# SMS Babenberg

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**SMS *Babenberg***[a] was a [pre-dreadnought battleship](/source/Pre-dreadnought_battleship) built by the [Austro-Hungarian Navy](/source/Austro-Hungarian_Navy). She was launched on 4 October 1902 as the last of three [*Habsburg*-class battleships](/source/Habsburg-class_battleship). Along with her [sister ships](/source/Sister_ship), she participated at the bombardment of [Ancona](/source/Ancona) during [World War I](/source/World_War_I). At the end of the war, she was given to Great Britain as a war prize. She was scrapped in [Italy](/source/Italy) in 1921.

## Construction and layout

Main article: [*Habsburg*-class battleship](/source/Habsburg-class_battleship)

*Babenberg* was the last of three battleships of her class. Her [keel](/source/Keel) was laid down on 19 January 1901 at the [Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino](/source/Stabilimento_Tecnico_Triestino) shipyard in [Trieste](/source/Trieste). Following about a year and a half of construction, she was [launched](/source/Ship_naming_and_launching) on 4 October 1902, when she was named by Countess Marianne von Goess, wife of the [Statthalter](/source/Statthalter) of Trieste, Count Leopold von Goess.[1] After final fitting-out work was completed, the ship was [commissioned](/source/Ship_commissioning) into the Austro-Hungarian fleet on 15 April 1904.[2]

Like all ships of her class, *Babenberg* was 113.11 meters (371 ft 1 in) [long at the waterline](/source/Length_at_the_waterline) and was 114.55 m (375 ft 10 in) in [overall length](/source/Length_overall).[3] She had a [beam](/source/Beam_(nautical)) of 19.8 m (65 ft 0 in) and a [draft](/source/Draft_(hull)) of 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in).[4] [Freeboard](/source/Freeboard_(nautical)) was approximately 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in) forward and about 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in) aft. The ship also displaced 8,364 tonnes (8,232 long tons). Once construction was finished, she was commissioned into the Navy with a crew of 638 officers and enlisted men.[4]

*Babenberg* was powered by 2-shaft, 4-cylinder vertical [triple expansion engines](/source/Triple_expansion_engine), which were supplied with steam by 16 [Belleville boilers](/source/Belleville_boiler). *Babenberg'*s power output was rated at 16,000 horsepower (12,000 kW), which produced a top speed of 19.85 knots (36.76 km/h; 22.84 mph).[3]

The hull for the ship was constructed from longitudinal and transverse steel frames, over which the outer hull plates were [riveted](/source/Rivet) into place. The hull incorporated a [double bottom](/source/Double_bottom) that ran for 63% of the ship's length. A series of watertight [bulkheads](/source/Bulkhead_(partition)) also extended from the keel to the gun deck. All in all, there was a total of 174 [watertight compartments](/source/Watertight_compartment) in the ship.[5] *Babenberg* had a [metacentric height](/source/Metacentric_height) of between .82 m (2.7 ft) and 1.02 m (3.3 ft). [Bilge keels](/source/Bilge_keel) were mounted on either side of the hull to reduce rolling and prevent her from capsizing.[6] *Babenberg* had a flush main deck that was planked with wood, while the upper decks were covered with [linoleum](/source/Linoleum) or [corticine](/source/Corticine).

*Babenberg* had three [24 cm (9.4 in) L/40 guns](/source/24_cm_SK_L/40), two mounted in a twin [turret](/source/Gun_turret) forward and one mounted in a single turret aft of the main superstructure. The C 97-type guns were manufactured by [Krupp](/source/Krupp) in Germany.[3] The main guns fired at a [rate](/source/Rate_of_fire) of between three and four 215 kg (474 lb) [armor-piercing](/source/Armor-piercing_shot_and_shell) (AP) shells per minute. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve [15 cm (5.9 in)](/source/15_cm_SK_L/40_naval_gun) SK L/40 guns in [casemates](/source/Casemate).[3] These guns could fire at 4–5 shells per minute. *Babenberg* was built with [face-hardened](/source/Case_hardening) chrome-nickel steel. The main [armored belt](/source/Belt_armor) was 220 mm (8.7 in) in the central portion of the ship, where the ammunition magazines, machinery spaces, and other critical areas were located. The belt tapered slightly to 180 mm (7.1 in) on either end of the central section.[3]

