| Battle of the Adriatic | |||||||
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| Part ofWorld War I,Battle of the Mediterranean | |||||||
 TheAdriatic Sea (upper right) during World War I, in an Austro-Hungarian map. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
Allies: Regia Marina Royal Navy French Navy Royal Australian Navy United States Navy | Central Powers: Austro-Hungarian Navy Imperial German Navy | ||||||
TheAdriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought between theCentral Powers and theMediterranean squadrons of theAllies, specifically theUnited Kingdom,France, theKingdom of Italy,Australia, and theUnited States.
First World War naval action in theAdriatic Sea consisted mainly of Austro-Hungarian bombardments of Italy's eastern coast, and wider-rangingGerman andAustro-Hungarian submarine forays into the Mediterranean.
Allied forces mainly limited themselves to blockading the Central Powers' navies in the Adriatic, which was successful in regards to surface units, but failed for theU-boats, which found safe harbours and easy passage into and out of the area for the whole of the war.
Considered a relatively secondary part of the naval warfare of World War I, it nonetheless tied down significant forces.
The Adriatic campaign was also important because for the first time two new weapons were used successfully in warfare, viz. theMAS torpedo boat ofLuigi Rizzo that sank the battleshipSzent István and thehuman torpedo ofRaffaele Rossetti that sank the battleshipSMS Viribus Unitis in 1918.
On 6 August 1914 anAnglo-French naval agreement was signed, giving France leadership of naval operations in the Mediterranean. The remainingBritish Mediterranean forces – onearmoured cruiser, fourlight cruisers, and 16destroyers – were placed under the control of theFrench Mediterranean Fleet, and bases at bothGibraltar andMalta were opened to the French.
One day after the French declaration of war against Austria-Hungary on 11 August, a French fleet under AdmiralAugustin Boué de Lapeyrère arrived atMalta. He had orders to sail with all available French and British ships, pass into the Adriatic Sea, and undertake whatever operations he thought best against Austrian ports. Lapeyrère decided to surprise Austrian vessels enforcing a blockade ofMontenegro. The main Allied force comprised the French battleshipsCourbet andJean Bart, and the cruiserJurien de la Gravière. Two French squadrons ofpre-dreadnought battleships, two squadrons of cruisers, and five destroyer squadrons were held back in support. The British support group comprised two armoured cruisers and three destroyer divisions. The Anglo-French force succeeded in cutting off and sinking the old Austro-Hungarian light cruiserSMS Zenta offBar on 16 August in theBattle of Antivari. However, Allied hopes of baiting the Austriancapital ships into an action were not realized.
Throughout most of late August most of the action was simple bombardment ofSerbian and Montenegrin troops by Austrian ships. On 9 August, the pre-dreadnoughtSMS Monarch shelled the French radio station atBudva, while the destroyerSMS Panther shelledMount Lovćen. On 17 August,Monarch shelled a Montenegrin radio station off Bar, then another station offVolovica Point on 19 August. Meanwhile, a French squadron shelled Austrian troops onPrevlaka.
The French and Montenegrin forces attempted to cause havoc also atCattaro in September, October and November 1914, and the Austro-Hungarian navy was called in there also, resulting in a decisive defeat for the Allies.
Both the French and the Austrians spent much of this time laying extensiveminefields throughout the shallow waters of the Adriatic. Mostly this was done by destroyers, and at night. Severalsteamships ran afoul of these mines and either sank or were damaged.
In July,SMS Goeben, a Germanbattlecruiser, sailed toTriest fromPola. She and the German cruiserSMS Breslau had been anchored there since the beginning of the summer. On 1 August,Goeben andBreslau rendezvoused atBrindisi, then headed forMessina to take on coal. They left forConstantinople on 6 August, shadowed by the British cruiserHMS Gloucester.
On 7 August, an Austro-Hungarian Fleet—consisting of six battleships, two cruisers, and 19 destroyers and torpedo boats—sortied from Pola to escortGoeben andBreslau through Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, returned to port following day without ever making contact.Goeben andBreslau briefly engaged HMSGloucester and the chase was abandoned by the British. By 10 August, both German warships were safely in theDardanelles and heading forTurkey.
