The Adriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought between the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
and the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...
squadrons of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
, the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and ...
,
Australia and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
.
Characteristics
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
naval action in the
Adriatic consisted mainly of Austro-Hungarian bombardments of Italy's eastern coast, and wider-ranging German and Austro-Hungarian submarine forays into the Mediterranean.
Allied forces mainly limited themselves to blockading the Central Powers' navies in the Adriatic, which was successful in regards to surface units, but failed for the U-boats, which found safe harbours and easy passage into and out of the area for the whole of the war. Considered a relatively secondary part of the naval warfare of World War I, it nonetheless tied down significant forces.
The Adriatic campaign was also important because for the first time two new weapons were used successfully in warfare, viz. the
MAS
Mas, Más or MAS may refer to:
Film and TV
* Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series
* Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad''
Songs
* Más ( ...
torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of s ...
of
Luigi Rizzo that sank the battleship and the
human torpedo of
Raffaele Rossetti that sank the battleship in 1918.
History
1914
Beginning of the war

On 6 August 1914 an
Anglo-French naval agreement was signed, giving
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
leadership of naval operations in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...
. The remaining
British Mediterranean forces – one
armoured cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast e ...
, four
light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
s, and 16
destroyers – were placed under the control of the
French Mediterranean Fleet, and bases at both
Gibraltar and
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
were opened to the French.
One day after the French declaration of war against
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
on 11 August, a French fleet under Admiral
Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère arrived at Malta. He had orders to sail with all available French and British ships, pass into the Adriatic Sea, and undertake whatever operations he thought best against Austrian ports. Lapeyrère decided to surprise Austrian vessels enforcing a blockade of
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = ...
. The main Allied force comprised the French battleships and , and the cruiser . Two French squadrons of
pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, prot ...
s, two squadrons of cruisers, and five destroyer squadrons were held back in support. The British support group comprised two armoured cruisers and three destroyer divisions. The Anglo-French force succeeded in cutting off and sinking the old Austro-Hungarian light cruiser off
Bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (un ...
on 16 August in the
Battle of Antivari, however Allied hopes in the engagement of baiting the Austrian capital ships into an action did not realized.
Throughout most of late August most of the action was simple bombardment of
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
n and Montenegrin troops by Austrian ships. On 9 August, the pre-dreadnought shelled the French radio station at
Budva
Budva ( cnr, Будва, or ) is a Montenegrin town on the Adriatic Sea. It has 19,218 inhabitants, and it is the centre of Budva Municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called the Budva riviera, is the center of Montenegrin tourism, kno ...
, while the destroyer shelled
Mount Lovćen. On 17 August, ''Monarch'' shelled a Montenegrin radio station off Bar, then another station off
Volovica Point on 19 August. Meanwhile, a French squadron shelled Austrian troops on
Prevlaka.
The French and Montenegrin forces attempted to cause havoc also at Cattaro in September, October and November 1914, and the KuK navy was called in there also, resulting in a decisive defeat for the Allies.
Both the French and the Austrians spent much of this time laying extensive
minefield
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
s throughout the shallow waters of the Adriatic. Mostly this was done by destroyers, and at night. Several steamships ran afoul of these mines and either sank or were damaged.
The ''Goeben''
In July, the German
battlecruiser
The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of at ...
sailed to
Triest from
Pola. She and the German cruiser had been anchored there since the beginning of the summer. On 1 August, ''Goeben'' and ''Breslau'' rendezvoused at
Brindisi, then headed for
Messina
Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 in ...
to take on coal. They left for
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
on 6 August, shadowed by the British cruiser .
On 7 August, an Austro-Hungarian Fleet—consisting of six battleships, two cruisers, and 19 destroyers and torpedo boats—sortied from Pola to escort ''Goeben'' and ''Breslau'' through Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, returned to port following day without ever making contact. ''Goeben'' and ''Breslau'' briefly engaged HMS ''Gloucester'' and the chase was abandoned by the British. By 10 August, both German warships were safely in the
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...
and heading for
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
Winter
In November, the French submarine managed to slip into the
Bocche di Cattaro
The Bay of Kotor ( Montenegrin and Serbian: , Italian: ), also known as the Boka, is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated around the bay. It is also the southernmost part of the hi ...
as far as
Topla Bay
Topla may refer to:
*Topla, Nadia a village of Nadia District, West Bengal , India
* Topla, Črna na Koroškem, a village in the Municipality of Črna na Koroškem, northern Slovenia
* Topla Landscape Park, a landscape park in northern Slovenia
* ...
but was chased out by the Austrian destroyer , and the torpedo boat ''Tb 57T''. In mid-December, the French submarine raided the harbour barrage of Pola to wait for her chance to intrude. Two days later, on 20 December, during an attempt to sneak into the harbour she got entangled in an
anti-submarine net and could not free herself. Forced to surface for fresh air, she was sunk by the Austrian destroyer and ''Tb 63T'', with three casualties. The Austrians raised the wreck between December 1914 and February 1915. It was then repaired and commissioned as in June 1915.