## Service history

### Peacetime

When *Babenberg* was commissioned in 1904, she began participation in fleet drills with her sister ships [SMS *Árpád*](/source/SMS_%C3%81rp%C3%A1d) and [SMS *Habsburg*](/source/SMS_Habsburg). Following a series of simulated wargames against the three [*Monarch*-class coastal defense ship](/source/Monarch-class_coastal_defense_ship) [battleships](/source/Battleship),[7] *Babenberg* and the other two *Habsburg*-class ships became the I Battleship Division.[8] With the commissioning of the [*Erzherzog Karl*-class battleships](/source/Erzherzog_Karl-class_battleship) in 1906 and 1907, the *Habsburg*-class battleships were transferred from the I to the II Battleship Division, and the three *Monarch*-class battleships were moved from the II to the III Battleship Division.[7]

### World War I

During [World War I](/source/World_War_I), *Babenberg* served with the IV Division of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's battleships and along with her sister ships *Habsburg* and *Árpád* and the remainder of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. *Babenberg* was mobilized on the eve of World War I to support the flight of [SMS *Goeben*](/source/SMS_Goeben) and [SMS *Breslau*](/source/SMS_Breslau). The two German ships were stationed in the Mediterranean and were attempting to break out of the strait of [Messina](/source/Messina), which was surrounded by British troops and vessels and make their way to the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire). After the Germans successfully broke out of [Messina](/source/Messina), the navy was recalled. The fleet had by that time advanced as far south as [Brindisi](/source/Brindisi) in southeastern Italy.[9] *Babenberg* and her sister ships also participated in the [Bombardment of Ancona](/source/Bombardment_of_Ancona) after the Italian declaration of war on the [Central Powers](/source/Central_Powers). Towards the end of the war, the ship was [decommissioned](/source/Ship_decommissioning) and was retained as a harbor defense ship. Following the end of the war, the ship was awarded to Great Britain as a [war prize](/source/War_prize), but was instead sold and [broken up](/source/Ship_breaking) for scrapping in Italy in 1921.[10]

## Footnotes

### Explanatory notes

1. "SMS" stands for "*[Seiner Majestät Schiff](/source/Seiner_Majest%C3%A4t_Schiff)*", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German.

### Citations

1. "Naval & Military intelligence". No. 36891. 6 October 1902. p. 4.

1. Sieche, p. 333.

1. Gardiner Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 272.

1. Hore, p. 91.

1. Phelps, p. 25.

1. Phelps, p. 26.

1. Sondhaus, p. 158.

1. Blatchford, p. 437.

1. Halpern, p. 54.

1. Sieche, p. 330.

## References

- Blatchford, Robert (1904). "Sundries: A Socialist editor on conscription". *The United Service Magazine*. Vol. 150. H. Colburn.
- [*Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905*](https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2). London: Conway Maritime Press. 1979. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). *A Naval History of World War I*. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7. [OCLC 57447525](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/57447525)
- Hore, Peter (2006). [*The Ironclads*](https://archive.org/details/ironcladsillustr0000hore). London: Southwater Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84476-299-6.
- Koburger, Charles (2001). [*The Central Powers in the Adriatic, 1914–1918: War in a Narrow Sea*](https://books.google.com/books?id=FYqLUs2rzIAC). Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-97071-0. [OCLC 44550580](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44550580)
- Phelps, Harry (1901). "Notes on ships and torpedo boats, Section 2". *Notes on the Year's Naval Progress, Issue 20*. Office of Naval Intelligence, Government Printing Office.
- Sieche, Erwin (1985). ["Austria-Hungary"](https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_z3o0). *Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921*. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). *The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918*. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-034-9. [OCLC 28112077](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28112077)
- Tucker, Spencer E. (2005). *The Encyclopedia of World War I*. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-420-2.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [SMS Babenberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Babenberg) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Babenberg?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.