The ''Huszár'' class was a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s built for the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

before the

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 fightin ...

. They were built to a design by the British shipbuilder

Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...

, who built the first ship, with a further 11 ships being built in Austrian and Hungarian yards between 1905 and 1909. A replacement ship was built when the lead ship was lost in an accident in 1908, and another ship of similar design building for the Chinese navy was seized on the outbreak of the

. Two ships were lost during the war, a single ship serving with the Greek Navy following the end of the war, and the remainder being scrapped.

Design

In 1904, Austria-Hungary, keen to upgrade its navy, placed an order with the British torpedo-craft specialist

Yarrow ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...

for designs for a 400 t

and a 200 t sea-going torpedo boat. Prototypes of both types would be built by Yarrow with production continuing in the

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 ...

, split between the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) shipyard in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, Austria and the

Ganz-Danubius The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and th ...

yard at

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

, Hungary.Sieche 1985, pp. 337–338. Warasdiner2

Yarrow's destroyer design was a "turtleback" design similar to the Royal Navy's "thirty-knotters", and was based on Yarrow's built for Japan.Friedman 2009, p. 59. The ship's hull was long

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of .Sieche 1985, p. 338.Greger 1976, p. 42. They displaced standard and deep load. The ships were powered by two four-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, fed by four

Yarrow boiler Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships. The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic ...

s, rated at , driving two shafts. This gave a speed of . Four

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construct ...

s were fitted. One innovation compared with the ''Ikazuchi''s was that the uptake to the forward funnel was trunked rearward, allowing the funnel to be moved aft, in turn making room for the ship's

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

to be situated well aft of the turtleback

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...

. This made the bridge much drier in high seas. The original armament consisted of a single L/45

Skoda Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to: Czech brands and enterprises * Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav ** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...

gun and seven L/44 guns, with two

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, one in the well between the turtleback and the bridge, and one aft. The 47mm guns were later replaced by 66 mm L/40 guns.

History

The first ship, was laid down at Yarrow's London shipyard in September 1904, the ship launching on 31 March 1905 and completing on 19 September 1905, reaching . Orders were placed for a further 11 ships to be built in Austria-Hungary. While STT was quick to begin work, with its first ship, being laid down in September 1905, work at the

yard at Fiume, which had been awarded a contract for six ships in order to split work between Austria and Hungary, was delayed by the need to construct

slips Slips (or SLIPS) may refer to: *Slips (oil drilling) *SLIPS (Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces) *SLIPS (company) *SLIPS (Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System) *Slip (cricket), often used in the plural form *The Slips, a UK electronic music duo ...

to build the ships, its first ship not being laid down until July 1907. Deliveries to the

continued from September 1906 to December 1909. On 3 December 1908, ''Huszár'' ran aground near Traste on the Adriatic coast, the ship sinking on 12 December. A replacement ship, with the same name, was built at the Naval Dockyard,

Pola Pola or POLA may refer to: People * House of Pola, an Italian noble family * Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress * Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer * Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter * Pola Gojawiczyńsk ...

, using armament and other equipment salvaged from the sunken ship. The class was rearmed in 1912–1913, with five 66 mm L/30 guns replacing the 47 mm guns. In 1912, China placed an order with STT for a single destroyer based on the ''Huszár'' class, to be called ''Lung Tuan'', with twelve more ships ordered in 1913. Armament was to consist of two 12-pounder (76 mm) and four 3-pounder (47 mm) guns supplied by

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and a ...

, with two torpedo tubes. ''Lung Tuan'' was almost complete when the

broke out, and she was seized by Austria-Hungary, and towed to Pola for completion as , being armed with two 66 mm L/45 guns, four 66 mm L/30 guns and four 450 mm torpedo tubes. Two ships, ''Streiter'' and ''Wildfang'' were sunk during the war. The Austro-Hungarian Navy was dissolved after the end of the First World War, with its ships being split between the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

nations.Sieche 1985, p. 329. Eight ships were taken over by Italy and two by France in 1920, and were scrapped, while one ship, ''Ulan'', went to Greece, where it served as ''Smyrni'' until 1928.

Ships

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huszar-class Destroyer Destroyers of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Destroyer classes World War I destroyers of Austria-Hungary