On 21 December, the submarine scored one torpedo hit on the French battleship ''Jean Bart'' off
Sazan Island. The battleship had to withdraw to Malta for extensive repairs.
1915
In February, the French destroyer —while escorting the transport ''Whitehead'' to Bar—was sunk after hitting a mine. Also that month, the Austrian submarine ''U-12'' was unsuccessfully attacked off
Cape Mendra
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. The ...
by a French submarine. Austrian destroyer shelled Montenegrin positions at Bar with ''Tb 15'' and ''Tb 68F''.
In April, the Austrian —commanded by Lt.
Georg Ritter von Trapp
Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp (4 April 1880 – 30 May 1947) was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who later became the patriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. Trapp was the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander of World Wa ...
—chased the French armoured cruiser off
Paxos, but was unable to fire any torpedoes. ''U-5'' also torpedoed the French armoured cruiser after a two-day chase off
Santa Maria di Leuca, causing 684 fatalities including Rear-Admiral Sénès. Only 137 French sailors survived. The Austrian torpedoed and damaged the British light cruiser . Also, the Austrian destroyer shelled enemy positions at Bar.
Bombardment of Ancona

When
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May, the Austrian fleet was quick to act, launching several attacks on the
Marche
Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...
region of Italy.
That day, the destroyer ''Dinara'' and ''Tb 53T'' bombarded the port of
Ancona
Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...
. The destroyer —on reconnaissance duty between
Palagruža and
Cape Gargano
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. The ...
—shelled the
semaphore
Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when ar ...
and
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
at
Vieste
Vieste (; nap, label= Viestano, Vìst) is a town, ''comune'' and former Catholic bishopric in the province of Foggia, in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. A marine resort in Gargano, Vieste has received Blue Flags for the purity of its wat ...
and fired upon the Italian destroyer . On 24 May, the bulk of the Austrian fleet at Pola sailed for the Italian Adriatic coast. This included the dreadnoughts ''Viribus Unitis'', , and eight semi and pre-dreadnoughts. The fleet bombarded several cities and other targets in and around the
Province of Ancona, especially damaging the port and town of Ancona itself.

The destroyer shelled the Italian airship ''Città di Ferrara'' off Ancona. The semi-dreadnought and two torpedo boats bombarded
Potenza Picena, then returned to Pola. The ''Radetzky''-class semi-dreadnought , with two torpedo boats bombarded
Senigallia
Senigallia (or Sinigaglia in Old Italian, Romagnol: ''S’nigaja'') is a ''comune'' and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast. It is situated in the province of Ancona in the Marche region and lies approximately 30 kilometers north-west of the pro ...
, destroying a train and damaging a railway station and a bridge, then returned to Pola. The torpedo boat ''Tb 3'' was unsuccessfully bombed by an Italian airship. The light cruiser shelled the Italian signal station at
Cretaccio Island, while the armoured cruiser —with two torpedo boats—shelled
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Arimin ...
, damaging and derailing a freight train. The destroyer shelled the signal station near
Torre di Mileto ''Torre'' (plurals ''torri'' and ''torres'') means ''tower'' in seven Romance languages ( Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian, Occitan and Corsican) and may refer to:
Biology
* Muir-Torre syndrome, the inherited cancer syndrome
...
. The light cruiser , a destroyer and two torpedo boats entered
Corsini Channel Corsini is an Italian surname.
The Corsini family is a princely Florentine family. The emperor Charles IV created the head of the house a count palatine in 1371; the marquisate of Sismano was conferred on them in 1620, those of Casigliano and Ci ...
and shelled an Italian torpedo boat station, a semaphore station, and coastal artillery batteries.
The light cruiser —aided by four destroyers—sank the Italian destroyer ''Turbine'' in a pitched battle south of
Pelagosa. The destroyer shelled the railway embankment near
Manfredonia while the destroyer shelled the Manfredonia railway station.
