SMS Custoza

SMS Custoza was a unique ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1870s, the only member of her class.

Design
The design for Lissa was prepared by Chief Engineer Joseph von Romako; he had studied the Battle of Lissa, fought in 1866, and decided the new ship should favor heavy armor and the capability of end-on fire to allow it to effectively attack with its ram. This required compromises in the number of guns and the power of the ship's machinery; to make up for carrying fewer guns, Romako adopted the same casemate ship design adopted with the previous vessel, SMS Lissa.

General characteristics and machinery
Custoza was 92.14 m long between perpendiculars and 95.03 m long overall. She had a beam of 17.7 m and an average draft of 7.9 m. She displaced 7609 MT. The ship was the first iron-built vessel to be built for the Austro-Hungarian fleet. She had a crew of 548 officers and enlisted men.

Her propulsion system consisted of one single-expansion, horizontal, 2-cylinder steam engine that drove a single screw propeller. The number and type of her coal-fired boilers have not survived, though they were trunked into a pair of funnels located amidships. Her engine produced a top speed of 13.75 kn from 4158 ihp. To supplement the steam engine, Custoza was originally fitted with a full ship rig, but she was reduced to a schooner rig in 1877.

Armament and armor
Custoza was armed with a main battery of eight 26 cm 22-caliber breech-loading guns manufactured by Krupp's Essen Works. These were mounted in a central, armored battery that had two stories, four guns apiece, which allowed four guns to fire ahead or on the broadside, and two guns astern. She also carried several smaller guns, including six 9 cm 24-caliber guns and two 7 cm 15-caliber guns, all manufactured by Krupp. The 9 cm guns were placed in unarmored gun ports, two in the bow and four in the stern. The ship's armored belt was composed of wrought iron plate that was 229 mm thick, and it was located at the waterline. The main battery casemate had 152 to 178 mm of iron plating.

Service history
Custoza was laid down at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard in Trieste on 17 November 1869. Her completed hull was launched on 20 August 1872, and she was completed in February 1875. The ship was named for the Battle of Custoza, an Austrian victory over the Italian army in the Third Italian War of Independence fought in 1866. The government placed a low priority on naval activities, particularly in the 1870s; as a result, the shortage of funds precluded an active fleet policy. The ironclad fleet, including Lissa, was kept out of service in Pola, laid up in reserve; the only vessels to see significant service in the 1870s were several screw frigates sent abroad. The ship's sailing rig was cut down to a schooner rig in 1877.

In 1880, Custoza, the ironclad SMS Prinz Eugen (1877), and the unarmored frigate SMS Laudon took part in an international naval demonstration against the Ottoman Empire to force the Ottomans to transfer the city of Ulcinj to Montenegro in accordance with the terms of the 1878 Congress of Berlin. Custoza remained in commission the following year, along with four smaller vessels. In 1882, the ship received a battery of new quick-firing guns, including four 47 mm guns, five 47 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon, and a pair of 25 mm machine guns. She was also fitted with four 35 cm torpedo tubes.

She participated in the annual fleet maneuvers in 1888, along with the ironclads SMS Don Juan d'Austria, SMS Kaiser Max (1875), and SMS Tegetthoff (1878), and the cruisers SMS Panther (1885), SMS Meteor (1887), and SMS Leopard. Custoza and the other three ironclads were joined by Prinz Eugen, Panther, and Leopard for a visit to Barcelona, Spain, to take part in the opening ceremonies for the Barcelona Universal Exposition. This was the largest squadron of the Austro-Hungarian Navy that had operated outside the Adriatic. There, the Spanish Queen Maria Christina and Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria inspected both Custoza and Tegetthoff.

Custoza was converted into a barracks ship in 1914, a role she filled until 1920. She was ceded to Italy as a war prize that year under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Her ultimate fate is unknown.