Tátra-class destroyer

The Tátra class was a group of six destroyers built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy shortly before the First World War.

A model of SMS Tátra in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien
Class overview
Name: Tátra class
Builders: Ganz-Danubius, Porto Ré, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
Operators:
Preceded by: Huszár class
Succeeded by: Ersatz Triglav class
Built: 1911–1914
In service: 1913–1937
In commission: 1913–1937
Completed: 6
Lost: 2
Scrapped: 4
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:
  • 870 long tons (880 t) (normal)
  • 1,050 long tons (1,070 t) (deep load)
Length: 83.5 m (273 ft 11 in) (o/a)
Beam: 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in)
Draft: 3 m (9 ft 10 in) (deep load)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 2 × shafts; 2 × steam turbines
Speed: 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range: 1,600 nmi (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: 105
Armament:

Design and description

By the last years of the first decade of the 20th century, Admiral Graf Rudolf Montecuccoli, head of the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine), recognized that the latest Huszár-class destroyers were already obsolete in comparison to larger and faster foreign destroyers. His 1910 expansion plan called for six new large destroyers and their construction was awarded to a Hungarian shipyard to secure Hungarian parliamentary approval of the expansion program.[1]

The Tátra-class ships had an overall length of 83.5 meters (273 ft 11 in), a beam of 7.8 meters (25 ft 7 in), and a maximum draft of 3 meters (9 ft 10 in).[2] They displaced 870–2,270 long tons (880–2,310 t) at normal load and 1,050 long tons (1,070 t) at deep load.[3] The ships had a complement of 105 officers and enlisted men.[2]

The Tátras were powered by two AEG-Curtiss steam turbine sets, each driving a single propeller shaft using steam provided by six Yarrow boilers. Four of the boilers were oil-fired while the remaining pair used coal. The turbines, designed to produce 20,600 shaft horsepower (15,400 kW), were intended to give the ships a speed of 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph). The ships carried enough oil and coal to give them a range of 1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).[3]

The main armament of the Tátra-class destroyers consisted of two 50-caliber Škoda Works 10-centimeter (3.9 in) K10 guns, one each fore and aft of the superstructure in single mounts. Their secondary armament consisted of six 45-caliber 66-millimeter (2.6 in) guns. Two of these were on anti-aircraft mountings. They were also equipped with four 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes in two twin rotating mountings amidships.[4]

Ships
Ship Builder[3] Laid down[3] Launched[3] Completed[5] Fate
SMS Tátra Ganz-Danubius, Porto Ré 19 October 1911 14 November 1912 12 October 1913 Transferred to Italy, renamed Fasano, discarded, 1923[6]
SMS Balaton 6 November 1911 16 November 1912 3 November 1913 Transferred to Italy, renamed Zenson, discarded, 1923[6]
SMS Csepel 59 January 1912 30 December 1912 29 December 1913 Transferred to Italy, renamed Muggia, sunk in a typhoon, 25 March 1929[6]
SMS Lika 30 April 1912 15 March 1913 8 August 1914 Sunk by mine during the Battle of Cape Rodoni, 29 December 1915[3]
SMS Triglav 1 August 1912 22 December 1913
SMS Orjen 4 September 1912 26 August 1913 11 August 1914 Transferred to Italy, renamed Pola, then Zenson, 1931, discarded, 1937[6]

Service history

Six further destroyers were authorised in May 1914 to increase the number of destroyers, but construction had not started at the outbreak of the war. Four units were authorised in 1916 to replace the wartime losses. These four ships were named Triglav II, Lika II, Dukla and Uzsok and classified as the Ersatz (Replacement) Triglav class.

After the war, three vessels—Triglav, Lika, and Uzsok—were ceded to Italy and one, Dukla, to France. The last vessel was scrapped in 1936.

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References

Notes
  1. Noppen, pp. 42, 50
  2. Sieche 1985a, p. 338
  3. Greger, p. 44
  4. Noppen, p. 48
  5. Noppen, p. 43
  6. Roberts, p. 287

Bibliography
  • Bilzer, Franz F. (1990). Die Torpedoschiffe und Zerstörer der k.u.k. Kriegsmarine 1867–1918. Graz: H. Weishaupt. ISBN 3-9003-1066-1.
  • Cernuschi, Enrico & O'Hara, Vincent (2015). "The Naval War in the Adriatic Part 1: 1914–1916". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2015. London: Conway. pp. 161–173. ISBN 978-1-84486-276-4.
  • Cernuschi, Enrico & O'Hara, Vincent (2016). "The Naval War in the Adriatic, Part 2: 1917–1918". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2016. London: Conway. pp. 62–75. ISBN 978-1-84486-326-6.
  • Greger, René (1976). Austro-Hungarian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0623-7.
  • Noppen, Ryan K. (2016). Austro-Hungarian Cruisers and Destroyers 1914-18. New Vanguard. 241. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-1470-8.
  • O'Hara, Vincent P. & Heinz, Leonard R. (2017). Clash of Fleets: Naval Battles of the Great War, 1914-18. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-68247-008-4.
  • Roberts, John (1980). "Italy". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
  • Sieche, Erwin (1985a). "Austria-Hungary". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Sieche, Erwin F. (1985b). "Zeittafel der Vorgange rund um die Auflosung und Ubergabe der k.u.k. Kriegsmarine 1918–1923". Marine—Gestern, Heute (in German). 12 (1): 129–141.
  • Vego, Milan (1982). "The Yugoslav Navy 1918–1941". Warship International. XIX (4): 342–361. ISSN 0043-0374.
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