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| History | |
|---|---|
 Austria-Hungary | |
| Name | Csepel |
| Builder | Ganz-Danubius,Porto Ré,Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austro-Hungarian Empire |
| Laid down | 9 January 1912 |
| Launched | 30 December 1912 |
| Completed | 29 December 1913 |
| Fate | Ceded to Italy, January 1920 |
 Kingdom of Italy | |
| Acquired | January 1920 |
| Renamed | Muggia, 26 September 1920 |
| Fate | Wrecked, 25 March 1929 |
| 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 |
|
SMSCsepel[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 helped to sink an Italian destroyer during theaction off Vieste in May 1915 after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Two months later the ship participated in an unsuccessful attempt to recapture a small island in the centralAdriatic Sea from the Italians. In November and early DecemberCsepel was one of the ships conducting raids off theAlbanian coast to interdict the supply lines between Italy and Albania. She was hit one time during theFirst Battle of Durazzo in late December. Her stern was blown off by a French submarine in early 1916 and her repairs were not completed until early 1917.
Csepel participated in several unsuccessful raids on theOtranto Barrage in 1917, although she sank an Italian destroyer during theBattle of the Strait of Otranto. During theaction of 22 April 1918 in theStrait of Otranto, the ship helped to damage a pair of British destroyers. She was transferred to Italy in 1920 in accordance with the peace treaties ending the war and renamedMuggia. TheRegia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) transferred her to theFar East in 1927 where sheran aground and was wrecked during atyphoon two years later.
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, unprotected 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]
Csepel waslaid down byGanz-Danubius at theirshipyard inPorto Ré in theKingdom of Croatia-Slavonia of theAustro-Hungarian Empire on 9 January 1912,launched on 30 December 1912 and completed on 29 December 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,Csepel rescued 76 survivors and pulled 18 bodies from the water from the Austro-Hungarianpassenger shipSS Baron Gautsch after it had blundered into aminefield and sunk. The destroyer had her propeller shaftbearings replaced from 9 to 12 May 1915.[5]
TheKingdom of Italy signed asecret treaty in London in late April 1915 breaking itsalliance with theGerman Empire and Austro-Hungary and promising to declare war on the Central Powers within a month. Austro-Hungarian intelligence discovered this and AdmiralAnton Haus, commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, planned a massive surprise attack on Italian ports and facilities on the northern Adriatic coast, outside of interception range of the modern ships of theRegia Marina stationed atTaranto. To warn of any Italian warships able to interfere with the bombardments, Haus prepositioned three groups of destroyers, each led by ascout cruiser. Placed in the central Adriatic between the island ofPelagosa and the Italian coast, four days prior to the Italian declaration of war on 23 May, were fourTátra-class destroyers, includingCsepel, and the cruiserSMS Helgoland. Around midnight on the night of 23/24 May, Haus ordered the reconnaissance groups to move west and attack Italian coastal targets. About an hour later the four Tátras encountered a pair of ItalianNembo-classdestroyers,Turbine andAquilone, but in the darkness they were believed by the Italians to be friendly ships.[6]
The Italian ships separated whenAquilone went to investigate a sighting;Helgoland began bombarding the city ofBarletta at 04:00 and the Italian destroyer spotted the cruiser at 04:38.Aquilone turned away to the southeast and was able to disengage without any damage.Turbine, however, encounteredHelgoland several minutes later and believed that she was an Italian ship until she was disabused by asalvo from the cruiser. The destroyer turned to the north, towardsVieste, to escape, withHelgoland and the destroyerSMS Orjen in pursuit. Alerted byHelgoland's commander,Linienschiffskapitän (Captain) Heinrich Seitz, the destroyersCsepel andSMS Tátra, which had been bombardingManfredonia, moved to intercept and spottedTurbine at 05:10, opening fire at 05:45.SMS Lika, which had been bombarding Vieste, was ordered to block her escape to the north whileHelgoland stayed to the east to cut off her access to the Adriatic.Lika scored the critical hit of the battle when one of her 66-millimeter shells brokeTurbine's steam pipe and caused her to rapidly lose speed.Tátra andHelgoland also scored hits andTurbine was dead in the water with alist when her crew abandoned ship at 06:51. She had hitTátra andCsepel during the engagement, but failed to inflict any significant damage. The Austro-Hungarians rescued 35 survivors before torpedoing the derelict ship. As they were withdrawing they were engaged by theprotected cruiserLibia and thearmed merchant cruiserSS Cittá di Siracusa between 07:10 and 07:19.Helgoland was struck by one shell before they were able to disengage from the slower ships.[7]
On 23 JulyHelgoland and her sisterSMS Saida, escorted byCsepel,Tátra, their sisterSMS Balaton and three other destroyers bombarded the towns ofTermoli,Ortona andSan Benedetto del Tronto while alanding party cut thetelegraph cable inTremiti. Five days later, all sixTátra-class ships and the same pair of cruisers, reinforced by the German submarineUB-14, attempted to recapture Pelagosa. Despite a heavy bombardment by the ships, the 108-man landing party was unable to overcome the 90-mangarrison and was forced to withdraw.[8]
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 inAlbania. This took about a month to work out the details and the Austro-Hungarians took just about as long to decide on a response. Haus ordered Seitz to takeHelgoland,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 toDurazzo, sinking five motor schooners, including two in Durazzo harbor.[9]
