700-15 SMS VIRIBUS UNITIS AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN BATTLESHIP

SMS Viribus Unitis was an Austro-Hungarian battleship (so-called dreadnought) from the end of World War I. The keel for this unit was laid in 1910, the launch took place in June 1911, and the entry into service in the Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine - in 1912. The length of the ship was 152.2 meters and a width of 27.3 meters. Full displacement reached approx. 21,600 tons, and maximum speed - approx. 20 knots. The deck armament, at the time of the launch, consisted of, among others: 12 305 mm guns placed in four turrets of three guns, 12 150 mm guns and 18 70 mm guns. SMS Viribus Unitis was one of four Tegethoff-class battleships. Units of this type were the first and the last dreadnoughts that served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Units of this type had three-barreled towers, modern for those times, with high-quality Skoda cannons. Also, their armor and general combat properties were similar to the potential enemy, i.e. the Italian battleship of the Dante Allighieri type. However, they were clearly inferior to the speed of Italian dreadnoughts of the Conte di Cavour type. One of the battleships of this type was SMS Viribus Unitis, which was built at the shipyard in Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in Trieste. The unit, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, covered the escape of the German units SMS Goebben and SMS Breslau to Turkey. In 1915, the unit took part in the bombing of Ancona, and then - until June 1918 - remained in the port of Pula. In June 1918, the unit attempted to break the blockade on the Strait of Otranto - it was his last combat operation during the war. The vessel was sunk on the night of October 31 to November 1, 1918, by Italian divers, when the ship was already formally handed over to the state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.