Late World War I Austro-Hungarian Navy

admiral miklós horthy.

a second attempt force blockade took place in june 1918 under command of rear-admiral horthy. surprise attack planned, mission doomed when fleet chance spotted italian mas boat patrol, commanded luigi rizzo had sunk, @ anchor, 25 year-old battleship sms wien (5,785 tons) year before. rizzo s mas boat launched 2 torpedoes, hitting 1 of 4 austrian dreadnoughts, sms szent istván had slowed down due engine problems. element of surprise lost, horthy broke off attack. huge efforts made crew save szent istván, had been hit below water-line, , dreadnought battleship tegetthoff took in tow until tug arrived. after 6 a.m., pumps being unequal task, ship, listing badly, had abandoned. szent istván sank afterwards, taking 89 crewmen her. event filmed sister ship.

in 1918, in order avoid having give fleet victors, austrian emperor handed down entire austro-hungarian navy , merchant fleet, harbours, arsenals , shore fortifications new state of slovenes, croats , serbs. state of scs proclaimed officially on 29 october 1918 never recognized other countries. diplomatic notes sent governments of france, united kingdom, italy, united states , russia, notify them state of scs not @ war of them , council had taken on entire austro-hungarian fleet; no response provided, , practical purposes war went on unchanged. austria asked armistice on 29 october; after few days negotiation , signatures, armistice entered force on 4 november.

on 1 november 1918 2 sailors of italian regia marina, raffaele paolucci , raffaele rossetti, rode primitive manned torpedo (nicknamed mignatta or leech ) austro-hungarian naval base @ pola. using limpet mines, sank anchored viribus unitis, considerable loss of life, freighter wien. french navy commandeered new dreadnought prinz eugen, took france , later used target practice in atlantic, destroyed.