Austro-Hungarian aircraft spotted a pair of Italian destroyers in Durazzo harbor on 28 December and Haus dispatched Seitz to takeHelgoland,Tátra,Csepel,Lika,Balaton and their sisterSMS Triglav south and search the area between Durazzo andBrindisi 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 and sank theFrench submarine Monge at 02:35;Csepel rescued seven survivors. 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. 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. After she was maneuvered out of the minefield,Csepel attempted to pass a towline, but it got tangled in one of her own propellers, badly damaging it and limited her to 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).Tátra was finally successful in securing a tow 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.[10]
Italian observers had spotted Seitz's ships at 07:00 and the Alliedquick-reaction force of the Britishlight cruiserHMS Dartmouth, commanded byCaptainPercy Addison, 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 orderedTriglav to be abandoned at 13:15 once the smoke from these ships had been spotted and forCsepel to turn to the south then southwest while the main body briefly covered her before turning southwest themselves. The French destroyers were ordered to deal withTriglav at 13:38 while the cruisers pursued Seitz's ships.[11]
Quarto'scaptain initially positioned his ship in trail behindDartmouth, thinking to cut-offCsepel, but Addison orderedQuarto to fall in onDartmouth's port quarter around 14:15, away fromCsepel. He ordered the Italian ship to pursueCsepel fifteen minutes later, but by then the destroyer had increased her speed to 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph).Quarto opened fire at a range of 8,000 meters (8,750 yd) at 14:40 and the Austro-Hungarian ship startedzigzagging to throw offQuarto's fire. She only fired 23 times by 15:08 and managed to hitCsepel once, inflicting little damage. The destroyer managed to rejoin Seitz's main body about 16:45 and the Austro-Hungarians were able to disengage before reaching the Italian coast when darkness fell around 17:30.[12]
On 27 January 1916,Novara,Csepel andOrjen departed Cattaro on a mission to attack the shipping in Durazzo harbor. En route the two sisters accidentally collided with each other and had to return to port although the cruiser continued the mission.Csepel was under repair until 21 April. On 4 May, theFrench submarine Bernoulli torpedoed the destroyer off Cattaro and blew off her stern. She was towed to port for emergency repairs and was then towed toFiume for permanent repairs on 13–16 May. On 3 June,Csepel was moved to Porto Ré where she was fitted with a replacement stern taken from one of theErsatz Triglav-class under construction. Afterworking up, the ship returned to Cattaro on 31 October. 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.[13]
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 Otranto 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).[14]
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, killing seven men 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 about 09:05. After the Italian ships moved to rejoin Acton's force at 09:18,Balaton andCsepel turned towards Cattaro, evading an attack byBernoulli en route. During the battle,Csepel fired 127 rounds from her main guns, 78 shells from her secondary armament and two torpedoes.[15]
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,Csepel,Tátra andBalaton 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.
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 the armored cruiserSankt Georg. The mutineers rapidly gained control ofKaiser 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.Csepel's crew hoisted a flag with the permission of her captain 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 andCsepel, 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 fromPola and put down the uprising. The destroyer was refitted in Pola from 7 to 20 April.[16]
On the night of 22–23 April 1918,Csepel and all fourErsatz Tátra-class destroyers attempted to intercept Allied shipping in the Strait of Otranto. They were spotted by the pair of British destroyers,Jackal andHornet, which were patrolling the western side of the Strait. The British ships altered course to intercept them. At a range of about 2,700 meters (3,000 yd) the leading Austrian destroyer opened fire. The British ships reversed course and began laying asmoke screen hoping to lure the Austrians further south. The Austrians began hitting their targets quickly withJackal slightly damaged by three hits, butHornet was badly damaged by hits that caused a fire and subsequent explosion in her forwardmagazine and jammed her steering so that she began turning circles. Their return fire was ineffective, but the Austrians disengaged after about 15 minutes, pursued byJackal. The other four destroyers of the patrol had steamed towards the battle and they joined the pursuit for a couple of hours before turning away about 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) from Cattaro.Csepel received an extensive refit from 13 June to 7 October in Pola. She returned to Cattaro the following day, but was back in Pola by the war's end.[17]
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.[18]
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.[19]
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 repudiated Emperor Karl I, keeping the possibility ofreforming the Empire into a triple monarchy alive.[20]
On 3 November the Austro-Hungarian government signed theArmistice of Villa Giusti with Italy, ending the fighting along theItalian Front,[21] 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, and Fiume 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.[22] 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.[23] When the Allies divided up the Austro-Hungarian Fleet amongst themselves in January 1920,Csepel was awarded to Italy. She was commissioned in theRegia Marina with the nameMuggia on 26 September and transferred toShanghai, China, in March 1927. The ship ran aground and was wrecked on theFinger Rocks nearHea Chu Island nearAmoy, in dense fog and darkness, or during a typhoon, on 25 March 1929. The 77 survivors were rescued from rocks by the Japanese oilerMatsumoto Maru after the fog lifted on 26 March.[24][25]
 Austro-Hungarian Navy | |
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 Regia Marina | |
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