In November, the French submarineCugnot managed to slip into theBocche di Cattaro as far asTopla Bay but was chased out by the Austrian destroyerSMS Blitz, and the torpedo boatTb 57T. In mid-December, the French submarineCurie raided the harbour barrage of Pola to wait for her chance to intrude. Two days later, on 20 December, during an attempt to sneak into the harbour she got entangled in ananti-submarine net and could not free herself. Forced to surface for fresh air, she was sunk by the Austrian destroyerSMS Magnet andTb 63T, with three casualties. The Austrians raised the wreck between December 1914 and February 1915. It was then repaired and commissioned asU-14 in June 1915.
On 21 December, the submarineU-12 scored one torpedo hit on the French battleshipJean Bart offSazan Island. The battleship had to withdraw to Malta for extensive repairs.
In February, the French destroyerDague—while escorting the transportWhitehead to Bar—was sunk after hitting a mine. Also that month, the Austrian submarineU-12 was unsuccessfully attacked offCape Mendra by a French submarine. Austrian destroyerSMS Csikós shelled Montenegrin positions at Bar withTb 15 andTb 68F.
In April, the AustrianU-5—commanded by Lt.Georg Ritter von Trapp—chased the French armoured cruiserVictor Hugo offPaxos, but was unable to fire any torpedoes.U-5 also torpedoed the French armoured cruiserLéon Gambetta after a two-day chase offSanta Maria di Leuca, causing 684 fatalities including Rear-Admiral Sénès. Only 137 French sailors survived. The AustrianU-4 torpedoed and damaged the British light cruiserHMS Dublin. Also, the Austrian destroyerSMS Warasdiner shelled enemy positions at Bar.
WhenItaly declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May, the Austrian fleet was quick to act, launching several attacks on theMarche region of Italy.[1] That day, the destroyerDinara andTb 53T bombarded the port ofAncona. The destroyerSMS Lika—on reconnaissance duty betweenPalagruža andCape Gargano—shelled thesemaphore andradio station atVieste and fired upon the Italian destroyerTurbine. On 24 May, the bulk of the Austrian fleet at Pola sailed for the Italian Adriatic coast. This included the dreadnoughtsViribus Unitis,Tegetthoff,Prinz Eugen and eight semi and pre-dreadnoughts. The fleet bombarded several cities and other targets in and around theProvince of Ancona, especially damaging the port and town of Ancona itself.
The destroyerSMS Velebit shelled the Italian airshipCittà di Ferrara off Ancona. The semi-dreadnoughtSMS Radetzky and two torpedo boats bombardedPotenza Picena, then returned to Pola. TheRadetzky-class semi-dreadnoughtSMS Zrínyi, with two torpedo boats bombardedSenigallia, destroying a train and damaging a railway station and a bridge, then returned to Pola. The torpedo boatTb 3 was unsuccessfully bombed by an Italian airship. The light cruiserSMS Admiral Spaun shelled the Italian signal station atCretaccio Island, while the armoured cruiserSMS Sankt Georg—with two torpedo boats—shelledRimini, damaging and derailing a freight train. The destroyerSMS Streiter shelled the signal station nearTorre di Mileto. The light cruiserSMS Novara, a destroyer and two torpedo boats enteredCorsini Channel and shelled an Italian torpedo boat station, a semaphore station, and coastal artillery batteries.
The light cruiserSMS Helgoland—aided by four destroyers—sank the Italian destroyerTurbine in a pitched battle south ofPelagosa. The destroyerSMS Tátra shelled the railway embankment nearManfredonia while the destroyerSMS Csepel shelled the Manfredonia railway station.
Finally, Austro-Hungarianflying boats dropped bombs onVenice andairship hangars atChiaravalle.
