SMS Kaiser (1858)

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For other ships with the same name, see SMS Kaiser.

SMS Kaiser in her original configuration
History
Austria-Hungary
NameSMS Kaiser
NamesakeKaiser
Builder
Pola Navy Yard
Laid down25 March 1855
Launched4 October 1858
Commissioned1859
RenamedBellona, 1902
FateUnknown after 1918
General characteristics (as built)
TypeShip of the line
Displacement5,194 long tons (5,277 t)
Length74.02 m (242 ft 10 in)
Beam16.21 m (53 ft 2 in)
Installed power
  • 6 × boilers
  • 800 
    nominal horsepower
Propulsion
Complement900
Armament
  • 16 × 60-pounder guns
  • 74 × 30-pounder guns
  • 2 × 24-pounder guns
Class overview
Name(As ironclad)
Preceded byErzherzog Albrecht
Succeeded byKaiser Max class
General characteristics (1873)
Type
Casemate ship
Displacement5,720 long tons (5,810 t)
Length78 m (255 ft)
Beam699 in (58 ft 3 in)
Draft290 in (24 ft 2 in)
Installed power2,786 
kW
)
Speed11.55 knots (21.39 km/h; 13.29 mph)
Range1,519 nautical miles (2,813 km; 1,748 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement471
Armament
  • 10 × 9 in (229 mm) guns
  • 6 × 8-pounder guns
Armor

SMS Kaiser was a 92-gun wooden

Seven Weeks' War two years later, during which she took part in the Battle of Lissa as the flagship of Anton von Petz, commander of the Austrian 2nd Division. Kaiser engaged several Italian ironclads simultaneously, rammed one—Re di Portogallo—and damaged another—Affondatore—with gunfire. In doing so, she became the only wooden ship of the line to engage an ironclad warship
in battle.

In 1869, the Austro-Hungarians decided to rebuild Kaiser into an ironclad

war prize
after the end of the conflict, but her ultimate fate is unknown.

Design

Starting in the early 1850s, the Austrian Empire, faced with a strengthening Kingdom of Sardinia—which unified most of the Italian peninsula in a decade—began to modernize its navy with new steam-driven warships. Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian oversaw the program, which began with the screw frigate Radetzky laid down in Britain in 1852. Two years later, Ferdinand decided a steam ship of the line should be built next; he originally intended the new ship would be built as a copy of the British 91-gun ship of the line HMS Agamemnon, the plans for which the Royal Navy provided to Austria in exchange for the country remaining neutral during the Crimean War of 1853–1856. The excellent performance of the French ship Algésiras during the war prompted the Austrians to modify the Agamemnon design to incorporate features of the French vessel, including a greater size and more powerful machinery. A second vessel of a slightly larger design, to have been named Österreich and armed with 101 guns, was cancelled in 1859 before she was laid down.[1]

The Kaiser was designed by

ship rig supplemented the steam engine.[5][6][7]

Service history

The

armored frigate Don Juan d'Austria and two smaller vessels under Vice Admiral Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair to reinforce a smaller force consisting of the screw frigates Schwarzenberg and Radetzky under then-Captain Wilhelm von Tegetthoff. After the two groups combined in Den Helder, the Netherlands, they proceeded to Cuxhaven on 27 June, arriving three days later. The now outnumbered Danish fleet remained in port for the rest of the war and did not seek battle with the Austro-Prussian squadron. Instead, the Austrian and Prussian naval forces supported operations to capture the islands off the western Danish coast.[9] During the campaign, Kaiser was commanded by Friedrich von Pöck.[10]

Battle of Lissa

Main article: Battle of Lissa (1866)
Kaiser surrounded by Italian ironclads at Lissa

In June 1866, Italy declared war on Austria, as part of the Third Italian War of Independence, which was fought concurrently with the Austro-Prussian War.[11] Tegetthoff, by now promoted to rear admiral and given command of the entire fleet, brought the Austrian fleet to Ancona on 27 June, in an attempt to draw out the Italians, but the Italian commander, Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano, refused to engage Tegetthoff.[12] At the time, Kaiser served as the flagship of the 2nd Division of the Austrian fleet, under the command of Anton Petz. On 16 July, Persano took the Italian fleet, with twelve ironclads, out of Ancona, bound for the island of Lissa, where they arrived on the 18th. With them, they brought troop transports carrying 3,000 soldiers.[13] 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 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.[14]

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 the wooden warships of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions following behind in the same formation. Kaiser led the 2nd Division at the center of the line. While he was forming up his ships, Persano transferred from his flagship, Re d'Italia, to the turret ship Affondatore. This created a gap in the Italian line, and Tegetthoff seized the opportunity to divide the Italian fleet and create a melee. He made a pass through the gap, but failed to ram any of the Italian ships, forcing him to turn around and make another attempt. In the meantime, Petz took Kaiser and his division further south, hoping to attack the Italian wooden ships that had not joined the action. Instead, the rear of the Italian ironclad line turned to block Petz from Tegetthoff and attacked Kaiser. Petz in turn reoriented his division to attack the Italian ironclads, leading the charge with Kaiser.[15]

Kaiser after the battle, partially dismasted

The ironclads

fighting tops shot at Italian sailors.[16] In addition, a shot from Kaiser struck one of Affondatore's turrets, jamming it for the remainder of the battle.[17] Kaiser had lost her foremast and funnel in the collision with Re di Portogallo, and Petz ordered his damaged ship to put into port at Lissa.[18]

