnoughts). During this combat, Viribus Unitis had probably the least uneventful action of the major warships, as the other battleships had moved on to other targets and some even dealt with halfhearted airship attacks, but Viribus Unitis dealt with no resistance. With the bombardment successful, Viribus Unitis and the rest of the fleet headed back to port, where most of them waited out the remainder of the war.
During mid-1916, the Naval Department requested an overall report from the Commanding Officers of the 4 Tegetthoff-class battleships. Linienschiffskapitän Kamillo Teuschl, the Commanding Officer of Viribus Unitis, wrote about an issue that is still cited to this day. He claimed that, under battle conditions, the main air intakes for the gun turrets had to be closed, and this led to a lack of oxygen in the turrets. Often pointed to as a major flaw of the warships, this is probably not a genuine issue. No reports from any other Officers, including reports taken after the firing at Ancona, report this issue. Analysis of the plans also contradicts the reports by Kamillo Teuschl - a second air intake on the battery deck would allow the ventilation to operate once the main intake was closed - as long as it was opened. With no mention of this in any report, it is most likely that Linienschiffskapitän Teuschl simply did not even know about this secondary air intake.
Aside from gunnery practices, the last possible combat experience of Viribus Unitis under the Austro-Hungarian flag was during an attempted excursion on the Otranto Barrage. In the 3rd change of leadership during her lifetime, Anton Haus passed away in early 1917, and Emperor Franz Joseph I had passed away in late 1916. The newly in command Emperor Karl I promoted the up and coming Miklós Horthy to Commander-in-Chief of the K.u.K Kreigsmarine and, fresh with the experience of the battle of the Strait of Otranto, Admiral Horthy elected to lead a much larger assault on the barrage. Viribus Unitis, serving as Horthy’s flagship, led a collection of warships, including the remainder of the Tegetthoff class, towards the location in June 1918. While the battleships were separated into 2 groups and following their escorts, disaster struck. Tegetthoff and Szent István had slowed down due to an overheated turbine, and at the same time a lone pair of Italian MAS torpedo boats happened upon the warships. Tegetthoff avoided the torpedoes and, believing they had been fired by a submarine, began evasive maneuvers. Barely sailing at 12 knots and somehow unsuccessful in damaging the torpedo boats, Szent István was hit by two separate torpedoes, which surpassed the torpedo protection and began flooding the boiler rooms. Attempts at counterbalancing the ships and repairing the holes were unsuccessful, in part due to the substandard riveting and quality control from the Hungarian yards causing the flooding to extend well past what it should have. Szent István capsized at 6:12 am, taking 89 souls with her.
Believing the element of surprise had been lost, and fearing an Allied fleet responding to the events, Admiral Horthy quickly took Viribus Unitis and the remainder of the warships back to port. In reality, the Italians did not even realize the battleships had left port until 2 days after the planned attack. Viribus Unitis remained in Pola for the rest of her life, but it was still not without danger. At the very end of the war, with worries of the fleet being taken by the Allies, the entire K.u.K Kreigsmarine was transferred to the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in hopes that they would survive. The transfer, occurring on the 31st of October 1918, was followed by the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs proclaiming their neutrality, the renaming of Viribus Unitis to Jugoslavija, and the raising of the new flag. Italy, either unaware of the transfer or simply not caring, still launched an attack against the warship. Early in the morning of the 1st of November 1918, two divers upon a manned torpedo latched a limpet mine to the hull of the warship, timed for 6:30 am. After being spotted by the crew upon the battleship, they informed Jugoslavija’s captain, the new Fleet Commander Janko Vuković, of the mine. An evacuation of the warship was commenced, and by the time the mine should have exploded, the ship was empty. Believing he had simply been lied to, Commander Vuković led the crew back on board the warship. The mine then proceeded to go off 14 minutes later, taking the unsuspecting Commander Vuković and 300 to 400 other souls down alongside the warship.