Coincidentally with the Austro-Hungarian attack on Ancona, the Italian destroyerZeffiro shelled and captured the Austro-Hungarian naval station and post at Porto Buso on the first hours of 24 May. Austro-Hungarian troops withdrew from the nearby town ofGrado as a consequence.[2]
On 5 June, four different Allied task forces attacked the Austrian coast. Four Italian armoured cruisers, escorted by four French destroyers, shelledCavtat; the British cruiserDublin—escorted by five Italian destroyers—shelledDonzella; the Italian light cruiserQuarto—escorted by four destroyers—bombardedLastovo; the Italian light cruiserNino Bixio, two Italian and two French destroyers shelled the island ofLissa. On 9 June, a mixed force of British, French and Italian destroyers shelled the Austro-Hungarian signal station atCape Rondini inAlbania.
Sankt Georg and a squadron of torpedo boats bombarded Rimini on 16 June, causing minor damage. Then on 17 June, the cruisersNovara andAdmiral Spaun and their escorts attacked and sank the Italian steamerMaria Grazia offGiulianova. The next day, they shelled Rimini andFano, destroying the Italian signal station there.
The summer of 1915 was a successful time for Austrian submarines as well: on 10 June,U-11 sank the Italian submarineMedusa and torpedo boatSerpente;U-10 sank the Italian torpedo boatPN 5 on June 26 off Venice;U-4 torpedoed and sank theGiuseppe Garibaldi on 18 July; andU-5 captured the Greek steamerCefalonia off Durazzo on August 29. But this was not without losses. On 13 August,U-3 was sunk at Brindisi by the French destroyerBisson, after having been severely damaged by the Italian auxiliary cruiserCittà di Catania the day before.
The Austro-Hungarian naval air-arm also began regular bombing raids againstBari and Brindisi in June, slightly damaging the British protected cruiserHMS Amethyst in one such raid with machine gun fire. And the Britisharmed trawlerSchiehallion was sunk by a mine. TheAmalfi was sunk off Venice by the German submarineUB-14 on July 2. While the Italian scout cruiserMarsala shelledGravosa station on 18 July, the scout cruiserQuarto and three Italian destroyers attacked the Austrian installation atGuiparra.
SMSHelgoland, seven destroyers and four torpedo boats supported an Austrian landing at Pelagosa on 28 July. The landing was repulsed by the Italian garrison, that had arrived in the island on July 11. On August 17 the light cruisers "Helgoland", "Saida" and several destroyers bombarded the island again. The water reservoir was severely damaged and the next day the Italians began the evacuation. On 17 August, one of the cruisers was unsuccessfully torpedoed by an Italian submarine on return journey. The last act of the summer was the sinking on 26 September of the Italian battleshipBenedetto Brin in Brindisi harbour by Italian-speaking Austro-Hungariansaboteurs. Over 450 were killed.
In late September, the Allies established theOtranto Barrage, an attempt to blockade the entrance to the Adriatic Sea at theStrait of Otranto.
In early December, the French submarineFresnel ran aground off theBojana River estuary due to bad navigation, and was sunk by the Austrian destroyerSMS Warasdiner. The cruiserHelgoland and three destroyers sortie against the Otranto Barrage from 5–22 December and performed reconnaissance off the Albanian coast andSan Giovanni di Medua. They sank an Italian picket boat, three steamships loaded with ammunition and two armed schoonersen route to Northern Albania.
The light cruiser SMSHelgoland and five Tatra-class destroyers left Cattaro and headed for Durazzo late on 28 December 1915. While on passage the French submarineMonge was rammed by the cruiser SMSHelgoland, and finally sunk by gunfire from the destroyerSMS Balaton. Early the next day, the Austrians squadron opened fire on Durazzo targets, sinking some small ships. Then they ran into a minefield. The destroyerLika was sunk andTriglav was damaged. She was taken in tow and the Austrian force sailed slowly to north.
An allied force had already sailed from Brindisi, with the aim to intercept them. It was composed of the British light cruisers HMSDartmouth andWeymouth, the Italian light cruisers RNQuarto andNino Bixio and five French destroyers. In support of the retreating force, the Austrians despatched the armoured cruiser SMSKaiser Karl VI and the light cruiserNovara from Cattaro. Early in the afternoon of 29 December, the forward Allied ships came into action with the retreating Austrian light squadron, which was still only halfway home. TheTriglav was abandoned and scuttled and a long-range gunnery duel was fought throughout the afternoon. SMSTatra was damaged but the Austrian light force was able to reach Cattaro safely.