Finally, Austro-Hungarian
flying boats dropped bombs on
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
and
airship hangars at
Chiaravalle.
Allied raids
In response, on 5 June, four different Allied task forces attacked the Austrian coast. Four Italian armoured cruisers, escorted by four French destroyers, shelled
Cavtat
Cavtat (, it, Ragusa Vecchia, lit=Old Ragusa) is a village in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic Sea coast south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality.
History
Antiquity
The original city was ...
; the British cruiser ''Dublin''—escorted by five Italian destroyers—shelled
Donzella; the Italian light cruiser —escorted by four destroyers—bombarded
Lastovo
Lastovo (; it, Lagosta, german: Augusta, la, Augusta Insula, el, Ladestanos, Illyrian: ''Ladest'') is an island municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The municipality consists of 46 islands with a total population of 792 p ...
; the Italian light cruiser , two Italian and two French destroyers shelled the island of
Lissa. On 9 June, a mixed force of British, French and Italian destroyers shelled the Austro-Hungarian signal station at
Cape Rondini
The Cape of Rodon or Cape of Skanderbeg ( sq, Kepi i Rodonit or ''Kepi i Skenderbeut'') is a rocky cape on the Adriatic Sea north of Durrës, Albania. On the Cape is the Rodoni Castle, built by Skanderbeg in 1463. and a Saint Anthony Church. F ...
in
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...
.
The summer of 1915
''Sankt Georg'' and a squadron of torpedo boats bombarded Rimini on 16 June, causing minor damage. Then on 17 June, the cruisers ''Novara'' and ''Admiral Spaun'' and their escorts attacked and sank the Italian steamer ''Maria Grazia'' off
Giulianova
Giulianova ( Giuliese: ' ) is a coastal town and ''comune'' in the province of Teramo, Abruzzo region, Italy. The ''comune'' also has city ( it, città) status, thus also known as Città di Giulianova.
Geography
The town lies in the north of the A ...
. The next day, they shelled Rimini and
Fano, destroying the Italian signal station there.
The summer of 1915 was a successful time for Austrian submarines as well: on 10 June, sank the Italian submarine and torpedo boat ; sank the Italian torpedo boat ''PN 5'' on June 26 off Venice; ''U-4'' torpedoed and sank the on 18 July; and ''U-5'' captured the Greek steamer ''Cefalonia'' off Durazzo on August 29. But this was not without losses. On 13 August, was sunk at Brindisi by the French destroyer
''Bisson'', after having been severely damaged by the Italian auxiliary cruiser the day before.
The Austro-Hungarian naval air-arm also began regular bombing raids against
Bari and Brindisi in June, slightly damaging the British protected cruiser in one such raid with machine gun fire. And the British
armed trawler
Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built ...
''Schiehallion'' was sunk by a mine. The was sunk off Venice by the German submarine on July 2. While the Italian scout cruiser shelled
Gravosa station on 18 July, the scout cruiser ''Quarto'' and three Italian destroyers attacked the Austrian installation at
Guiparra.
SMS ''Helgoland'', seven destroyers and four torpedo boats supported an Austrian landing at Pelagosa on 28 July. The landing was repulsed by the Italian garrison, that had arrived in the island on July 11. On August 17 the light cruisers "Helgoland", "Saida" and several destroyers bombarded the island again. The water reservoir was severely damaged and the next day the Italians began the evacuation. On 17 August, one of the cruisers was unsuccessfully torpedoed by an Italian submarine on return journey. The last act of the summer was the sinking on 26 September of the Italian battleship in Brindisi harbour by Italian-speaking Austro-Hungarian
saboteurs. Over 450 were killed.
In late September, the Allies established the
Otranto Barrage
The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Otranto Straits between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Greek side of the Adriatic Sea in the First World War. The blockade was intended to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Navy from esc ...
, an attempt to blockade the entrance to the Adriatic Sea at the
Strait of Otranto
The Strait of Otranto ( sq, Ngushtica e Otrantos; it, Canale d'Otranto; hr, Otrantska Vrata) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width at Punta Palascìa, east of Salento is less than . The ...
.
December

In early December, the French submarine ran aground off the
Bojana River estuary due to bad navigation, and was sunk by the Austrian destroyer ''Warasdiner''. The cruiser ''Helgoland'' and three destroyers sortie against the Otranto Barrage from 5–22 December and performed reconnaissance off the Albanian coast and
San Giovanni di Medua. They sank an Italian picket boat, three steamships loaded with ammunition and two armed schooners ''en route'' to Northern Albania.
