Bericht Bgdr MMag Roman Fischer bei der Feier zum Österreichischen Marinegedenktag 2015 in Opatija

The Austrian Navy Memorial Day takes place normally in Vienna. This year we have come together here in Opatija, to celebrate the Austrian Navy Memorial Day on Croatian territory. I think, this is a good opportunity to talk about the significant contribution of the Croatian sailors on Austrian Navy. I will begin with an overview on the Croatian and the Austrian naval warfare until 1850. The Croats were Slavic tribes who had their origins in the swamp areas in the north of the Carpatian mountains. In the 6th century they started to go south and at the beginning of the 7th century they arrived on the Adriatic Coast. Soon after their arrival they began to navigate the sea and to deal with naval warfare. Already in 642 the Longobard writer Pavlo Ðakon mentioned, that the Croats had many ships under the city of Siponto in Southern Italy. Later on we can find many records from the period between the years 800 and 1100 confirming that the Croatian princes and kings had a strong navy which dominated the eastern Adriatic Sea. The Croatian navy of this time consisted of rowing boats with sails. There were two types, a bigger one with 40 sailors and a smaller one with 10 to 20 sailors. The Croats prevented the occupation of the islands in the eastern Adriatic by Venice and at the same time they fought off many attacks of the Saracens and the Byzantines. This period of Croatian naval history ends with the personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1002. Soon after this date the Croatian coast fell under Venice and its naval power deteriorated. Only thje Republic of Dubrovnik successful defended its independence by means of a strong fleet. Now let us hear something about Austria and its attitude to naval warfare. Since 1279, when the Count of Duino rendered fealty to the Duke of Austria, the dominion of the Habsburgs bordered on the Adriatic Sea. 1282 the city of Trieste imputed volunteer Habsburg rule, in 1465 the Habsburg emperor Friedrich III bought the town Rijeka from the count of Wallsee. Despite this access to the sea Austria remained a land force and until the end of the 18th century there were only limited attempts to establish an Austrian navy. Only after the Seven Years' War Austrian vulnerability to privateers in the Mediterranean Sea led Count Kaunitz to push for the creation of a small force of frigates. The specific Naval Ensign (Marineflagge) based on the red-white-red colours was introduced in the reign of Emperor Joseph II. This situation changed considerably in 1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio between France and Austria, when the Austrian emperor received the city of Venice along with Istria and Dalmatia. The Venetian naval forces and facilities were also handed over to Austria and became the basis of the formation of the future Austrian Navy. The main base of this emperial Austrian Navy was Venice. The population of Venice neither in 1797 nor in 1814 was asked if they wanted to become a part of Austria and people inclusive the Venecian sailors of the Austrian navy preserved the memory of the defunct Republic of Venice. Despite some attempts to make the new navy "Austrian" we can say that until 1848 the Austrian navy was in practice little more than Venetian crews and ships sailing under the Austrian flag. When in 1848 the revolution broke out also in Venice and a new Republic of Venice was founded by the revolutiners almost all the naval personnel of the Austrian navy deserted to the new revived Venetian Republic and soon 113 of the 162 vessels were in the hands of the mutineers. The commander of the Austrian navy, vice admiral von Martini was arrested and the mutineers took over control on the Navy Arsenal of Venice. After the Austrian victory over the revolution and the Kingdom of Sardinia the Austrian navy did not exist any more. Most of the ships were without crews and it became clear, that the navy could not be restored in Venice. There was a need to build up a new main naval base. In 1850 the small town of Pula was chosen to be the new main naval base because of geopolitical considerations and the geography of the area. At this time Pula was a small town with 600 inhabitants. In 1850 the construction works on the fortifications of Pula began. In 1856 the cornerstone of the futureArsenal was laid. Pula began to grow and until 1910 its population grew to 58.662. Among this number were 16.041 soldiers of the