SMS Drache (1861)
Drache at anchor after her 1867 refit
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History | |
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Austro-Hungarian Empire | |
Name | SMS Drache |
Namesake | Dragon |
Builder | Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, Trieste |
Laid down | February 1861 |
Launched | 9 September 1861 |
Completed | November 1862 |
Stricken | 13 June 1875 |
Fate | Scrapped, 1883 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | armored frigate |
Displacement | 3,110 long tons (3,160 t) |
Length | 70.1 m (230 ft) |
Beam | 13.94 m (45 ft 9 in) |
Draft | 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) |
Installed power | 2,060 ihp (1,540 kW) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
Complement | 346 |
Armament |
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Armor | Waterline belt: 115 mm (4.5 in) |
SMS Drache was the first of two
Design and description
The Drache class was designed in response to the
The frigates were armed with ten 48-pounder smoothbore guns and eighteen 24-pounder rifled, muzzle-loading (RML) guns in the traditional broadside arrangement of older ships of the line. In addition, they carried a pair of landing guns, one of which was an 8-pounder and the second was a 4-pounder. They were equipped with ram bows. The Drache-class ironclads had a waterline belt of wrought iron that was 115 millimeters (4.5 in) thick.[2]
Service history
Drache was
Battle of Lissa
On 16 July, Persano took the Italian fleet out of Ancona and steamed to the island of Lissa, where they arrived on the 18th. With the main fleet of twelve ironclads, they brought troop transports carrying 3,000 soldiers.[5] Persano then spent the next two days bombarding the Austrian defenses of the island and unsuccessfully attempting to force a landing. Tegetthoff received a series of telegrams between the 17 and 19 July notifying him of the Italian attack, which he initially believed to be a feint to draw the Austrian fleet away from its main bases at Pola and Venice. By the morning of the 19th, however, he was convinced that Lissa was in fact the Italian objective, and so he requested permission to attack. As Tegetthoff's fleet arrived off Lissa on the morning of 20 July, Persano's fleet was arrayed for another landing attempt. The latter's ships were divided into three groups, with only the first two able to concentrate in time to meet the Austrians. Tegetthoff had arranged his ironclad ships into a wedge-shaped formation, with Drache on his right flank; the wooden warships of the second and third divisions followed behind in the same formation.[7]
While he was forming up his ships, Persano transferred from his
After Re d'Italia sank, the Italian fleet began to disengage, with the badly burning Palestro trailing behind, soon to be destroyed by a magazine explosion. Persano broke off the engagement, and though his ships still outnumbered the Austrians, he refused to counter-attack with his badly demoralized forces. In addition, the fleet was low on coal and ammunition. The Italian fleet began to withdraw, followed by the Austrians; Tegetthoff, having gotten the better of the action, kept his distance so as not to risk his success. As night began to fall, the opposing fleets disengaged completely, heading for Ancona and Pola, respectively.[11]
Later career
After returning to Pola, Tegetthoff kept his fleet in the northern Adriatic, where it patrolled against a possible Italian attack. The Italian ships never came, and on 12 August, the two countries signed the
The fleet embarked on a modest modernization program after the war, primarily focused on re-arming the ironclads with new rifled guns. The budget for 1867 provided funds to modernize Drache and Salamander first, as they were the oldest ironclads in the fleet.
Footnotes
- ^ a b Silverstone, p. 17.
- ^ a b c d Sieche & Bilzer, p. 267.
- ^ a b Silverstone, pp. 17, 26.
- ^ Greene & Massignani, p. 210.
- ^ a b Sondhaus, p. 1.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 216–218, 228.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 221–225, 229–231.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 232–235, 243.
- ^ Sokol, p. 45.
- ^ Wilson, p. 245.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 238–241, 250.
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 1–3.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 8.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 10.
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 39, 70.
References
- Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro (1998). Ironclads at War: The Origin and Development of the Armored Warship, 1854–1891. Pennsylvania: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-938289-58-6.
- Sieche, Erwin & Bilzer, Ferdinand (1979). "Austria-Hungary". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 266–283. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0-88254-979-8.
- Sokol, Anthony (1968). The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. OCLC 1912.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-034-9.
- OCLC 1111061.