Adriatic Campaign of World War I
Battle of the Adriatic | |||||||
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Part of Battle of the Mediterranean | |||||||
The Adriatic Sea (upper right) during World War I, in an Austro-Hungarian map. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Allies: Regia Marina Royal Navy French Navy Royal Australian Navy United States Navy |
Central Powers: Austro-Hungarian Navy Imperial German Navy |
The Adriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought between the
Characteristics
Allied forces mainly limited themselves to blockading the Central Powers' navies in the Adriatic, which was successful in regards to surface units, but failed for the U-boats, which found safe harbours and easy passage into and out of the area for the whole of the war. Considered a relatively secondary part of the naval warfare of World War I, it nonetheless tied down significant forces.
The Adriatic campaign was also important because for the first time two new weapons were used successfully in warfare, viz. the
History
1914
Beginning of the war
On 6 August 1914 an
were opened to the French.One day after the French declaration of war against Austria-Hungary on 11 August, a French fleet under Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère arrived at Malta. He had orders to sail with all available French and British ships, pass into the Adriatic Sea, and undertake whatever operations he thought best against Austrian ports. Lapeyrère decided to surprise Austrian vessels enforcing a blockade of Montenegro. The main Allied force comprised the French battleships Courbet and Jean Bart, and the cruiser Jurien de la Gravière. Two French squadrons of pre-dreadnoughts, two squadrons of cruisers, and five destroyer squadrons were held back in support. The British support group comprised two armoured cruisers and three destroyer divisions. The Anglo-French force succeeded in cutting off and sinking the old Austro-Hungarian light cruiser SMS Zenta off Bar on 16 August in the Battle of Antivari, however Allied hopes in the engagement of baiting the Austrian capital ships into an action did not realized.
Throughout most of late August most of the action was simple bombardment of
The French and Montenegrin forces attempted to cause havoc also at Cattaro in September, October and November 1914, and the KuK navy was called in there also, resulting in a decisive defeat for the Allies.
Both the French and the Austrians spent much of this time laying extensive
The Goeben
In July, the German
On 7 August, an Austro-Hungarian Fleet—consisting of six battleships, two cruisers, and 19 destroyers and torpedo boats—sortied from Pola to escort Goeben and Breslau through Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, returned to port following day without ever making contact. Goeben and Breslau briefly engaged HMS Gloucester and the chase was abandoned by the British. By 10 August, both German warships were safely in the Dardanelles and heading for Turkey.
Winter
In November, the French submarine
On 21 December, the submarine U-12 scored one torpedo hit on the French battleship Jean Bart off Sazan Island. The battleship had to withdraw to Malta for extensive repairs.
1915
In February, the French destroyer Dague—while escorting the transport Whitehead to Bar—was sunk after hitting a mine. Also that month, the Austrian submarine U-12 was unsuccessfully attacked off Cape Mendra by a French submarine. Austrian destroyer SMS Csikós shelled Montenegrin positions at Bar with Tb 15 and Tb 68F.
In April, the Austrian
Bombardment of Ancona
When
The destroyer SMS Velebit shelled the Italian airship Città di Ferrara off Ancona. The semi-dreadnought SMS Radetzky and two torpedo boats bombarded Potenza Picena, then returned to Pola. The Radetzky-class semi-dreadnought SMS Zrínyi, with two torpedo boats bombarded Senigallia, destroying a train and damaging a railway station and a bridge, then returned to Pola. The torpedo boat Tb 3 was unsuccessfully bombed by an Italian airship. The light cruiser SMS Admiral Spaun shelled the Italian signal station at Cretaccio Island, while the armoured cruiser SMS Sankt Georg—with two torpedo boats—shelled Rimini, damaging and derailing a freight train. The destroyer SMS Streiter shelled the signal station near Torre di Mileto. The light cruiser SMS Novara, a destroyer and two torpedo boats entered Corsini Channel and shelled an Italian torpedo boat station, a semaphore station, and coastal artillery batteries.