The light cruiser SMS ''Helgoland'' and five Tatra-class destroyers left Cattaro and headed for Durazzo late on 28 December 1915. While on passage the French submarine was rammed by the cruiser SMS ''Helgoland'', and finally sunk by gunfire from the destroyer . Early the next day, the Austrians squadron opened fire on Durazzo targets, sinking some small ships. Then they ran into a minefield. The destroyer ''Lika'' was sunk and ''Triglav'' was damaged. She was taken in tow and the Austrian force sailed slowly to north.
An allied force had already sailed from Brindisi, with the aim to intercept them. It was composed of the British light cruisers HMS ''Dartmouth'' and ''Weymouth'', the Italian light cruisers RN ''Quarto'' and ''Nino Bixio'' and five French destroyers. In support of the retreating force, the Austrians despatched the armoured cruiser SMS ''Kaiser Karl VI'' and the light cruiser ''Novara'' from Cattaro. Early in the afternoon of 29 December, the forward Allied ships came into action with the retreating Austrian light squadron, which was still only halfway home. The ''Triglav'' was abandoned and scuttled and a long-range gunnery duel was fought throughout the afternoon. SMS ''Tatra'' was damaged but the Austrian light force was able to reach Cattaro safely.
1916
Austrian submarines sank or damaged a number of ships in 1916. ''U-11'' captured the Italian hospital ship ''King Albert'' on 18 January at San Giovanni di Medua. sank the French destroyer on 16 March at
Durazzo. On 8 June, ''U-5'' torpedoed and sank the Italian troop transport ''Principe Umberto'' at
Linguetta. Later, ''U-5'' fought a French-Italian destroyer group to a stalemate on 2 August, and torpedoed the Italian Q-Ship ''Pantelleria'' south of
Taranto
Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label=Tarantino dialect, Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an ...
on August 14.
On 15 September 1916, the two Austro-Hungarian seaplanes L.132 and L.135 forced the French submarine to surface by dropping bombs. L.135 finally sinks the sub while the 27 survivors were clinging to the two planes now floating, to be finally saved by the alarmed ''Tb 100M''. This was the first sinking of a submarine by airplanes in naval war history.
The very same day, the French submarine ''Ampére'' scored two torpedo hits on the Austro-Hungarian Hospital ship ''No I'' (the former Lloyd steamer ''Elektra'') off
Cape Planka (Rt Ploča), causing two fatalities. The damaged hospital ship had to be beached in Borovica Bay for further repairs.
On the night of 22/23 December, the Austro-Hungarian destroyers , , and ''Velebit'' attacked the
drifter
A drifter is a vagrant who moves from place to place without a fixed home or employment.
Drifter(s) or The Drifter(s) may also refer to:
Films and television Films
* ''The Drifter'' (1917 film), an American film directed by Fred Kelsey
* ''Th ...
s patrolling the Otranto barrage, which applied for help to the French destroyers , , , , and which were escorting a convoy from Brindisi to Taranto. Because of communication problems, only ''Casque'' and ''Commandant Rivière'' attacked, but ''Casque''s boiler rooms were hit immediately and she had to slow down to . For further assistance, the Italian destroyers , and left Brindisi shortly followed by the British cruiser ''Gloucester'' escorted by and . The French and Italian groups met during darkness, ''Giuseppe Cesare Abba'' rammed ''Casque''; some moments later, ''Boutefeu'' rammed ''Giuseppe Cesare Abba''. While the damaged vessels had to be taken into tow, the Austrians escaped in the darkness.
The return from the Otranto battle—15 May 1917—brought the British cruiser within the range of the which had already laid mines off Brindisi.
At 13:30, ''UC-25'' torpedoed ''Dartmouth'' approximately off Brindisi, for some time the ship was considered to be lost, but was manned by a rescue crew later and finally towed into port. On hearing that ''Dartmouth'' had been torpedoed, ''Boutefeu'' went to assist, only to hit one of ''UC-25''s mines.
