SMS Custoza (1873)

Austro-Hungarian Navy Central Battery Ironclad (1869-1820)

SMS Custoza was an ironclad of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, first to be built after reports of the Battle of Lissa in 1866 had been thoroughly digested and all lessons translated into a new design. She became the first iron-hulled Austro-Hungarian capital ship, laid down in November 1869, launched in August 1872, completed in February 1875 so over seven years, reflecting the difficult funding of the Navy and resources at that time. Her career was further hampered by reduced naval budgets which stuck her in reserve more of the time. In the 1880s she was more active, notably during an international naval demonstration against the Ottoman Empire in 1880. She was modernized in 1882, sailed to Barcelona for the Universal Exposition in 1888 and ended as a training ship in 1902, barracks ship in 1914, and awarded as a war prize to Italy in 1920 were sources diverged about when she was broken up.

SMS Custoza as completed with her initial barque rig. src postales navales

Design of SMS Custoza

In 1869, the Austro-Hungarian navy wanted Chief Engineer Josef von Romako, designer of all previous ironclads to work on two new ironclads, which became Custoza and Erzherzog Albrecht, a smaller version of the same basic design as again, budget was lacking. Romako went deep into all reports concerning actions at the Battle of Lissa back in in 1866, so just hree years prior. He concluded that what matter most was having heavier armor and end-on fire for attacking more easily with a ram.

Custoza in construction at STT

It seems obvious for him to have less, but much heavier guns with a better hitting power and more flexible arc of fireas ramming manoeuvers meant there would be difficult angles. For ramming attack he needed a more powerful machinery. Romako designed a casemate ship like Lissa but replaced its wooden hull by one entirely made with iron, a first time this was done for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Custoza ended as a massive ship due to the ceoncentration of a two storey battery and ended as the largest casemate ship to be built by any navy, let alone for the Adriatic or Mediterranean at large. When launched, there were concerns in Rome which led to better ironclads with more massive guns.

Custoza needed seven years in construction at STT (Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino) due to two factors: One one hand the new iron hull construction, never done before there, and on the other hand the yearly issues to vote the budget, systematically blocked or reduced by the Hungarian part of the parliament. Only Austria was present on the Adriatic, so the only way to intensify support was to offer privileged positions and entice careers in the Navy to Hungarians. Custoza’s hull was launched after four years, with three more years for completion, in what should have been merely a year.

When starting sea trials, the towering, massive ship proved to be just as fast and maneuverable as Romako planned for her ramming attacks, however the delays meant that in such fast technological development time, she was an instantly obsolescent design. In 1875, even masted turret ships, the next step, were becoming obsolete and after 1876 ironclads were almost always steam-only ships. This was shown notably by the German Preussen class standards designed in 1869, so about a year later by Carl Elbertzhagen, and redesigned in 1870 as turret ships like HMS Monarch. They were completed before Custoza.

All admiralty at the time demanded greater armor protection, superior firepower and Italy was building soon in response to Custoza the two massive steam only Duilio-class ironclads, completed four years after Custoza and immediately retaking the lead in the Adriatic and Mediterranean with their four gargantuan 450 mm (17.7 in) turret guns. Custoza and her “smaller sister” Erzherzog Albrecht led in turn to the excellent SMS Tegetthoff laid down in 1876.

Custoza’s completion design was influenced also by Nathaniel Barnaby, British Chief Constructor of HMS Alexandra (1875), an ironclad that was saluted around the world for its innovative design, albeit late in the game, in 1877. This was the last hurrah for the central battery. Despite her shortcomings, the 7800 tonnes Custoza ruled over the Adriatic when completed, and stayed on top for four years, as the Duilio class took many years to completion. In 1878, so just after a year, her iron hull was already obsolete when the French steel-built Le Redoutable was in service.

Hull and general design of SMS Custoza

SMS Custoza was the largest warship even built in Austria Hungary to that point. She measured 92.14 meters (302 ft 4 in) long between perpendiculars, 95.03 m (311 ft 9 in) long overall for a beam of 17.7 m (58 ft 1 in) and average draft of 7.9 m (25 ft 11 in). The final displacement was disputed by authors and historians, but rated officially at 6,559.76 long tons (6,665.02 t) empty, but 7,175.95 long tons (7,291.10 t) normal and 7,730.99 long tons (7,855.05 t) full load. Due to her very tall hull here transverse metacentric height was of 0.85 m (2 ft 9 in) but she did not rolled too excessively. Her pronounced ram bow made her shorter at the waterline, and the forecastle was even further aft. She had no sterncastle.

