Adriatic Campaign of World War I

The Adriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought during World War I between the Central Powers, and the Mediterranean squadrons of Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Italy, Australia and the United States.

Characteristics
It consisted mainly of Austro-Hungarian coastal bombardments of Italy′s Adriatic coast, and wider-ranging German–Hungarian submarine warfare into the Mediterranean.

Allied forces mainly limited themselves to blockading the German–Hungarian navies in the Adriatic, which was successful in regards to surface units, but failed for the U-boats, which found safe harbours and easy passage into and out of the area for the whole of the war. Considered a relatively secondary part of the naval warfare of World War I, it nonetheless tied down significant forces.

The Adriatic campaign was important even because for the first time two new weapons were used successfully in warfare, viz. the human torpedo of Raffaele Rossetti and the MAS torpedo boat of Luigi Rizzo. These small navy vessels sank two Austrian battleships in 1918, SMS Viribus Unitis and SMS Szent István.

Beginning of the war


On 6 August 1914, an Anglo-French naval agreement was signed, giving France the leadership of naval operations in the Mediterranean. The remaining British Mediterranean forces, one armored cruiser, four light cruisers, and 16 destroyers were placed under the control of the French Mediterranean Fleet and both Gibraltar and Malta would be open as bases to the French.

One day after the French declaration of war against Austria-Hungary on 11 August, the French fleet—under Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère—entered Malta. He had orders to sail with all available French and British ships, pass into the Adriatic Sea and undertake whatever operation he thought best against an Austrian port. Lapeyrère decided to surprise the Austrian vessels enforcing a blockade of Montenegro. The main Allied force comprised the French battleships FRENCH BATTLESHIP Courbet, FRENCH BATTLESHIP Jean Bart, and the cruiser FRENCH CRUISER Julien De La Graviere. Two French squadrons of pre-dreadnoughts, two squadrons of cruisers, and five destroyer squadrons were held back in support. The British support group comprised two armored cruisers and three destroyer divisions. The Anglo-French force succeeded in cutting off and sinking the Austro-Hungarian light cruiser SMS Zenta off Bar on 16 August.

Throughout most of late August most of the action was simple bombardment of Serbian and Montenegrin troops by Austrian ships. On 9 August, the pre-dreadnought SMS Monarch shelled the French radio station at Budva, while the destroyer SMS Panther (1885) shelled Mount Lovcen. On 17 August, Monarch shelled a Montenegrin radio station off Bar, then another station off Volovica Point on 19 August. Meanwhile, a French squadron shelled Austrian troops on Prevlaka.

Both the French and the Austrians spent much of this time laying extensive minefields throughout the shallow waters of the Adriatic. Mostly this was done by destroyers, and at night. Several steamships ran afoul of these mines and either sunk or were damaged.

The Goeben
In July, the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben sailed to Triest from Pola. She and the German cruiser SMS Breslau had been anchored there since the beginning of the summer. On 1 August, Goeben and Breslau rendezvoused at Brindisi, then headed for Messina to take on coal. They left for Constantinople on 6 August, shadowed by the British cruiser HMS Gloucester (1909).

On 7 August, the Austro-Hungarian Fleet—consisting of six battleships, two cruisers, and 19 destroyers and torpedo boats—sortied from Pola to escort Goeben and Breslau through Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, returned to port following day without ever making contact. Goeben and Breslau briefly engaged HMS Gloucester and the chase was abandoned by the British. By 10 August, both German warships were safely in the Dardanelles and heading for Turkey.

Winter
In November, the French submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Cugnot managed to slip into the Bocche di Cattaro as far as Topla Bay but was chased out by the Austrian destroyer SMS Blitz, and the torpedo boat Tb 57T. Later that month, the French submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Curie raided the harbor barrage of Pola to wait for her chance to intrude. Two days later, on 20 December, during an attempt to sneak into the harbor she got entangled in an anti-submarine net and could not free herself. Forced to surface for fresh air, she was sunk by the Austrian destroyer SMS Magnet and Tb 63T, with three casualties. The Austrians raised the wreck between December 1914 and February 1915. It was then repaired and commissioned as SMU U-14 (Austria-Hungary) in June 1915.

