SMS Drache

Drache at anchor after her 1867 refit
History
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Name:	SMS Drache
Namesake:	Dragon
Builder:	Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, Trieste
Laid down:	February 1861
Launched:	9 September 1861
Completed:	November 1862
Struck:	13 June 1875
Fate:	Scrapped, 1883
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Drache-class armored frigate
Displacement:	3,110 long tons (3,160 t)
Length:	70.1 meters (230 ft 0 in)
Beam:	13.94 m (45 ft 9 in)
Draft:	6.8 m (22 ft 4 in)
Installed power:	2,060 ihp (1,540 kW)
Propulsion:	1 shaft, 1 steam engine
Speed:	10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph)
Complement:	346
Armament:	1862: 10 × 48-pounder smoothbore guns 18 × 24-pounder rifled, muzzle-loading guns 1 × 8-pounder landing gun 1 × 4-pounder landing gun 1867: 10 × RML 7-inch (178 mm) guns 2 × RML 2-inch (51 mm) guns
Armor:	Waterline belt: 115 mm (4.5 in)

SMS Drache was the first of two Drache-class armored frigates built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1860s, the other being SMS Salamander. Drache was laid down in February 1861, launched in September, and completed in November 1862. She remained in the Adriatic during the Second Schleswig War in 1864 while other ships were sent to attack Denmark. Two years later, Prussia and Italy attacked Austria in the Seven Weeks' War. The ship participated in the Austrian victory over the Italians in the Battle of Lissa, where she inflicted serious damage on the coastal defense ship Palestro, setting her on fire and ultimately destroying her. Drache was modernized immediately after the war, but saw little use thereafter. Badly rotted by 1875, she was stricken from the Navy List that year and eventually broken up in 1883.

The Drache class was designed in response to the Formidabile-class ironclads bought from France by Italy in 1860. They had an overall length of 70.1 meters (230 ft 0 in), a beam of 13.94 m (45 ft 9 in) and a draft of 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in). They displaced 2,824 long tons (2,869 t) at normal load, and 3,110 long tons (3,160 t) at deep load. The ships had a horizontal steam engine that drove their single propeller using steam provided by four boilers that exhausted through one funnel. The engine produced a total of 2,060 indicated horsepower (1,540 kW) which gave the ships a speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph). For long-distance travel, the Draches were fitted with three masts and barque rigged. The ships had a complement of 346 officers and crewmen.