 Balaton at sea | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Austria-Hungary | |
| Name | Balaton |
| Builder | Ganz-Danubius,Porto Ré,Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austro-Hungarian Empire |
| Laid down | 6 November 1911 |
| Launched | 16 November 1912 |
| Completed | 3 November 1913 |
| Fate | Ceded to Italy, 1920 |
 Kingdom of Italy | |
| Name | Zenson |
| Acquired | 1920 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1923 |
| Notes | Used solely as a source of spare parts |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Tátra-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 83.5 m (273 ft 11 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in) |
| Draft | 3 m (9 ft 10 in) (deep load) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 ×steam turbines |
| Speed | 32.5knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) |
| Range | 1,600 nmi (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 105 |
| Armament |
|
SMSBalaton[Note 1] was one of sixTátra-classdestroyers built for thekaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine (Austro-Hungarian Navy) shortly before theFirst World War. Completed in 1913, she did not participate in the attacks on the Italian mainland after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915. Two months later the ship bombarded a small island in the CentralAdriatic Sea during an unsuccessful attempt to recapture it from the Italians. In November and early DecemberBalaton was one of the ships conducting raids off theAlbanian coast to interdict the supply lines between Italy and Albania. She played a minor role in the1st Battle of Durazzo in late December.Balaton participated in several unsuccessful raids on theOtranto Barrage in 1917, although she sank anammunition ship during theBattle of the Strait of Otranto. She was transferred to Italy in 1920 in accordance with the peace treaties ending the war and renamedZenson. TheRegia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) used her for spare parts; she was discarded in 1923 and subsequentlyscrapped.
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TheTátra-class destroyers were faster, more powerfully armed and more than twice as large as the precedingHuszár class. The ships had anoverall length of 83.5 meters (273 ft 11 in), abeam of 7.8 meters (25 ft 7 in), and a maximumdraft of 3 meters (9 ft 10 in).[1] Theydisplaced 870 long tons (880 t) at normal load and 1,050 long tons (1,070 t) atdeep load.[2] The ships had a complement of 105 officers and enlisted men.[1]
TheTátras were powered by twoAEG-Curtisssteam turbine sets, each driving a singlepropeller shaft using steam provided by sixYarrow boilers. Four of the boilers wereoil-fired while the remaining pair used coal. The turbines, designed to produce 20,600shaft horsepower (15,400 kW), were intended to give the ships a speed of 32.5knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph). The ships carried enough oil and coal to give them a range of 1,600nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).[2]
The main armament of theTátra-class destroyers consisted of two 50-caliberŠkoda Works10-centimeter (3.9 in) K10 guns, one each fore and aft of thesuperstructure in single mounts. Theirsecondary armament consisted of six 45-caliber66-millimeter (2.6 in) guns, two of which were onanti-aircraft mountings. They were also equipped with four 450-millimeter (17.7 in)torpedo tubes in two twin rotating mountingsamidships.[3]
Balaton waslaid down byGanz-Danubius at theirshipyard inPorto Ré in theKingdom of Croatia-Slavonia of theAustro-Hungarian Empire on 6 November 1911,launched on 16 November 1912 and completed on 3 November 1913.[2] TheTátra-class ships did not play a significant role in the minor raids and skirmishing in the Adriatic in 1914 and early 1915 between theEntente Cordiale and theCentral Powers.[4] On 13 August 1914,Balaton helped to rescue survivors from the Austro-Hungarianpassenger shipSS Baron Gautsch after it had blundered into aminefield and sunk.[5]
On 23 July thescout cruisersSMS Saida andSMS Helgoland, escorted byBalaton, her sistersSMS Csepel andSMS Tátra and three other destroyers bombarded the towns ofTermoli,Ortona andSan Benedetto del Tronto while alanding party cut thetelegraph cable inTremiti. On 28 July, all sixTátra-class ships and the same pair of cruisers, reinforced by the German submarineUB-14, attempted to recapturePelagosa. Despite a heavy bombardment by the ships, the 108-man landing party was unable to overcome the 90-mangarrison and was forced to withdraw.[6]
TheBulgarian declaration of war onSerbia on 14 October cut the existing supply line from Serbia toSalonika,Greece, and forced theAllies to begin supplying Serbia through ports in Albania. This took about a month to work out the details and the Austro-Hungarians took just about as long to decide on a response. AdmiralAnton Haus, commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, orderedLinienschiffskapitän (Captain) Heinrich Seitz,Helgoland's commander, to take his ship,Saida and all sixTátra-class destroyers on a reconnaissance mission off the Albanian coast on the night of 22/23 November. They encountered and sank a smallcargo ship and a motorschooner carrying flour for Serbia; four Italian destroyers were unable to intercept them before they reached friendly territory. Haus was initially reluctant to send his ships so far south, but an order from theArmeeoberkommando (High Command) on 29 November to patrol the Albanian coast and to disrupt Allied troop movements caused him to transferHelgoland, her sisterSMS Novara and theTátra-class ships toCattaro. On 6 December,Helgoland and theTátras swept down the coast to Durazzo, sinking five motor schooners, including two inDurazzo harbor.[7]
