Radetzky-class battleship
SMS Radetzky
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Radetzky class |
| Builders: | Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino |
| Operators: |
 Austro-Hungarian Navy
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| Preceded by: | Erzherzog Karl class |
| Succeeded by: | Tegetthoff class |
| In commission: | 1908–18 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 137.5 m (451 ft) |
| Beam: | 24.6 m (81 ft) |
| Draught: | 8.1 m (26 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 20.5 knots (23.6 mph; 38.0 km/h) |
| Range: |
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| Complement: | 890 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | |
The Radetzky class was a group of three semi-dreadnought battleships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1907 and 1910. All ships were built by the STT shipyard in Trieste. They were the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the Austro-Hungarians, and the penultimate class of any type of Austro-Hungarian battleship completed. The class comprised three ships: Radetzky, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand, and Zrínyi. They were armed with four 30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns in two twin turrets and eight 24 cm (9.4 in) guns in four twin turrets; the heavy secondary guns set the Radetzky-class ships apart from other pre-dreadnought type battleships.
Commissioned only a few years before the outbreak of World War I, the ships had limited service careers. All three of the battleships conducted training cruises in the Mediterranean Sea in 1912. In 1913, they took part in an international naval demonstration in the Ionian Sea that protested the Balkan Wars. After Italy declared war on Austro-Hungary and the other Central Powers in 1915, the three Radetzky-class ships bombarded coastal targets in the Adriatic Sea. After 1915, their participation in the war became minimal. All three ships were handed over to Italy after the end of the war, and broken up for scrap between 1920 and 1926.
Design work for a new class of battleships started about two weeks after the launching of Erzherzog Friedrich, an Erzherzog Karl-class battleship, which took place on April 30, 1904. By the end of July 1905, the Austrian Commander in Chief of the Navy, Admiral Monteccuccoli, laid out his vision for an expanded Austro-Hungarian fleet. This included 12 battleships, four armored cruisers, eight scout cruisers, 18 destroyers, 36 large torpedo boats, and six submarines. A navy design board evaluated five designs for the new battleship type between September 25–29, 1905.
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