She was unusual in that her forecastle effectively extended all the way to the aft end of the central casemate, at the second funnel level. The hull had pronounced recesses on either side of the central battery, to allow the four corner guns to fire either forward or aft. The four broadside guns were more limited. She had also a structure forward of the funnel, between the foremast and mainmast, integrating a tall conning tower, crossing an upper bridge deck with steering post aft of it. Later a cabin was built around it. She had a crew from 548 to 567 officers and enlisted men depending on her status and missions and eight boats under davits aft, six on deck. She carried no less than five anchors, two 4,339 kg (9,566 lb) and the others from 247 to 1,091 kg (545 to 2,405 lb) to stay stable. It was understood that her tall hull acted a sail when underway in high winds, and this was to be compensated.

Protection of SMS Custoza

SMS Custoza had an armored belt at the waterline made of wrought iron plating measuring 229 mm (9 in) in thickness amidship and protecting the machinery spaces. Toward the bow and stern that belt was reduced to 114 mm (4.5 in) but extended for 2.12 m (6 ft 11 in) above the waterline, 1.45 m (4 ft 9 in) it.

The deck only had a thin iron sheet. The main battery casemate hoiwever was protected by 152 to 178 mm (6 to 7 in) plates depending on the angle. The short space taken by the battery enabled to concentrate armour weight there and she had a lot of buoyancy in that midships section. Underwater, there was also an internal protection, with a cellular double bottom extending up the lower sides of the hull and to battery deck from frame 52 (bow) to frame 34 (stern). The ends narrowed too much for a double bottom. The general hull outer plating measured 44 mm (1+3⁄4 in) thick, tapered down to 17 mm (11⁄16 in) but 19 mm (3⁄4 in) on the sides. The ship also had wooden bilge keels to prevent grounding, a real danger in the shallow waters of the Adriatic.

Plans of her half sister SMS Erzherzog Albrecht for idea

Powerplant

Custoza was powered by a unique single-expansion, horizontal, 2-cylinder steam engine manufactured by the yard ( Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino) driving a single two-bladed-screw propeller 6.87 m (22.5 ft) in diameter. The engined was fed steam by eight coal-fired boilers subdivided into thirty-two fireboxes. Exhaust were trunked by groups of four into two main funnels amidships. This powerplant was rated for 4158 indicated horsepower. Coal storage capacity was generous ast 606.8 long tons (616.5 t) in normal condition, but using all avialable spaces it could be doubled or more. Top speed on steam alone was 13.75 knots (25.47 km/h; 15.82 mph). Range was 2800 nautocal miels as found in some sources, at 10 knots. However to supplement the engine, she had a full ship rig (barque), soon reduced in 1877 to a schooner rig with only three square sails on the foremast. Given this reduction it is dubious this added anything significant to the top speed. This was usable only when the winds made it best on long crossings to spare coal. But her range was perfectly adequate for the confines of the Adriatic.

The powerplant was designed to reach an optimistic top speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), from 1000 nominal horsepower. However in service, she made at best 13.75 knots (25.47 km/h; 15.82 mph), based on 4,158 indicated horsepower (3,101 kW). Her best score was during her speed trials of 12 February 1875. She was a bit under normal displacement and managed to reach 13.95 knots (25.84 km/h; 16.05 mph), just a fraction below the intended contracted speed. This was estimated well enough for ramming attacks anyway. However with time and half-hazard maintenance her engine became worn out and by 1883, on normal displacement she was measured at 12.7 knots (23.5 km/h; 14.6 mph) from 4,697 ihp (3,503 kW). Her steam engine was deactivated as she was at the end of her career as TS.

Armament

Custoza’s battery was a uniform eight 260 mm (10.2 in)/22-caliber; breech-loading, rifled (BLR) guns manufactured by Krupp at its Essen Works. They were mounted in the central armored battery on two stories, four guns per level. Albeit these showed four gun ports, there were two ports for each guns, firing either trough the forward and aft ports under recesses, or the broadside ports. ahead or broadside or in retreat and broadside dependong on their position but only for the upper two aft guns, fire astern. The lower level aft guns were limited to broadside only.
Elevation was from -4° to +8.4°, firing arcs 15° forward and aft in each gun ports. The lack of rotating tables was a problem and the crew had to reorient manually with pulleys these mounts between ports, a long and exhausting task requiring a lot of manpower.

Her secondary battery was composed of several smaller guns:
-Six 9 cm (3.5 in) Krupp 24-caliber guns placed in unarmored gun ports, two in the bow and four in the stern, elevation from -7° to +15°, and 21° firing arcs from their ports.
-Two 7 cm (2.8 in) Krupp 15-caliber guns Krupp on the bridge’s wings.
This armament was revised twice:
In 1882 she received four 350mm torpedo tubes: One at the bow, two in the beam, and one in the stern.
In the 1890s she received nine 3-pdr autocannons, four modern 47mm/30 SFK L/33 Hotchkiss guns and five 5-barreled 47mm/22 SFK L/25 Hotchkiss as well as two 5-brarrel revolving 1 pdr or 25mm/41 Nordenfeldt.

