SMS Monarch

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A painting showing SMS Wien and the other ships of the Monarch class on maneuvers
History
Austro-Hungarian Empire
NameSMS Monarch
OrderedMay 1892
BuilderPola Naval Arsenal
Laid down31 July 1893
Launched9 May 1895
Sponsored byArchduchess Maria Theresa
Commissioned11 May 1898
Decommissioned14 March 1918
FateScrapped, 1921
General characteristics
Class and type
coastal defense ship
Displacement5,785 tonnes (5,694 long tons) (
full load
)
Length99.22 m (325 ft 6 in)
Beam17 m (55 ft 9 in)
Draught6.4 m (21 ft 0 in)
Installed power
  • 8,600 ihp (6,400 kW)
  • 5 × cylindrical
    boilers
Propulsion
Speed17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range3,500 nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) @ 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement26 officers and 397 enlisted men
Armament
Armour

SMS Monarch 

pre-dreadnought battleships at the turn of the century. In 1906 the three Monarchs were placed in reserve and only recommissioned during the annual summer training exercises. After the start of World War I
, Budapest was recommissioned and assigned to 5th Division together with her sisters.

The division was sent to

Paris Peace Conference in 1920. The British sold her for scrap
and she was broken up in Italy beginning in 1921.

Description and construction

Main article: Monarch-class coastal defense ship
Right elevation and plan of the Monarch class; the shaded area is armored

At only 5,785 tonnes (5,694 long tons) maximum displacement,[1] the Monarch class was less than half the size of the battleships of other major navies at the time,[2] and were officially designated as coast defense ships.[3] Austria-Hungary's only coastline was on the Adriatic Sea, and the Austro-Hungarian government believed that the role of its navy was solely to defend the nation's coast.[2]

Monarch had an

boilers. These gave the ship a maximum speed of 17.8 knots (33.0 km/h; 20.5 mph). Monarch's maximum load of 500 metric tons (490 LT) of coal gave her a range of 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at a speed of 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph). She was manned by 26 officers and 397 enlisted men, a total of 423 personnel.[4]

The armament of the Monarch class consisted of

anti-aircraft gun was installed.[5][6]

The ship's nickel-steel waterline armor belt was 120–270 millimeters (4.7–10.6 in) thick and the gun turrets were protected by 250 millimeters (9.8 in) of armor. The casemates had 80 millimeters (3.1 in) thick sides while the conning tower had 220 millimeters (8.7 in) of armor. Monarch's deck armor was 40 millimeters (1.6 in) thick.[7]

The Monarch-class ships were ordered in May 1892,

launched on 9 May 1895 by Archduchess Maria Theresa, wife of Archduke Karl Ludwig. She was commissioned on 11 May 1898.[9]

Service history

Monarch and her sisters formed the Navy's 1st Capital Ship Division (I. Schwere Division) in 1899, and the division made a training cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean where they made port visits in

Meleda Island; it took two tries by Budapest and Habsburg to pull her off.[12]

The Monarchs were relegated to the newly formed Reserve Squadron on 1 January 1906, and were only recommissioned for the annual summer exercises. They participated in a fleet review by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, conducted in the

cerebrospinal meningitis in Egypt and caused the ship to be quarantined for several weeks in Pola.[13]

World War I

A map of the upper Adriatic Sea

With the beginning of World War I the three Monarchs were recommissioned as the 5th Division. They were sent down to the

Mount Lovćen bombarding the Austro-Hungarian naval base at Cattaro and the fortifications defending it. Monarch and her sisters arrived on 13 August, but their guns could not elevate enough to engage all of the enemy artillery, which was reinforced by eight French guns on 19 October. The battleship Radetzky
was summoned to deal with the guns two days later, and she managed to knock out several French guns and forced the others to withdraw by 27 October.

Monarch remained at Cattaro for the rest of the war to deter any further attacks. The ship's crew joined in the Cattaro Mutiny in early February 1918. Six weeks later she became an accommodation ship for the submarine crews based at nearby Gjenovic.[14] Monarch was handed over to Great Britain as war reparations in January 1920 and broken up for scrap in Italy in 1921.[14]

Notes

Explanatory notes

  1. Seiner Majestät Schiff
     ", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German.

Citations

  1. ^ Sieche, p. 256.
  2. ^ a b Sokol, p. 67.
  3. ^ a b c Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 272.
  4. ^ a b Noppen, pp. 6, 8.
  5. ^ Friedman, p. 294.
  6. ^ Sieche, p. 250.
  7. ^ Noppen, p. 8.
  8. ^ Sieche, p. 227.
  9. ^ Sieche, pp. 234, 240.
  10. ^ Sieche, pp. 234, 240, 245.
  11. ^ Sondhaus, p. 158.
  12. ^ Sieche, p. 245.
  13. ^ Sieche, pp. 245–46.
  14. ^ a b Sieche, p. 253.

References

Further reading

External links

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