Austro-Hungarian aircraft spotted a pair of Italian destroyers in Durazzo harbor on 28 December and Haus dispatched Seitz to takeHelgoland,Balaton,Csepel,Tátra and their sistersSMS Triglav andSMS Lika south and search the area between Durazzo and Brindisi for them. If they were not found he was to arrive at Durazzo at dawn and destroy any ships found there. Seitz's ships sailed later that day andBalaton sank theFrench submarine Monge at 02:35, rescuing two officers and 18 seamen afterwards. He was unable to find the destroyers and dutifully arrived off Durazzo at dawn. At 07:30 he ordered four of his destroyers into the harbor to sink the cargo ship and two schooners anchored there whileHelgoland engaged thecoastal artillery defending the port andBalaton patrolled the seaward flank. A well-camouflaged 75-millimeter (3 in)artillery battery opened fire at 08:00 atpoint-blank range. While maneuvering to avoid its fire,Lika andTriglav entered a minefield. After striking two mines in quick succession,Lika sank at 08:03 andTriglav was crippled when herboiler rooms flooded after hitting one mine.Tátra was finally successful in securing a tow onTriglav at 09:30, but was limited to a speed of six knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) when Seitz led his ships northwards. He radioed for assistance at 10:35 and was informed an hour later that thearmored cruiserSMS Kaiser Karl VI and fourtorpedo boats were en route to support him.[8]
Italian observers had spotted Seitz's ships at 07:00 and the Alliedquick-reaction force of the Britishlight cruiserHMS Dartmouth and the Italian scout cruiserQuarto, escorted by five French destroyers,sortied in an attempt to cut off the Austro-Hungarian ships from their base at Cattaro. These were followed two hours later by the Italian scout cruiserNino Bixio, the British light cruiserHMS Weymouth and four Italian destroyers. Seitz had orderedTriglav's crew taken off before any of the columns of smoke from these ships were spotted by his ships and he orderedTátra to drop her tow at 13:15 and abandonTriglav. Five minutes later the Austro-Hungarian ships were spotted and the French destroyers were ordered to deal withTriglav at 13:38 while the cruisers pursued Seitz's ships.[9]
Seitz turned southwest at 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) to put as much distance between his ships and their pursuers althoughDartmouth opened fire at her maximum range of 13,000 meters (14,000 yd) at 13:43 and scored her first hit onHelgoland twelve minutes later. The destroyers were generally not engaged during this battle, being further away, althoughCsepel was hit once with little effect. Despite further hits on the cruiser which reduced her speed to 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) the Austro-Hungarians were able to disengage before reaching the Italian coast when darkness fell around 17:30 and they reachedŠibenik safely.[10]
Balaton was refitting inPola from 1 January to 11 February 1916.[5] On the night of 31 May/1 June,Balaton and her sisterSMS Orjen, together with three torpedo boats, attacked theOtranto Barrage and sank one of thedrifters maintaining it with a torpedo. On 4 JulyHelgoland,Balaton,Orjen andTátra raided the barrage, but could not find any targets in the poor visibility.Helgoland andNovara, escorted byBalaton andOrjen, comprised one of two bombardment groups that Haus planned to bombard the Italian coast on 29 August to provoke a reaction by Allied ships that would be ambushed by waitingU-boats. The weather did not cooperate and it was too foggy to see the coast and all the ships involved returned to harbor without incident. On the night of 11/12 March 1917,Balaton,Orjen,Csepel andTátra swept through the Strait of Otranto, but failed to sink the French cargo shipSS Gorgone that they encountered.[11]
On the night of 14/15 May,Balaton andCsepel departed Cattaro with orders to search off the Albanian coast and the Strait of Otranto for Allied shipping. They were intended to act as a diversion for the attack by the threeNovara-class scout cruisers on the barrage. The destroyers encountered a convoy of three merchant ships, escorted by theItalian destroyer Borea, at 03:10.Csepel lit upBorea with hersearchlight at 03:24 and opened fire immediately afterward, hitting the Italian ship four times in rapid succession. One of the hits broke her main steam pipe which caused her to slow to a stop and the others set her on fire; she sank shortly before dawn.Balaton fired at the 1,657 gross register tons (GRT)SS Carroccio which blew up when her cargo of ammunition exploded. The destroyers engaged the other two ships, setting one on fire and slightly damaging the other one, after which they disengaged and headed north at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph).[12]
Italian observers reported this action at 03:48 and the patrolling Italian scout cruiserCarlo Mirabello and her escorting trio of French destroyers were alerted at 04:35 and turned south to intercept. They did not spot the Austro-Hungarian ships, but another group of Allied ships did at 07:45. This group consisted of two British light cruisers, the brand-new Italian scout cruiserAquila and four Italian destroyers under the command ofRear AdmiralAlfredo Acton. He orderedAquila and the destroyers to investigate five minutes later as the Austro-Hungarian ships turned away towards Durazzo. The scout cruiser was the fastest ship in the Italian fleet and she opened fire at 08:15 at a range of 11,400 meters (12,500 yd) while closing the range to 9,600 meters (10,500 yd) beforeCsepel hit her once at 08:32; severing her main steam line and causing her to lose power. The destroyers continued the pursuit, but broke off when shells from Durazzo's coastal artillery began dropping around them around 09:05. After the Italian ships were moving to rejoin Acton's force at 09:18,Balaton andCsepel turned towards Cattaro, evading an attack by theFrench submarine Bernoulli en route. During the battle,Balaton fired 85 rounds from her main guns, 60 shells from her secondary armament and two torpedoes.[13]