Career of SMS Custoza

SMS Custoza (named for the Austrian victory in the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866) was launched at STT shipyard in Trieste on 20 August 1872, completed on 18 September 1874. First sea trials were made on 11–13 February 1875. Low priority a resulted on shortage of funds to purchase material, and manpower, as there was not enough to pay workers, nor for STT ti purchase the Krupp guns on behalf of the government. There was no active fleet policy at the time, and even when Custoza was completed in 1877 she was laid up in reserve at Pola. Only wheaper screw frigates saw service abroad. Capital ships were left as the Imperial “insurance” in case of war. It was believed there would be enough time to gather crews and training in cse of war. Her sailing rig had been cut down prior to joining the reserve.

In 1880, SMS Custoza received a new crew and was reactivated. With the new ironclad SMS Prinz Eugen, and frigate SMS Laudon she was sent to take part in an international naval demonstration against the Ottoman Empire. Her presence was due to the fact that an any moment, the powerful Ottoman fleet and its many ironclads could intervene. The coalition wanted to force the Ottomans to transfer the city of Ulcinj to Montenegro following the terms of the 1878 Congress of Berlin. Custoza and four smaller vessels remained in commission that year, in reduced commission in 1881 and the next year she received new quick-firing guns (four 3-pdr mm Hotchkiss, five 5-barreled 47 mm Hotchkiss revolver, two 5-barreled 25 mm (0.98 in) Nordenfelt machine guns, four 35 cm (14 in) torpedo tubes, albeit some sourdes argued this was done separately in 1882 and 1891-92. Before 1887 she also received anti-torpedo nets.

She was reactivated to take part in the annual fleet maneuvers of 1888, with other ironclads, SMS Don Juan de Austria, Kaiser Max, Tegetthoff, plus the brand new torpedo cruisers Panther, Meteor, and Leopard. She sailed with SMS Prinz Eugen, Panther and Leopard to Barcelona for the opening ceremonies of its Universal Exposition. This was the largest Austro-Hungarian squadron ever sent outside the Adriatic. Custoza had honored guest on board, Spanish Queen Maria Christina and Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria which also were received by Tegetthoff.
In 1889, Custoza now 12 years old, took part in a major training exercises with the five other ironclads of the Navy and all cruisers and smaller ships, the largest ever done in the Adriatic by the Empire. Her service records for 1890-94 are unknown, but it’s likely she was in reserve for the winter, reactivated in the summer for short training sessions.

SMS Custoza in pola in WW1 (X/twitter)

Given her obsolete nature she was reduced to the II Reserve from 1895.
In 1902 it was decided to recycle her as a training ship for naval cadets as a brand new series of modern capital ships and cruisers had entered service or were about to. As training ship, she probably had a reduce rigging (only the lower masts kept) and stayed in that role until 1914. She was converted into a barracks ship and stayed at Pola as such until 1920 (other sources argued she was used as coal reserve). She was ceded to Italy as war prize following the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, most sourced pointing out she was rapidly broken up in Italy, but no date given. 1921 is a safe bet.

Read More/Src

Books

The Encyclopedia of Ships: The History and Specifications of Over 1200 Ships. Enderby: Blitz Editions
Brassey, Thomas, ed. (1886). “Exercises of the Austrian Fleet. 1885”. The Naval Annual. J. Griffin & Co.
Greger, René (1976). Austro-Hungarian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan.
Romako, Josef Ritter von (1870). “Das Casemattschiff “Custoza” unserer Kriegsmarine”
Pawlik, Georg (2003). Des Kaisers Schwimmende Festungen: die Kasemattschiffe Österreich-Ungarns, Vienna
K. Und K. Kriegs-Marine Jahresbericht pro 1889. Wien: Der Kaiserliche-Königlichen Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. 1890.
Pawlik, Georg (2003). Des Kaisers Schwimmende Festungen: die Kasemattschiffe Österreich-Ungarns. Neuer Wissenschaftlicher Verlag.
Scheltema de Heere, R. F. (1973). Fisher, Edward C. (ed.). “Austro-Hungarian Battleships”. Warship International. X (1). Toledo: Naval Records Club
Sieche, Erwin & Bilzer, Ferdinand (1979). “Austria-Hungary”. Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860–1905.
Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918. Purdue University Press.

Links

shipstamps.co.uk/
weaponsandwarfare.com
on navypedia.org/
en.wikipedia.org SMS_Custoza

on super-hobby.com/