Austrian submarines sank or damaged a number of ships in 1916.U-11 captured the Italian hospital shipKing Albert on 18 January at San Giovanni di Medua.U-6 sank the French destroyerRenaudin on 16 March atDurazzo. On 8 June,U-5 torpedoed and sank the Italian troop transportPrincipe Umberto atLinguetta. Later,U-5 fought a French-Italian destroyer group to a stalemate on 2 August, and torpedoed the Italian Q-ShipPantelleria south ofTaranto on August 14.
On 15 September 1916, the two Austro-Hungarian seaplanes L.132 and L.135 forced the French submarineFoucault to surface by dropping bombs. L.135 finally sinks the sub while the 27 survivors were clinging to the two planes now floating, to be finally saved by the alarmedTb 100M. This was the first sinking of a submarine by airplanes in naval war history.
The very same day, the French submarineAmpére scored two torpedo hits on the Austro-Hungarian Hospital shipNo I (the former Lloyd steamerElektra) offCape Planka (Rt Ploča), causing two fatalities. The damaged hospital ship had to be beached in Borovica Bay for further repairs.
On the night of 22/23 December, the Austro-Hungarian destroyersSMS Scharfschuetze,Reka,Dinara andVelebit attacked thedrifters patrolling the Otranto barrage, which applied for help to the French destroyersCasque,Protet,Commandant Rivière,Commandant Bory,Dehorter andBoutefeu which were escorting a convoy from Brindisi to Taranto. Because of communication problems, onlyCasque andCommandant Rivière attacked, butCasque's boiler rooms were hit immediately and she had to slow down to 23knots (43 km/h; 26 mph). For further assistance, the Italian destroyersGiuseppe Cesare Abba,Ippolito Nievo andRosolino Pilo left Brindisi shortly followed by the British cruiserGloucester escorted byImpavido andIrrequieto. The French and Italian groups met during darkness,Giuseppe Cesare Abba rammedCasque; some moments later,Boutefeu rammedGiuseppe Cesare Abba. While the damaged vessels had to be taken into tow, the Austrians escaped in the darkness.
The return from the Otranto battle—15 May 1917—brought the British cruiserHMS Dartmouth within the range of theUC-25 which had already laid mines off Brindisi.
At 13:30,UC-25 torpedoedDartmouth approximately 36 mi (31 nmi; 58 km) off Brindisi, for some time the ship was considered to be lost, but was manned by a rescue crew later and finally towed into port. On hearing thatDartmouth had been torpedoed,Boutefeu went to assist, only to hit one ofUC-25's mines.
The Austro-Hungarian Navy had a major victory in May 1917 when it broke out of the allied naval blockade of the Adriatic Sea during theBattle of the Strait of Otranto (1917). However after this, large scale operations were limited. By August 1917, Lt. Von Trapp andU-14 had sunk more than 24,000long tons (24,000 t) of enemy shipping, including the Italian steamerMilazzo (11,480 long tons (11,660 t)).U-4 torpedoed the French steamerItalia near Taranto on 30 May, and on 16 NovemberU-43 severely damaged the Italian steamerOriona between Brindisi andValona. On the night of 9–10 December, while SMSWien andBudapest were at anchor in Trieste, two Italian MAS (motor torpedo boats) managed to penetrate the harbour defences undetected and fired several torpedoes at the two ships.Wien was struck by two torpedoes and sank in less than five minutes with the loss of 46 of her crew.
During the night of 10–11 February 1918, three Italian MAS boats raided the harbor atBakar. Although the attack was materially inconsequential, it boosted Italian morale in the wake of Italy's major defeat on theItalian front in theBattle of Caporetto in October–November 1917 and was widely celebrated in Italy, where it became known as theBeffa di Buccari (Bakar mockery).[3][4]
On 13 February, the submarineBernouilli (Audry) was lost with all hands after hitting a mine off the Bocche di Cattaro.
