Dalmat (yacht)

The ''Dalmat'' was a yacht of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Royal Yugoslav Navy, ''Regia Marina'' and the Yugoslav Navy. Built as ''Ossero'' in Trieste in 1896 she was transferred to the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1899 and in 1901 renamed ''Dalmat''. In 1914 she helped transport Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria to Sarajevo. After Ferdinand's assassination she carried his body back to Trieste. ''Dalmat'' was transferred to the Royal Yugoslav Navy in 1920 following the Dissolution of Austria-Hungary. She was captured by the Axis in 1941 and served the Italians as ''Fata''. The vessel reverted to the Yugoslav Navy in 1943 following the Armistice of Cassibile and was renamed ''Vila''. She remained in service under the communist government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, being renamed ''Orjen'' in 1945 and ''Istranka'' in 1954. Sometime after 1972 she was decommissioned and became a floating restaurant. She was put up for sale in 1998 but lay derelict in a Croatian shipyard until purchased and restored by Italian politician Gianfranco Cozzi. Cozzi was denied permission to sail the vessel from Croatia in 2003. The vessel remains in Split harbour where it has twice sunk due to lack of maintenance.

Construction

The yacht ''Ossero'' was ordered by Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria, a nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph I. She was built from Czech-made steel at the San Rocco, Trieste, shipyard of Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in 1896. She measured in length, in width and in height. She was fitted with steam propulsion and had a displacement of . The vessel became the flagship of the Imperial and Royal Yacht Club.

Military career

In 1899 she was transferred to the Austro-Hungarian Navy and, in 1901, was renamed ''Dalmat''. She served as a royal yacht and flagship of the governor of Dalmatia. ''Dalmat'' was the first ship in the Adriatic Sea to use wireless telegraphy. The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, travelled to Bosnia in 1914. After travelling from Trieste to Ploče aboard the battleship ''Viribus Unitis'' he transferred to ''Dalmat'' for the journey along the Neretva river to Metković, the smaller vessel being more suited to river travel. Ferdinand completed his onward journey to Sarajevo by train. Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June and his body was carried part of the way back to Trieste aboard ''Dalmat''.

''Dalmat'' served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy throughout the First World War. From 26 August 1914 she was based at Zelenika, Bosnia. From 1916 she was a command ship for a submarine force in Kotor. After the post-war Dissolution of Austria-Hungary she was transferred to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and served as one of two yachts (the other being ''Lada'') in the Royal Yugoslav Navy (the state was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929). During the Second World War she was captured by Axis forces and from 1941 served in the ''Regia Marina'' as ''Fata''. She returned to Yugoslav control after the 1943 Armistice of Cassibile and was renamed ''Vila''. In 1945 Yugoslavia, then under communist control as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, renamed the vessel the ''Orjen''. She was renamed again in 1954, becoming the ''Istranka''. A 1972 edition of ''Jane's Fighting Ships'' noted she had a engine and was capable of .

Later history

''Istranka'' was decommissioned in 1970. It was later purchased by the company and converted into a floating restaurant, under the same name and moored at quay in Split. She ceased to be used as a restaurant in 1991. ''Istranka'' was put up for sale in 1998; she is the last surviving royal yacht of the Habsburg Empire.

After Union Dalmacija went bankrupt in the 1990s the vessel was purchased by Gianfranco Cozzi, a Christian Democrat member of the Italian Parliament, owner of a port services business and collector of naval vessels. He had discovered the vessel lying derelict in a Croatian shipyard and purchased it for €500,000. Cozzi claimed to have spent €5 million on restoring the vessel. Cozzi planned for the vessel to join his collection at Santo Stefano al Mare, but it was prevented from leaving the country in 2003 by the Croatian government. The government declared the vessel a national treasure, despite it never having served under the Croatian flag.

Cozzi paid to keep the vessel seaworthy but after his death the maintenance ceased. The vessel sank at its moorings in Split but was recovered on 28 June 2014, despite recovery being complicated by its weak structure and a covering of mud. The Croatian Maritime Museum took an interest in the vessel but requests to the Ministry of Culture failed to secure funding and it again sank in December 2019. The Maritime Museum made rudimentary repairs to secure the vessel, which remained in the ownership of Cozzi's estate. The estate offered the ship to the Croatian government for €100,000 but this was not progressed as the museum had struggled to raise the funds to make it seaworthy. , the ship is located in the Kaštela basin of the northern part of the Port of Split.

References

{{reflist

1896 ships
Ships built in Trieste
Royal and presidential yachts
Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy
Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy
Naval ships of Yugoslavia captured by Italy during World War II
Ships of the Regia Marina
Ships of the Yugoslav Navy
Floating restaurants