HOME | DD
BlacktailFA — Warship Disasters! Episode 3: The Radetzky class
#austrian #battleships #class #dreadnought #hms #hull #hungarian #navy #obsolete #austrohungarian #predreadnought #radetzky #tumblehome
Published: 2016-12-16 12:32:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 1085; Favourites: 9; Downloads: 9
Redirect to original
Description
When the Austro-Hungarian Empire laid the groundwork for the Radetzky class Battleships, they thought they had a world-beater in the works. These three battlewagons were bigger, faster, and more heavily-armed than anything they'd built before, and Vienna was totally confident that their new Battleship class was simply another step on the stairway of triumph.They couldn't have been more wrong.
It turns out these imposing warships were obsolete even before the shipyard was even given the go-ahead, thanks to the advent of the Dreadnought Battleship. The Radetzky class were "Pre-Dreadnoughts", meaning that they didn't have the kind of speed, firepower, and protection needed to compete with this new breed of warship. And yet, incredibly, the Austro-Hungarian Navy ordered them anyway, knowing FULL WELL that the Pre-Dreadnought Battleship concept had exceeded it's expiration date. And they built these obsolete ships, thumbing their noses at reason.
Starting to see where this is going?
However, the Radetzky class' problems go far deeper than that. After all, this isn't "Warship Obsolescence"; this is Warship Disasters!
As usual, Screbellious edited the script for spelling and grammar. There may yet be a few mistakes though, as I made a few last-minute changes while creating the slides, and I was in kind of a hurry.
These are my sources for this presentation...
"The World's Worst Warships", by Antony Preston.
(The development of the Radetzky class is described in the chapter on the Tegetthoff class Battleships, and many of the lessons in the chapter on the Borodino class apply as well)
"Austro-Hungarian Battleships, 1914-18", by Ryan Noppen.
navypedia.org/ships/austrohung…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radetzky…
www.steelnavy.com/Radetzky.htm
www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNAus…
www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNAus…
Related content
Comments: 3
Oh, my, Austria-Hungary being Austria-Hungary. How many Hotzendorfs does this one take in the incompetence scale? It does not surprise me that their warship design was so grievous by this period, the entire empire was an accident waiting to happen, with the pompous aristocracy and the highly impoverished masses underneath them. Even the design of this ship proves just how out of contact with reality the social elites were.
Also, the Zumwalt? Really? That's... disquieting.
Also episode 3 or 2? There's a typo at the start, anyway.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It's definitely episode 3 (the Swift and the Kynda class preceded this one), so that was probably a typo. XP
This won't be the *last* Austo-Hungarian Battleship class we'll be hearing about, either!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Again, I am not surprised. I have been following the Great War Youtube Channel (amazing show, I highly advise you to check it if you haven't seen yet) and they do go through how many things troubled the Empire by that period.
Anyhow, eager to see what comes up next.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0