| Austro-Hungarian "Drache" Class |
| - Broadside Ironclads - |
| Battleships |
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| In the age of sail we find the capital ships
operating in long lines when in battle, hence called
‘ships-of-the-line’. Their guns were placed in two or three decks,
the most prominent specimen still existing is Horatio
Nelson’s flagship H.M.S. Victory.
Independent operating vessels were the bigger frigates – having only one
enclosed battery deck – and the smaller corvettes, their guns were
situated on the open deck. The introduction of iron armour in ship construction started about 1855. In the first period cast armour plates were screwed or bolted on the wooden hulls. This meant that these ships became very heavy, so that big ships-of-the-line could not be armoured effectively. So the first armoured ships had only one gun deck because of weight limitations, resembling the old type frigate. In consequence the new type was called armoured frigate but in fact was the successor of the sailing battleship, while the old types of sailing frigates and corvettes were subsequently phased out and scrapped or converted into screw frigates and screw corvettes. Their successor as an independent cruising vessel became the ‘cruiser’. For the development of this type see cruisers information page. |
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| By personal order of the then CinC of the Austrian navy, Archduke Ferdinand Max – the Emperor’s brother who later became Emperor of Mexico – in 1861 Austria responded to the Italian armoured corvettes Terribile and Formidabile by building two armoured frigates, the Drache [dragon] and Salamander, which were designed by naval architect Josef Ritter von Romako. Because the Henckel Donnersmarck ironworks at Zeltweg in Styria could not produce armour plates of the required quality, these were ordered in the Loire Valley in France – from Russery, Lacombe & Cie and Marrel Frères at Rive-de-Grière – and were shipped via Genoa, Italy, with the undercover help of Austrian tradesmen. | |
| Both took part in the battle of Lissa
on 20 June 1866. According to the development of iron manufacturing and
gunnery technology both became soon obsolete despite a refit and rearmament.
Drache was stricken 13.6.1875 and scrapped in 1883/84. Salamander was stricken 18.3.1883, then served as a mine store ship, and was finally scrapped in 1895/96. |
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Their impressive figureheads – depicting the
monsters they were named after – were displayed at the Naval Museum Pola
which was sacked in 1919/20 by the victorious Italians. Both figureheads are
now on display at the Naval Museum of the Italian Navy in La Spezia. |
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| Technical Data | ||
| Laid down: Launched: Commissioned: Displacement: Dimensions: Propulsion: Max. Speed: Range: Crew: |
18 February 1861 at J. Tonnello, Triest
9 September 1861 August 1862 2,750 / 3,058 ts 62.78 x 13.93 x 6.74 m 1,250 - 2,060 ihp; 4 boilers one horizontal 2cyl low pressure engine plus 1,090 m2 sails 11.2 kts (in 1874) ? 21 + 330 (in 1866) |
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| Tactical Data: | ||
| Armament: | 10x48pdrs; 18x24pdrs 1x8pdrs; 1x4pdrs |
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