The light cruiser
Finally, Austro-Hungarian
Allied raids
Coincidentally with the Austro-Hungarian attack on Ancona, the Italian destroyer Zeffiro shelled and captured the Austro-Hungarian naval station and post at Porto Buso on the first hours of 24 May. Austro-Hungarian troops withdrew from the nearby town of Grado as a consequence.[2]
On 5 June, four different Allied task forces attacked the Austrian coast. Four Italian armoured cruisers, escorted by four French destroyers, shelled
The summer of 1915
Sankt Georg and a squadron of torpedo boats bombarded Rimini on 16 June, causing minor damage. Then on 17 June, the cruisers Novara and Admiral Spaun and their escorts attacked and sank the Italian steamer Maria Grazia off Giulianova. The next day, they shelled Rimini and Fano, destroying the Italian signal station there.
The summer of 1915 was a successful time for Austrian submarines as well: on 10 June, U-11 sank the Italian submarine Medusa and torpedo boat Serpente; U-10 sank the Italian torpedo boat PN 5 on June 26 off Venice; U-4 torpedoed and sank the Giuseppe Garibaldi on 18 July; and U-5 captured the Greek steamer Cefalonia off Durazzo on August 29. But this was not without losses. On 13 August, U-3 was sunk at Brindisi by the French destroyer Bisson, after having been severely damaged by the Italian auxiliary cruiser Città di Catania the day before.
The Austro-Hungarian naval air-arm also began regular bombing raids against
SMS Helgoland, seven destroyers and four torpedo boats supported an Austrian landing at Pelagosa on 28 July. The landing was repulsed by the Italian garrison, that had arrived in the island on July 11. On August 17 the light cruisers "Helgoland", "Saida" and several destroyers bombarded the island again. The water reservoir was severely damaged and the next day the Italians began the evacuation. On 17 August, one of the cruisers was unsuccessfully torpedoed by an Italian submarine on return journey. The last act of the summer was the sinking on 26 September of the Italian battleship
In late September, the Allies established the Otranto Barrage, an attempt to blockade the entrance to the Adriatic Sea at the Strait of Otranto.
December
In early December, the French submarine
The light cruiser SMS Helgoland and five Tatra-class destroyers left Cattaro and headed for Durazzo late on 28 December 1915. While on passage the French submarine
An allied force had already sailed from Brindisi, with the aim to intercept them. It was composed of the British light cruisers HMS Dartmouth and Weymouth, the Italian light cruisers RN Quarto and Nino Bixio and five French destroyers. In support of the retreating force, the Austrians despatched the armoured cruiser SMS Kaiser Karl VI and the light cruiser Novara from Cattaro. Early in the afternoon of 29 December, the forward Allied ships came into action with the retreating Austrian light squadron, which was still only halfway home. The Triglav was abandoned and scuttled and a long-range gunnery duel was fought throughout the afternoon. SMS Tatra was damaged but the Austrian light force was able to reach Cattaro safely.
1916
Austrian submarines sank or damaged a number of ships in 1916. U-11 captured the Italian hospital ship King Albert on 18 January at San Giovanni di Medua. U-6 sank the French destroyer Renaudin on 16 March at Durazzo. On 8 June, U-5 torpedoed and sank the Italian troop transport Principe Umberto at Linguetta. Later, U-5 fought a French-Italian destroyer group to a stalemate on 2 August, and torpedoed the Italian Q-Ship Pantelleria south of Taranto on August 14.
On 15 September 1916, the two Austro-Hungarian seaplanes L.132 and L.135 forced the French submarine Foucault to surface by dropping bombs. L.135 finally sinks the sub while the 27 survivors were clinging to the two planes now floating, to be finally saved by the alarmed Tb 100M. This was the first sinking of a submarine by airplanes in naval war history.
