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The then Austrian director of naval construction, Josef von Romako –
brother of the well known painter – designed this type of armoured frigate
superficially resembling to the French Gloire. Two units were built, the Erzherzog
Ferdinand Max – in honor of the Emperor's brother and former Navy CinC and later
Emperor of Mexico – and the Habsburg. Originally they were to be armed with
32 unrifled 48 pdrs. Regarding classification the new units were classified 1st
class while the older trio Kaiser Max, Prinz Eugen and Juan de Austria
was retro-classified as 2nd class armoured frigates and the two Drache
and Salamander becoming 3rd class armoured frigates.
Hurriedly commissioned in June 1866 with 18 rifled 24 pdrs, 10 unrifled 48 pdrs plus some
small guns she served as flagship of Admiral Tegetthoff at the Battle of Lissa 20 June
1866. In July/August the damaged bow was repaired at the British admiralty docks at La
Valletta, Malta. 19 May 1886 stricken from the list. Served as tender to the gunnery
training ship from 1889 to 1908  . On 15 March 1916 final scrapping was ordered. |