1917
The Austro-Hungarian Navy had a major victory in May 1917 when it broke out of the allied naval blocked of the Adriatic Sea during the
Battle of the Strait of Otranto (1917), however after this, large scale operations were limited. By August 1917, Lt. Von Trapp and ''U-14'' had sunk more than of enemy shipping, including the Italian steamer ''Milazzo'' (). ''U-4'' torpedoed the French steamer ''Italia'' near Taranto on 30 May, and on 16 November severely damaged the Italian steamer ''Oriona'' between Brindisi and
Valona. On the night of 9–10 December, while SMS ''Wien'' and ''Budapest'' were at anchor in Trieste, two Italian MAS (motor torpedo boats) managed to penetrate the harbour defences undetected and fired several torpedoes at the two ships. ''Wien'' was struck by two torpedoes and sank in less than five minutes with the loss of 46 of her crew.
1918
On 13 February, the submarine (Audry) was lost with all hands after hitting a mine off the Bocche di Cattaro.
On 22/23 April, the Austro-Hungarian s , , , SMS ''Lika'' and SMS ''Csepel'' encountered the British destroyers and , the Australian and the French . HMS ''Hornet'' was badly damaged in the ensuing fight but the alarm went up and the Austrians turned for home, pursued by ''Jackal'', who had lost her mainmast.
The Premuda attack

At 03:30 on the morning of 10 June 1918, the battleship ''Szent István''—in the company of SMS ''Tegetthoff'' and seven other ships ''en route'' to attack the Otranto Barrage – was seen by chance and then hit by two torpedoes launched from the Italian
MAS
Mas, Más or MAS may refer to:
Film and TV
* Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series
* Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad''
Songs
* Más ( ...
-15
Motor Torpedo Boat under Corvette Captain Luigi Rizzo near
Premuda island, near
Zara. Many of the 1,087 crew were asleep, getting rested for the battle expected in a few hours. Immediate chaos soon changed into frantic efforts to save the vessel which was rapidly shipping water. SMS ''Tegetthoff'' was hit by another torpedo from a second MAS, but it did not explode.
Then ''Tegetthoff''—which had at first sped away from the vicinity of the torpedo attack—returned and took ''Szent István'' in tow, in an attempt to reach the massive dry dock at Pula. However, the pumps were unequal to the task before them due to loss of steam pressure and the ship continued to slowly list, sinking at 06:12, almost 3 hours after being hit.
[
It is debated that faults in the design – relatively low displacement and high ]centre of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...
, together with the weight of twelve main artillery – did not assist matters. However, most other battleships in The Great War which were either torpedoed or mined sank far more rapidly. There were, however, only 89 dead, partly attributed to the fact that all sailors with the K.u.K. had to learn to swim before entering active service. The attack on the Otranto Barrage was cancelled as a consequence of this attack.[
On 20 September, the French submarine was torpedoed north west of Cape Rodoni by the Austro-Hungarian submarine and lost with all hands.
]
Second Battle of Durazzo
On 2 October, an allied fleet composed of Italian, British, Australian and American warships attacked the port of Durazzo, which had by that time come under Austro-Hungarian occupation, during the Second Battle of Durazzo. The fleet consisted of over 55 vessels along with MAS boats and supporting aircraft. Allied forces destroyed Austro-Hungarian shore batteries and defeated a small squadron of patrol craft while sustaining comparatively light damage. Durazzo was left in flames, several building, bridges and railroad targets were bombarded which forced the evacuation of the city. A week or so after the battle an allied army occupied the city without resistance.
Sinking of ''Viribus Unitis''
On 1 November, the ex-Austro-Hungarian dreadnought
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...
''Viribus Unitis'' was sunk – along with the merchant-ship ''Wien''— both at anchor at Pula by limpet mine
A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces.
A swimmer or diver ...
attached by the crew of an Italian '' mignatta''. The ''mignatta'' was the precursor of the human torpedo and was invented by Major of naval engineers Raffaele Rossetti.
The whole Austrian Navy was at the time being transferred to the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...
, but the Italian attackers had not been informed.
Austro-Hungarian submarines results
Many Austro-Hungarian and German U-boats operated out of the Adriatic for the whole of the war. Due to lack of cooperation of the Allies in the Mediterranean control zones, and the late institution of the convoy system, U-boats experienced substantial success throughout the first war years.
''K.u.K. Kriegsmarine'' submarines sunk 117 ships during World War I, with the total of . The most well-known casualties were:[
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Also, the ''K.u.K. Kriegsmarine'' submarines damaged the following ships:][
*
*
*
*
]
References
External links
Serbia, Balkans & Macedonia 1914-18
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adriatic Campaign Of World War I
Military operations of World War I involving Austria-Hungary
Mediterranean naval operations of World War I
Campaigns and theatres of World War I