The very same day, the French submarine Ampére scored two torpedo hits on the Austro-Hungarian Hospital ship No I (the former Lloyd steamer Elektra) off Cape Planka (Rt Ploča), causing two fatalities. The damaged hospital ship had to be beached in Borovica Bay for further repairs.
On the night of 22/23 December, the Austro-Hungarian destroyers
The return from the Otranto battle—15 May 1917—brought the British cruiser
At 13:30, UC-25 torpedoed Dartmouth approximately 36 mi (31 nmi; 58 km) off Brindisi, for some time the ship was considered to be lost, but was manned by a rescue crew later and finally towed into port. On hearing that Dartmouth had been torpedoed, Boutefeu went to assist, only to hit one of UC-25's mines.
1917
The Austro-Hungarian Navy had a major victory in May 1917 when it broke out of the allied naval blocked of the Adriatic Sea during the
1918
On 13 February, the submarine
On 22/23 April, the Austro-Hungarian Tátra-class destroyers SMS Triglav, SMS Uzsok, SMS Dukla, SMS Lika and SMS Csepel encountered the British destroyers HMS Jackal and Hornet, the Australian HMAS Torrens and the French Cimeterre. HMS Hornet was badly damaged in the ensuing fight but the alarm went up and the Austrians turned for home, pursued by Jackal, who had lost her mainmast.
The Premuda attack
At 03:30 on the morning of 10 June 1918, the battleship Szent István—in the company of SMS Tegetthoff and seven other ships en route to attack the Otranto Barrage – was seen by chance and then hit by two torpedoes launched from the Italian
. Many of the 1,087 crew were asleep, getting rested for the battle expected in a few hours. Immediate chaos soon changed into frantic efforts to save the vessel which was rapidly shipping water. SMS Tegetthoff was hit by another torpedo from a second MAS, but it did not explode.Then Tegetthoff—which had at first sped away from the vicinity of the torpedo attack—returned and took Szent István in tow, in an attempt to reach the massive dry dock at Pula. However, the pumps were unequal to the task before them due to loss of steam pressure and the ship continued to slowly list, sinking at 06:12, almost 3 hours after being hit.[1]
It is debated that faults in the
On 20 September, the French submarine
Second Battle of Durazzo
On 2 October, an allied fleet composed of Italian, British, Australian and American warships attacked the port of Durazzo, which had by that time come under Austro-Hungarian occupation, during the Second Battle of Durazzo. The fleet consisted of over 55 vessels along with MAS boats and supporting aircraft. Allied forces destroyed Austro-Hungarian shore batteries and defeated a small squadron of patrol craft while sustaining comparatively light damage. Durazzo was left in flames, several building, bridges and railroad targets were bombarded which forced the evacuation of the city. A week or so after the battle an allied army occupied the city without resistance.
Sinking of Viribus Unitis
On 1 November, the ex-Austro-Hungarian
The whole Austrian Navy was at the time being transferred to the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, but the Italian attackers had not been informed.
Austro-Hungarian submarines results
Many Austro-Hungarian and German U-boats operated out of the Adriatic for the whole of the war. Due to lack of cooperation of the Allies in the Mediterranean control zones, and the late institution of the convoy system, U-boats experienced substantial success throughout the first war years.[3]
K.u.K. Kriegsmarine submarines sunk 117 ships during World War I, with the total of 220,121 long tons (223,653 t). The most well-known casualties were:[4]
- Léon Gambetta
- Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Nereide
- Renaudin
- Fourche
- Impetuoso
- Nembo
- HMS Phoenix
- Circé
Also, the K.u.K. Kriegsmarine submarines damaged the following ships:[4]
Year | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 |
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Tonnage | 13 | 22.568 | 25.716 | 112.716 | 58.902 |
Source:[4] |
References
- ^ ISBN 953-6250-80-2.
- ^ "Prima Azione Della R. Marina". Betasom – XI Gruppo Sommergibili Atlantici. 14 February 2010. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- Dorling Kindersley. pp. 186–187.
- ^ ISBN 953-6250-80-2.