On 22/23 April, the Austro-HungarianTátra-class destroyersSMS Triglav,SMS Uzsok,SMS Dukla, SMSLika and SMSCsepel encountered the British destroyersHMS Jackal andHornet, the AustralianHMAS Torrens and the FrenchCimeterre. HMSHornet was badly damaged in the ensuing fight but the alarm went up and the Austrians turned for home, pursued byJackal, who had lost her mainmast.
At 03:30 on the morning of 10 June 1918, the battleshipSzent István—in the company of SMSTegetthoff and seven other shipsen route to attack the Otranto Barrage – was seen by chance and then hit by two torpedoes launched from the ItalianMAS-15Motor Torpedo Boat under Corvette Captain Luigi Rizzo nearPremuda island, nearZara. Many of the 1,087 crew were asleep, getting rested for the battle expected in a few hours. Immediate chaos soon changed into frantic efforts to save the vessel which was rapidly shipping water. SMSTegetthoff was hit by another torpedo from a second MAS, but it did not explode.
ThenTegetthoff—which had at first sped away from the vicinity of the torpedo attack—returned and tookSzent István in tow, in an attempt to reach the massive dry dock at Pula. However, the pumps were unequal to the task before them due to loss of steam pressure and the ship continued to slowly list, sinking at 06:12, almost 3 hours after being hit.[1]
It is debated that faults in theTegetthoff-class design – relatively lowdisplacement and highcentre of gravity, together with the weight of twelve 305 mm (12 in) main artillery – did not assist matters. However, most other battleships in The Great War which were either torpedoed or mined sank far more rapidly. There were, however, only 89 dead, partly attributed to the fact that all sailors with the K.u.K. had to learn to swim before entering active service. The attack on the Otranto Barrage was cancelled as a consequence of this attack.[1]
On 20 September, the French submarineCircé was torpedoed 7 nmi (13 km; 8.1 mi) north west of Cape Rodoni by the Austro-Hungarian submarineU-47 and lost with all hands.
On 2 October, an allied fleet composed of Italian, British, Australian and American warships attacked the port of Durazzo, which had by that time come under Austro-Hungarian occupation, during theSecond Battle of Durazzo. The fleet consisted of over 55 vessels along with MAS boats and supporting aircraft. Allied forces destroyed Austro-Hungarian shore batteries and defeated a small squadron of patrol craft while sustaining comparatively light damage. Durazzo was left in flames, several building, bridges and railroad targets were bombarded which forced the evacuation of the city. A week or so after the battle an allied army occupied the city without resistance.
On 1 November, the ex-Austro-HungariandreadnoughtflagshipViribus Unitis was sunk – along with the merchant-shipWien— both at anchor at Pula bylimpet mine attached by the crew of an Italianmignatta. Themignatta was the precursor of thehuman torpedo and was invented by Major of naval engineers Raffaele Rossetti.
The wholeAustro-Hungarian Navy was at the time being transferred to the newState of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, but the Italian attackers had not been informed.
In the final days of the war, Allied forcesoccupied the eastern Adriatic. The occupation generally encompassedJulian March,Dalmatia, and the coastal areas of theKingdom of Montenegro. The occupied area was partitioned in four zones: British, French, American, and Italian. The latter largely corresponded to the territorial award under the1915 Treaty of London. The occupation was a part of efforts to address theAdriatic question of determination of borders of Italy in the Adriatic. Certain elements of the occupation were significant in resolution of theFiume question (concerning political future of the city ofRijeka/Fiume) and theMontenegrin question (concerning preservation of independence of that kingdom). The occupation concluded in 1921.
Many Austro-Hungarian and German U-boats operated out of the Adriatic for the whole of the war. Due to lack of cooperation of the Allies in the Mediterranean control zones, and the late institution of the convoy system, U-boats experienced substantial success throughout the first war years.[5]
K.u.K. Kriegsmarine submarines sunk 117 ships during World War I, with the total of 220,121 long tons (223,653 t). The most well-known casualties were:[6]
Also, theK.u.K. Kriegsmarine submarines damaged the following ships:[6]
| Year | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonnage | 13 | 22.568 | 25.716 | 112.716 | 58.902 |
| Source:[6] | |||||
