Ersatz Monarch class battleship

Ersatz Monarch Class battleship, a projected new class of battleship which was to be constructed for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1917-1920

History

The Austro-Hungarian Navy authorized in May 1914 four new dreadnoughts to replace the "Monarch" class, therefore often dubbed as "Ersatz-Monarch" class. In the approved budget estimates the ships were named Battleship VIII - XI, according to the dual status of the Habsburg-monarchy two of them were to be built by the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino and two at Ganz & Co - Danubius.

To guarantee joint ammunition supply with their German ally, the calibre of the heavy guns was fixed with 350 mm as in the German battlecruisers of the "Mackensen" class. Because of the outbreak of World War I the laying down was postponed and never took place.

The design was prepared by Austrian chief naval architect Franz Pitzinger, and started with a first study of December 1911 for a 22,000-ton battleship with 305 mm (12") guns and a competitive 23,400-ton design with 345 mm (13.5") guns. Until the approval of the final design of July 1914 another 12 designs were prepared. To evaluate the layout of the armour protection, for the first time in the history of Austro-Hungarian battleship construction a whole middle section was constructed ('Sprengobjekt'). All test reports were withdrawn from the archives in 1920 by an Allied fact finding team looking for technical information.

While the contracts to the two yards were never signed, the Škoda Works, leading gun manufacturer of the Habsburg-monarchy had received her contract for the first batch of ten 350 mm guns.

External links

* [http://www.viribusunitis.ca/ersatzm.htm ERSATZ MONARCH – IMPROVED TEGETTHOFF CLASS BATTLESHIP]

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