Erzherzog Karl-class
Radetzky-class
Tegethoff-class
The Radetzky-class semi dreadnought battleships consisted of the Radetzky, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand and Zrinyi. Preceded by the Erzherzog Karl-class and succeeded by the Tegethoff-class. Between 25 and 29 September 1905 were five designs drawn for this class in which the armament differs with Siegfried Popper even advocating the design a real dreadnought although without success. (1)
Preliminary designs:
1. 2x2-28cm/11”guns, 4x1-24cm/9.4” guns, all in turrets and 8-19cm/7.5” guns.
2. 2x2-28cm/11”guns, 4x1-24cm/9.4” guns, all in turrets and 12-10cm/3.9” guns.
3. 4x2-28cm/11”guns and 16-10cm/3.9” guns.
4. 2x2-&2x1-30,5cm/12.0” guns and 16-10cm/3.9” guns.
5. 2x2-30,5cm/12.0” guns, 4x2-19cm/7.5” guns and 12-10cm/3.9” guns.
General technical specifications of this class. Displacement 14.741 tons/14.508 long tons (standard)-16.099 tons/15.845 long tons (full combat load) and as dimensions 137,5 (waterline)-138,8 (overall) x 24,6 x 8,1 metres or 451.1-455.5 x 81 x 26.7 feet. Two shaft 4-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines and 12 Yarrow-type coal-fired boilers supplied 20.000 hp allowed a speed of 20,5 knots and with a speed of 10 knots and a coal bunker capacity of 1.350 tons a range of 4.000 nautical miles. Their crew numbered 890 men. The armour consisted of a 23cm/9.1” thick belt, 4,8cm/1.9” thick deck, 5,4cm/2.1” thick bulkheads with the main gun turrets, secondary gun turrets, casemates and conning tower protected by respectively 25c,/9.8”, 20cm/7.9”, 12cm/4.7” and 25cm/9.8”. The armoured double bottom was to protect against torpedoes and mines.
The armament consisted of 2x2-30,5cm/12” 45cal Skoda guns, 4x2-24cm/9.4” guns, 20-10cm/3.9” quick firing guns, 4-3,7cm/1.5” guns and 3-45cm/18” torpedo tubes (each beam 1, stern 1).
Note
1. Siegfried Popper (5 January 1848 Prague, Czech Republic-19 April 1933 Prague, Czech Republic), naval architect, ending his carrier in the Austro-Hungarian navy as Generalingenieur on 1 April 1907. Afterwards he worked at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard at Trieste, Italy.
