Warship Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week.
– Christopher Eger
Warship Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Here we see the Austrian navy ironclad screw corvette SMS Erzherzog Ferdinand Max as she appeared in the height of her service in the 1870s.
Laid down in Trieste during 1863 from lessons learned from the British Warrior and the ongoing US Civil War, she was named for the brother of then-Emperor Franz Joseph who we know today as the last Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian. Commissioned 24 May 1865, just six weeks after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the Max was the lead ship of a four-vessel class. She was supposed to be armed with a pair of 8″ Krupp guns but these were embargoed by Germany due to the looming war with Italy. She left port without all of her armor, and carrying a number of dated 48-pounder guns that were found lying around the yard from old ships.
Tegetthoff on the bridge on the MAX during Lissa, standing like a boss. The Italians fired more than 1400 shells during the battle but fell far shot of causing any real damage to the Austrian Fleet
As the flagship of the 39-year old Kontreadmiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, head of the Austrian battle fleet, the Max charged headlong into fleet combat near the disputed island of Lissa in 1866. Lacking her large 8-inchers, Tegetthoff ordered the ship to use its ram bow to good effect sinking the proud Italian ship Re d’Italia. The Italian ironclad suffered a 18-foot gash in her side and sank within two minutes. Her crestfallen master shot himself in the head with a revolver. The Austrian use of this desperate tactic at Lissa led to battleships keeping ram bows for a half-century although they were never used in fleet combat again.
Both Tegetthoff and the Ferdinand Max became household words in Austria for decades. She was kept around as a training ship in Pola until 1916, one of the last US Civil War era ironclads afloat.
She was broken up in 1917.
Specs:
Displacement: 5140
30’4″ x 42’0″ x 20’8″
Installed power: 3500SHP steam, coal fired. Three masted bark rig auxiliary.
Propulsion: 1 shaft, 1 steam engine
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement 489 men
Armament: (16) 48-pdr SB, (4) 8-pdr SB; (2) 3-pdr (at Lissa) 2x203mm Krupp guns added later
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