Specifications (1916):
Construction:
- Builder: Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, Trieste
- Ordered: 1908
- Laid down 24th July, 1910
- Launched 24th June, 1911
- Commissioned 5th December, 1912
Compliment: 1,087
Displacement: 20,000t Standard, 21,600t Full Load
Dimensions:
- Length: 152.2m (499ft 3in)
- Beam: 27.3m (89ft 8in)
- Draft: 8.9m (29ft 0in)
Powerplant:
- 12 Yarrow water-tube boilers
- 4 Parsons steam turbines leading to 4 propeller shafts
Speed & Power: 27,000 total SHP, 20.5 knots maximum speed
Range: 4,200 nautical miles (7,800km) at 10 knots
Armor:
- Belt: 110-280mm
- Turrets: 280mm, 60-150mm roof
- Barbettes: 280mm
- Conning tower: 280mm, 60-150mm roof
- Deck: 30-48mm
- Torpedo protection: 10mm and 25mm plates, total depth of 1.60m
- Other: Double bottom, coal bunkers backing belt armor
Armament:
- 12 (4x3) 30,5cm/45 K10 Škoda, 82 rounds per gun carried (100 max), 984 rounds total (1200 max)
- 12 (12x1) 15cm/50 K10 Škoda, 180 rounds per gun, 2,160 rounds total
- 12 (12x1) 7cm/50 K10 Škoda TAG, 400 rounds per gun, 4,800 rounds total
- 4 (4x1) 7cm/50 K16 Škoda BAG anti-aircraft gun, 400 rounds per gun, 1,600 rounds total
- 4 underwater torpedo tubes, 53cm L6.3 Whitehead, 3 torpedoes per tube, 12 torpedoes total
Armament Specifics
- 30,5cm/45 K10 Škoda:
Shell diameter: 305mm (12-inch)
Shell types: APC, SAPC
Shell specifications:
APC: “30,5cm bekappte Panzergranate L/5” - 454kg, 131.9cm long, 4.0kg TNT bursting charge.
SAPC: “30,5cm bekappte Zündergranate L/5” - 450kg, 131.9cm long, 26.7kg TNT bursting charge.
Maximum range: 22,000m at 20 degrees elevation, with APC shells.
Penetration:
APC: 605mm at 1,000m (using DeMarre), 502mm at 5,000m (penetration tests and DeMarre).
SAP: 411mm at 1,000m (using DeMarre).
Velocity: 800m/s
Reload: 3 rounds per minute with 18-shell “ready ammunition”, 2 rounds per minute afterwards.
Mountings: Three-gun turrets, firing angles of -4/+20 degrees.
- 15cm/50 K10 Škoda:
Shell diameter: 149.1mm (5.9-inch)
Shell types: AP, HE
Shell specifications:
AP: “15cm Panzergranate” - 45.5kg, based on various other 15cm shells, probably ~900g bursting charge.
HE: “15cm Sprenggranate” - 45.5kg, 3.0kg TNT bursting charge.
Maximum range: 15,000m at 15 degrees elevation, with AP shells.
Penetration:
AP: 261mm at 1,000m (using DeMarre).
HE: N/A
Velocity: 880m/s
Reload: 6 rounds per minute.
Mountings: Single-gun casemates, firing angles of -6/+15 degrees.
- 7cm/50 K10 Škoda TAG and 7cm/50 K16 Škoda BAG
Shell diameter: 66mm (2.66-inch)
Shell types: HE
Shell specifications:
HE: “7cm Sprenggranate” - 4.5kg, 264mm long, 1.6kg TNT bursting charge.
Maximum range, K10: 8,000m at 20 degrees elevation - K16: 5,000m Anti-Aircraft ceiling.
Penetration: N/A
Velocity: 880m/s
Reload: 20 rounds per minute
Mountings: Single-gun swivel mounts on deck and turrets,
- K10: firing angles of -10/+20 degrees
- K16: firing angles of -6/+90 degrees
(Note: TAG was the abbreviation used for “Torpedoboot-Abwehr Geschütz” - “Anti-Torpedoboat Gun”, and BAG was the abbreviation for “Ballon-Abwehr Geschütz” - “Anti-Airship Gun”)
- 53cm L6.3 Whitehead
Torpedo diameter: 530mm
Torpedo specifications:
1,336kg, 6.30m long, 180kg TNT explosive charge.
Maximum range: 1,000m at 41 knots (75.9km/h) or 10,000m at 29 knots (53.7km/h).
Reloads: 3 torpedoes per tube; one in the tube and 2 spare reloads
Mountings: 4 single tubes, mounted below the water on the bow, stern, and on both sides of the ship.
I hope my post has been interesting in the least, and I hope you consider voting to add this unique battleship to War Thunder.
Yours truly, KewlPangolin.
Edit: if you have any other suggestions for tech tree placement, please explain in the replies.
Sources:
Viribus Unitis - Home
Destination’s Journey - Viribus Unitis photographs
Geocities - Tegetthoff66 - Main
Croatian Treasure - The sinking of Viribus Unitis
NavWeaps - Austro-Hungarian Torpedoes
NavWeaps - Austro-Hungarian Naval Guns
Austro-Hungarian Battleships and Battleship Designs: 1904-1914 by Mihály Krámli, 2018
The Myth of the Unusable Gun Turret: Legend or Reality? by Mihály Krámli, 2020
Die “Radetzky”-Klasse: Österreich-Ungarns letzte Vor-Dreadnoughts by Erwin Sieche, 1984