Helgoland and all of theTátras attempted to duplicate the success of the earlier raid on 18–19 October, but they were spotted by Italian aircraft and turned back in the face of substantial Allied reinforcements alerted by the aircraft. On the night of 13 December,Balaton,Tátra andCsepel raided the Otranto Barrage, but disengaged after firing torpedoes at what they believed to be four Allied destroyers, although there is no record of any attacks that night in Allied records.[14]
The smaller ships in the Austro-Hungarian Navy were the most active ones and their crews had the highest morale; most of the larger ships did little but swing on theirmoorings which did nothing to improve the morale of their crews. On 1 February, theCattaro Mutiny broke out, starting aboard thearmored cruiserSankt Georg. The mutineers rapidly gained control of the armored cruiserKaiser Karl VI and most of the other major warships in the harbor. Unhappy with the failure of the smaller ships' crews to join the mutiny, the mutineers threatened to fire at any ship that failed to hoist ared flag.Balaton's crew hoisted a flag with the permission of hercaptain with the proviso that there should be no disturbances aboard ship. The following day, many of the mutinous ships abandoned the effort aftercoast-defense guns loyal to the government opened fire on the rebelguard shipKronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf. The scout cruisers andBalaton, among other ships, took advantage of the confusion to rejoin loyalist forces in the inner harbor where they were protected by coastal artillery. The next morning, theErzherzog Karl-class battleships arrived from Pola and put down the uprising.[15]
On the night of 1/2 July,Balaton, the destroyerSMS Csikós and two torpedo boats were at sea to support an air raid onVenice. They were spotted by a group of seven Italian destroyers south ofCaorle and they fought a brief battle with the Italians before disengaging. BothBalaton andCsikós were hit once during the engagement.[16]Balaton began a refit atPola on 12 September.[5]
By October it had become clear that Austria-Hungary was facing defeat in the war. With various attempts to quell nationalist sentiments failing,Emperor Karl I decided to sever Austria-Hungary's alliance with Germany and appeal to the Allies in an attempt to preserve the empire from complete collapse. On 26 October Austria-Hungary informed Germany thattheir alliance was over. At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was in the process of tearing itself apart along ethnic and nationalist lines. Vice AdmiralMiklós Horthy was informed on the morning of 28 October that an armistice was imminent, and used this news to maintain order and prevent a mutiny among the fleet. While a mutiny was spared, tensions remained high and morale was at an all-time low.[17]
The following day theNational Council inZagreb announced Croatia's dynastic ties to Hungary had come to an end. This new provisional government, while throwing off Hungarian rule, had not yet declared independence from Austria-Hungary. Thus Emperor Karl I's government in Vienna asked the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs for help maintaining the fleet stationed at Pola and keeping order among the navy. The National Council refused to assist unless the Austro-Hungarian Navy was first placed under its command. Emperor Karl I, still attempting to save the Empire from collapse, agreed to the transfer, provided that the other "nations" which made up Austria-Hungary would be able to claim their fair share of the value of the fleet at a later time. All sailors not of Slovene, Croatian, Bosnian, or Serbian background were placed on leave for the time being, while the officers were given the choice of joining the new navy or retiring.[18]
The Austro-Hungarian government thus decided to hand over the bulk of its fleet, preferring to do that rather than give the fleet to the Allies, as the new state had declared its neutrality. Furthermore, the newly formed state had also not yet publicly dethroned Emperor Karl I, keeping the possibility ofreforming the Empire into a triple monarchy alive.[19]
On 3 November the Austro-Hungarian government signed theArmistice of Villa Giusti with Italy, ending the fighting along the Italian Front,[20] although it refused to recognize the transfer of Austria-Hungary's warships. As a result, on 4 November, Italian ships sailed into the ports ofTrieste,Pola, andFiume and Italian troops occupied the naval installations at Pola the following day. The National Council did not order any men to resist the Italians, but they also condemned Italy's actions as illegitimate. On 9 November, all remaining ships in Pola harbour had the Italian flag raised. At a conference atCorfu, the Allies agreed the transfer could not be accepted, despite sympathy from the United Kingdom.[21] Faced with the prospect of being given an ultimatum to surrender the former Austro-Hungarian warships, the National Council agreed to hand over the ships beginning on 10 November.[22] When the Allies divided up the Austro-Hungarian Fleet amongst its members in January 1920,Balaton was awarded to Italy. She was commissioned in theRegia Marina with the nameZenson on 27 September, but was discarded and subsequently scrapped on 5 July 1923 after having been cannibalized to provide spare parts for her sisters.[5]
 Austro-Hungarian Navy | |
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 Regia Marina | |
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