garrison, a number which does not include the crews of the ships. Supplementary bases included the busy port of Trieste, the harbour of Šibenik and the natural harbour of Kotor at the most southerly point of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both Trieste and Pula had major shipbuilding facilities. Pula's naval installations contained one of the largest floating drydocks in the Mediterranean. The Naval Academy was transferred from Venice to the Croatian town Rijeka. With the founding of the new naval bases the Autrian emperial navy started to recruite new sailors in Istria and Dalmatia, most of which were Croats. When in 1866 admiral Tegetthoff´s fleet departed from Pula towards Vis, the allout personnel strength of the Ship crews was about 7.000 sailors. 5.000 of them were Croats. In 1914 the active strength of the Austro Hungarian Navy was 35.281 officers and soldiers. 34 % of them were Croats. As the percentage of the Croats among the population of the Austro Hungarian Empire was only about 7 %, we can see how many young Croats served in the Navy. As many non- Croatian soldiers served in the naval bases as logistic soldiers, guards and in the fortress crews we can assume that the proportion of Croats in the ships' crews was far higher. Among the officers of the Navy in 1914 one Viceadmiral, three Navy Captains, five Naval Commanders, three Lieutenant Commanders, 22 Lieutenants and 15 Sub- Lieutenants were Croatians. Until 1897 the official command language of the Austrian Navy was German, but in reality there was used the so called "Lingua de bordo", which was a mixture of Croatian, Italian and German terms. This language till now is used on many merchant ships which have a Croatian crew. In 1897 Croatian language was introduced as an official working language in the Austro Hungarian Navy. Thousands of Croats served in the Austro Hungarian Navy. They proved to be skillful sailors, brave fighters, prudent commanders and even as an inventor. As examples of this, I would like to mention now some famous Croatian soldiers of the Austrian Navy. Nikola Karkovic was born on the island of Hvar on August 3, 1838. He served in the Austrian Navy with the rank of an officer candidate (Offiziersanwärter). The fame he gained during the battle of Vis on 20 July 1866 when he grabbed the banner of the Italian battleship Palestro since Ferdinand Max made a stroke in her beak. The aft gaff of the Palestra fell along with the flag from the force of the blow. When admiral Tegetthoff shouted "Who will take the flag?" Officer candidate Karkovic jumped into the bright gunfire and captured the Italian flag. After the war he was decorated for bravery. He died of a stroke in Trieste on September 7th 1918. Blaž Vukic-Lupis was born in the city of Rijeka (then Fiume) in 1813. He served in the Austrian Navy until he retired in 1860 as a Lieutenant Commander. His last function was to be the commander of the frigate "Bellona". Besides his work as an officer he envisioned a floating device for destroying ships that would be unmanned and controlled from land, while the explosive charges would detonate at the moment of impact. His first prototype was one metre long, had glass wings, and was controlled via long ropes from the coast. It didn't succeed due to primitive implementation. The second model was built with a clock mechanism as the engine for the propeller. The explosives were in the stern and were ignited through a pistol-like control, which in turn was activated through the bow, the sides or the mast. It had two rudders: one turned to the right, the other to the left, which were moved by ropes/wires from land. After numerous experiments, this design, marked '6 m', finally performed well enough. In 1860, after Blaž Vukic-Lupis had retired from the Navy, he managed to demonstrate the '6 m' design to the emperor Franz Joseph, and it was a success, but the naval commission refused to accept it without better propulsion and control systems. In 1864 Blaž Vukic-Lupis got to know the British machine engineer Robert Whitehead, manager of the local factory 'Stabilimento Tecnico Fiumano', with whom he signed a contract to develop Blaž Vukics invention further. Robert Whitehead later founded the private company 'Torpedo-Fabrik von Robert Whitehead' which was the producer of Torpedos. Blaž Vukics was given the noble title of Baron von Rammer ('the sinker') on 1 August 1869. He died in the borough (frazione) of Torriggia, in the municipality of Laglio, near Como on 11 January 1875.