By this time, the Austrian ironclads disengaged from the melee to protect their wooden ships; Re d'Italia had been rammed and sunk and the

coastal defense ship Palestro was burning badly, soon to be destroyed by a magazine explosion. Persano made an attempt to follow them with Affondatore, but he broke off the attempt when only one of his other ironclads followed him. His crews were badly demoralized by the loss of Re d'Italia and Palestro, and his ships were low on ammunition and coal. The Italian fleet began to withdraw, followed by the Austrians; as night began to fall, the opposing fleets disengaged completely, heading for Ancona and Pola, respectively. In the course of the battle, Kaiser's crew had suffered twenty-four killed and thirty-seven wounded.[19] Kaiser was and is the only ship of the line to have engaged ironclad warships in battle.[20]

Conversion and later career

Kaiser after her reconstruction into a casemate ship

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 Armistice of Cormons; this ended the fighting and led to the Treaty of Vienna. Though Austria had defeated Italy at Lissa and on land at the Battle of Custoza, the Austrian army was decisively defeated by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz. As a result, Austria, which became Austria-Hungary in the Ausgleich of 1867, was forced to cede the city of Venice to Italy. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the bulk of the Austrian fleet was decommissioned and disarmed.[21]

Chronic budgetary problems confronted the navy of the new Austro-Hungarian Empire; Tegetthoff had great difficulty securing funding for new ships to modernize the fleet. In 1868, he attempted to start a new building program, but the government refused to budget for new warships. Parliament did include funds to modernize Kaiser, however.

casemate ship. Old wood planking below the waterline was replaced, but the hull was completely rebuilt with iron above the waterline. Her bow was replaced with a more pronounced ram and she received a new stern as well. This increased her length to 77.75 m (255.1 ft) at the waterline and increased her beam to 17.76 m (58.3 ft). Her draft remained similar, at 7.37 m (24.2 ft), though her displacement increased to 5,720 long tons (5,810 t). Superheaters were added to her original boilers to provide more power,[5][7] and her engines were rated to produce a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) from 3,130 ihp (2,330 kW),[23] though in service she was only capable of reaching 11.55 knots (21.39 km/h; 13.29 mph) from 2,786 ihp (2,078 kW).[5][7] At a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), she could steam for 1,519 nautical miles (2,813 km; 1,748 mi).[23]

The ship was rearmed with a battery of ten 9 in (230 mm) 23-pounder

armored belt was installed on the waterline; in the central citadel that protected the machinery spaces, the belt was 152 mm (6 in) thick. On either end of the ship, the belt was reduced to 102 mm (4 in). Iron plating 127 mm (5 in) thick protected the casemate. Kaiser was re-launched in 1871,[5] but further budgetary problems, particularly payments for the armor plate and iron fittings that were purchased from Britain, delayed completion of the conversion.[24] Work was finally completed in December 1873.[5] She began sea trials on 21 December.[7] By this time, the ship had become obsolescent; the same year, Italy laid down the two Duilio-class ironclads, very powerful turret ships twice the size of Kaiser and that carried 450 mm (17.7 in) guns.[25]

Line drawing of Kaiser after her reconstruction

On 11 February 1874, Kaiser joined the active squadron of the fleet, and became the

Tanger in Alawi Morocco. While in Gibraltar, Kaiser met the screw corvette Fasana, and the two ships returned to Barcelona, were they joined Frundsberg and the gunboat Dalmat. The four ships conducted shooting practice together while in the area. During this period, on 16 March, Kaiser encountered the Italian screw corvette Principessa Clotilde, the captain of which invited Kaiser to join the Italians for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel II. Kaiser had a similar encounter on 4 July with the United States' sloop Juniata, for a celebration marking the United States' declaration of independence.[26]

The ship did not see further active service. She remained

breech-loading guns, two 7 cm (2.8 in) 15-cal. guns, four 47 mm (1.9 in) 33-cal. quick-firing guns, three 47 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon, and four 25 mm (0.98 in) machine guns was installed in 1882. In 1885, three 35 cm (14 in) torpedo tubes were added, one in the bow and one on each broadside.[5]

A commission examined the ship in 1893 and recommended that the ship was "not suitable for commissioning". The government began negotiations with

war prize; her ultimate fate is unknown.[5][31][32]

Notes

  1. ^ Lambert, pp. 114–115.
  2. ^ Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences, p. 389.
  3. ^ a b Rüstow, p. 670.
  4. ^ Lambert, p. 147.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Sieche & Bilzer, p. 270.
  6. ^ Lambert, pp. 114, 147.
  7. ^ a b c d Pawlik, p. 49.
  8. ^ Aichelburg, p. 34.
  9. ^ Greene & Massignani, pp. 210–211.
  10. ^ Sondhaus, p. 36.
  11. ^ Sondhaus, p. 1.
  12. ^ Wilson, pp. 216–218.
  13. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 1–2.
  14. ^ Wilson, pp. 221–224, 229–230.
  15. ^ Wilson, pp. 223–225, 230–236, 238.
  16. ^ Wilson, pp. 238–240, 244.
  17. ^ Sondhaus, p. 43.
  18. ^ Paine, p. 55.
  19. ^ Wilson, pp. 238–241, 246, 250.
  20. ^ Sandler, p. 62.
  21. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 1–3, 8.
  22. ^ Sondhaus, p. 21.
  23. ^ a b Scheltema de Heere, p. 19.
  24. ^ Sondhaus, p. 25.
  25. ^ Fraccaroli, p. 340.
  26. ^ Bewegungen, p. 22.
  27. ^ Sondhaus, p. 100.
  28. ^ Pawlik, pp. 49–50.
  29. ^ Pawlik, p. 50.
  30. ^ Sondhaus, p. 155.
  31. ^ Pawlik, pp. 50, 59.
  32. ^ Greger, p. 135.

References

Further reading
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