AUSTRO-WĘGIERSKI PANCERNIK WIEN

SMS Wien was an Austro-Hungarian coastal defense battleship under which the keel was laid in 1893 at the Trieste Shipyard, launched in July 1895, and commissioned in 1897. The length of the ship was 99.2 meters, width 17 meters, and a displacement of about 5,900 tons. The maximum speed was up to 15.5 knots. The main armament was 4 240mm guns, and the secondary armament included 6 150mm guns and 10 47mm guns. SMS Wien was one of three battleships belonging to the Monarch class. The ships of this type were designed and constructed to replace the two old ships "Erzherzog Rudolf" and "Erzherzogin Stephanie" in service and generally fit in with the rather defensive strategy of the Austro-Hungarian navy. They were undoubtedly inferior to traditional battleships in other countries and were about twice as small. A considerable disadvantage of the Monarch type ships was the relatively weak main artillery, preventing them from fighting the main forces of the enemy. The service of SMS Wien began with the representation of the Austro-Hungarian flag at the celebrations marking the jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria. A year later, he took part in the blockade of Crete during the Greek-Turkish war. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the ship was directed to the base in Kotor, where it remained almost idle until 1917. In August that year, he was transferred to Trieste. In November 1917, SMS Wien, along with its sister ship SMS Budapest, fired on the Italian coast near Cortelazzo. In December 1917, the Italian Regia Marina retaliated by attacking both battleships at the base in Trieste with torpedo boats. As a result of being hit by two torpedoes, SMS Wien sank on December 11, 1917.