Bgdr MMag Roman Fischer, ÖMV-Präsident Karl Skrivanek und Oberbürgermeister Ivo Dujmic bei der Feier zum Österreichischen Marinegedenktag 2015 in Opatija

Admiral Maksimilijan Njegovan was the highest ranking Croatian officer of the Austro Hungarian Navy. He was born in 1858 in Zagreb. Upon graduation from the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy in Rijeka, he joined the fleet in Pula in 1877 as a Seekadett. In 1893, after receiving a short instructional course as torpedo officer of Alpha, he received his first command, the torpedo boat Condor. At the Naval Academy Maksimilijan Njegovan was an instructor in seamanship from 1898 to 1905. Njegovan then held command of the battleship Budapest until 1907. He served from 1907 to 1909 as chief of staff to the Navy Commander, Rudolf Montecuccoli, and as adjutant and chief of operations of the Naval Section of the War Ministry, of which Montecuccoli was Chief. He was promoted to Kontreadmiral in 1911 and Vizeadmiral in 1913. At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 he was named commander of the 1st Division of the 1st Battle Squadron, hoisting his flag in the dreadnought battleship Tegetthoff. Njegovan was decorated with the Order of Leopold for his bombardment of Ancona the night Italy declared war on the empire, 23/24 May 1915. In February 1917 Maksimilijan Njegovan succeeded the late Grossadmiral Anton Haus as Fleet Commander. Promoted to full Admiral, he was appointed to the additional post of Chef der Marinesektion in April 1917, succeeding the late Karl Kailer von Kaltenfels. Njegovan was the last man to hold all three posts. He received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Iron Crown for the battle of the Otranto Straits, 14/15 May 1917. Retired on 1st March 1918, Njegovan spent the rest of the war in Pula. Pensioned and promoted to Grossadmiral on the retired list, he was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold for his services to the empire. Maksimilijan Njegovan died in 1930 in his hometown of Zagreb at the age of 71. Admiral Janko Vukovic-Podkapelski was born in Jezerane on September 27th, 1871. He attended the Naval Academy in Rijeka, and in his naval career he commanded the Habsburg-class pre-Dreadnought SMS Babenberg, the fast light cruiser SMS Admiral Spaun, and rose to command of the fleet's flagship, the dreadnought SMS Viribus Unitis by the end of the First World War. On October 29th, 1918 the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs broke off all relations with Austria and Hungary, establishing the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Subsequently Emperor Charles gave the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy, merchant fleet, and all its installations to the new state. When representatives of the National Council arrived at the naval base at Pula on October 31st, the commander in chief, Admiral Miklós Horthy, asked to whom he should hand over command of the fleet. The representatives had not considered the matter, and after some discussion accepted Horthy's suggestion of Vukovic, who was promoted to rear-admiral and made commander in chief of the new country's navy when Horthy's flag was lowered at 5 pm. Overnight, an Italian sabotage team from a nearby patrol boat, who had not heard of the new State's creation and non-belligerence, penetrated the harbour and laid two 200 kg mines under the Viribus Unitis ready to explode at 6:30 sharp. The two-man team was captured and taken aboard Viribus Unitis, where they informed Vukovic of what they had done. Vukovic arranged for the prisoners (Raffaele Paoletti and Raffaele Rossetti) to be taken safely to the sister ship Tegetthoff, and ordered the evacuation of the ship. But the explosion did not happen at 6:30 and Vukovic returned to the ship with many sailors. He therefore remained on his ship and went down with her and 300-400 of her crew when the mines exploded shortly afterwards at 6:44. Vukovic had been commander-in-chief of his country's fleet for barely twelve hours. When we look at all these facts, we can say that the Austrian Navy the years 1850 to 1918 was an Austrian-Croatian Navy. In contrast to the first Austro- Venetian Navy, which perished in the storms of the Revolution, the Austrian-Croatian co-operation was a success. The Austro- Croatian navy successfully conducted a series of naval battles, naval peacekeeping operations and geographical expeditions. The development of the torpedo by an Austro- Croatian navy officer was a great contribution to the development of naval warfare. Until the end of the First World War the Austro Croatian navy claimed the naval supremacy in the Adriatic Sea. Today we will use the opportunity of celebration the Austrian Navy Memorial Day in Croatia to commemorate the thousands of Croatian officers and sailors who faithfully and bravely fought with us against superior enemy forces and the adversities of nature in the sea. The Austro Croatian navy since 1918 does not exist any longer but its spirit lives on in the trusting and successful cooperation between the Croatian Armed Forces and the Austrian Army.

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