# SMS Boa

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**SMS *Boa*** was a torpedo boat of the [Austro-Hungarian Navy](/source/Austro-Hungarian_Navy). Built as a unit of the [*Cobra*-class torpedo boat](/source/Cobra-class_torpedo_boat), she was typical of the seagoing torpedo boats acquired by Austria-Hungary between 1896 and 1914. In 1910 she was renamed ***Torpedoboot 15.***

## Development

*Boa* and her sister ships, *Python*, *Kígyó* (Snake) and *Cobra,* were the result of competitive tests between two torpedo boats built in 1895–96. *Natter* was built by the firm of [F. Schichau](/source/Schichau-Werke) at [Elbing](/source/Elbing), while *Viper* was built by [Yarrow](/source/Yarrow_Shipbuilders) on the Thames at [Millbank](/source/Millbank). Admiralty *(Marinesektion)* officials were better satisfied with the performance of *Viper,* and four slightly larger examples were ordered from Yarrow.

## Design

A steel-hulled vessel of 132 tons displacement, *Boa* measured 152 feet (46 m) six inches (152 mm) in length with a beam of 15 feet (4.6 m) and a draft of four feet six inches. Her reciprocating engines of 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kW) gave a speed of 26 knots (48 km/h). Armament consisted of two [47 mm (1.9 in)](/source/QF_3-pounder_Hotchkiss#Austro-Hungarian_service) [quick-firing guns](/source/Quick-firing_gun) and three 17.7-inch (450-millimetre) [torpedo tubes](/source/Torpedo_tube).

## Service history

Launched on the Thames on 20 August 1898, *Boa* was completed on 24 September of that year. She and her sister ships formed a division of seagoing torpedo boats capable of challenging Italian forces in the event of war.

In 1910 a new nomenclature was introduced for all Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats. Existing names were discarded and replaced with numbers in the series *Torpedoboot 1* to *Torpedoboot 49.* *Boa* was renamed *Torpedoboot 15,* abbreviated *Tb 15.*

During the First World War, *Tb 15* was employed as a convoy escort and minesweeper. Allocated to Britain as a [war reparation](/source/War_reparation) in 1920, she was immediately sold and scrapped in Italy.

## References

### Bibliography

- Greger, René (1976). *Austro-Hungarian Warships of World War I*. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0623-7.

## External links

- [kuk-kriegsmarine.at : Torpedoboote 13–18](http://www.kuk-kriegsmarine.at/tb13tb18.htm)

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