The navy of Austria in 1845

For years was in the Netherlands a magazine published dealing with maritime affairs. It contained notes dealing with the Royal Dutch Navy and the Dutch merchant shipping/trade, but also supplied information dealing with foreign navies, especially of France and Great Britain. Occasionally we can find information dealing with the navies of other countries Russia, United States or even Mexico. The note dealing with the Austrian navy was originally published in Ann. Marit. dated August 1845.

Personnel
Artillery
maximum 1035 men
On board of with leave 655 men
Totally at Venice 380 men.
Marines
maximum 1439 men
On board of with leave 792 men
Totally at Venice 647 men.
Sailors
maximum 2109 men
On board of with leave 1530 men
Totally at Venice 579 men.
Total available at Venice 1606 men.

Ships

frigates of the 1st class: one building, 2 repairing, 1 in service, 1 laid up, totally 5

corvettes of the 1st class: 1 repairing, 1 in service, totally 2

corvettes of the 2nd class: 1 repairing, 1 in service, totally 2

corvettes of the 3rd class: 1 repairing, totally 1

brig: 2 repairing, 4 in service, totally 6

brigs polakker-rigged: 1 repairing, 1 in service, totally 2

transport brigs polakker-rigged: 3 repairing, 1 laid up, totally 4

schooners; 2 building, 3 in service, 2 laid up, totally 7

gunboats: 5 building, 2 repairing, 9 in service, 3 laid up, totally 19

peniches 1st class: 3 repairing, 28 in service, totally 31

peniches 2nd class: 2 repairing, 6 in service, 1 laid up, totally 7

trabocoli: 1 in service, 2 laid up, totally 3

steam vessels: 2 in service, totally 2

pramen: 2 building, totally 2

passi: 1 repairing, 1 in service, 8 laid up, totally 10

prauwen [prows] 1st class (pirogues): 21 building, 2 in service, laid up 24, totally 47

prauwen [prows] 2nd class (pirogues): 8 building, 2 repairing, totally 10

prauwen [prows] 3rdt class (pirogues): 6 building, 1 repairing, 1 laid up, totally 8

bomb boats (so-called obusieres): 1 building, totally 1

totals: building 46, repairing 22, in service 58, laid up 43, totally 169 ships and smaller vessels.

The frigate which is still on stocks is just in her timbers (‘inhouten’) .The schooners and gunboats are almost completed. The other small vessels are ready to be launched. In the original note, translated the author a praam as a heavily built, small draught flat pram, fitted put with a heavy battery and some times frigate-rigged. They were used to transport cavalry, support military operations, defend coasts and bombardments of forts. Presumably it were floating batteries of the best kind. According to him were never used in the Netherlands and in France for the so-called Boulogne flottila. I have some doubts with his opinion, probably at the end of the 18th century there were vessels in the Dutch navy, comparable with the praam. In fact in Dutch the word praam for a vessel is existing, in German it would be a prahm. A trabac or trabacolo was in origin a vessel used in the Adriatic Sea, with two masts, with two so-called ‘bucket-sails’, fitted up- and downwards to a yard. The passi, pirogues and peniches were vessels from the Mediterranean, comparable with the Dutch row gunboats and small vessels.

Source

G.A. Tindal en J. Swart. Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen en de zeevaartkunde. Vol 5. Amsterdam, 1845, p. 831-833. Digitized by Google.