On 21 December, the submarine SMU U-12 (Austria-Hungary) scored one torpedo hit on the French battleship Jean Bart off Sazan Island. The battleship had to withdraw to Malta for extensive repairs.

1915
In February, the French destroyer FRENCH DESTROYER Dague—while escorting the transport Whitehead to Bar—was sunk after hitting a mine. Also that month, the Austrian submarine U-12 was unsuccessfully attacked off Cape Mendra by a French submarine. Austrian destroyer SMS Csikós shelled Montenegrin positions at Bar with Tb 15 and Tb 68F.

In April, the Austrian SMU U-5 (Austria-Hungary)—commanded by Lt. Georg Ritter von Trapp—chased the French armored cruiser FRENCH CRUISER Victor Hugo off Paxos, but was unable to fire any torpedoes. U-5 also torpedoed the French armored cruiser FRENCH ARMOURED CRUISER Léon Gambetta after a two-day chase off Santa Maria di Leuca, causing 684 fatalities including Rear-Admiral Sénès. Only 137 French sailors survived. The Austrian SMU U-4 (Austria-Hungary) torpedoed and damaged the British light cruiser HMS Dublin (1912). Also, the Austrian destroyer SMS Warasdiner shelled enemy positions at Bar.

Bombardment of Ancona


When Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May, the Austrian fleet was quick to act, launching several attacks on the Marche region of Italy. That day, the destroyer Dinara and Tb 53T bombarded the port of Ancona. The destroyer SMS Lika—on reconnaissance duty between Palagruža and Cape Gargano—shelled the semaphore and radio station at Vieste and fired upon the Italian destroyer ITALIAN DESTROYER Turbine. On 24 May, the bulk of the Austrian fleet at Pola sailed for the Italian Adriatic coast. This included the dreadnoughts SMS Viribus Unitis, SMS Tegetthoff (1912), SMS Prinz Eugen and eight pre-dreadnoughts. The fleet bombarded several cities and other targets in and around the Province of Ancona, especially damaging the port town of Ancona itself.

The destroyer SMS Velebit shelled the Italian airship Città di Ferrara off Ancona. The pre-dreadnought SMS Radetzky and two torpedo boats bombarded Potenza Picena, then returned to Pola. The Radetzky-class pre-dreadnought SMS Zrínyi, with two torpedo boats bombarded Senigallia, destroying a train and damaging a railway station and a bridge, then returned to Pola. The torpedo boat Tb 3 was unsuccessfully bombed by an Italian airship. The light cruiser SMS Admiral Spaun shelled the Italian signal station at Cretaccio Island, while SMS Sankt Georg—with two torpedo boats—shelled Rimini, damaging a freight train. The destroyer SMS Streiter shelled the signal station near Torre di Mileto. The light cruiser SMS Novara (1913), a destroyer and two torpedo boats entered Corsini Channel and shelled an Italian torpedo boat station, a semaphore station, and coastal artillery batteries.

The light cruiser SMS Helgoland (1912)—aided by four destroyers—sank the Italian destroyer Turbine in a pitched battle south of Pelagosa. The destroyer SMS Tátra shelled the railway embankment near Manfredonia while the destroyer SMS Csepel shelled the Manfredonia railway station.

Finally, Austro-Hungarian flying boats dropped bombs on Venice and airship hangars at Chiaravalle.

Allied raids
In response, on 5 June, four different Allied task forces attacked the Austrian coast. Four Italian armoured cruisers, escorted by four French destroyers, shelled Cavtat; the British cruiser HMS Dublin (1912)—escorted by five Italian destroyers—shelled Donzella; the Italian light cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Quarto—escorted by four destroyers—bombarded Lastovo; the Italian light cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Nino Bixio, two Italian and two French destroyers shelled the island of Lissa. On 9 June, a mixed force of British, French and Italian destroyers shelled the Austro-Hungarian signal station at Cape Rondini in Albania.

The summer of 1915
The armored cruiser SMS Sankt Georg and a squadron of torpedo boats bombard Rimini on 16 June, causing minor damage. Then on 17 June, the cruisers SMS Novara (1913), SMS Admiral Spaun and their escorts attacked and sank the Italian steamer Maria Grazia off Giulianova. The next day, they shelled Rimini and Fano, destroying the Italian signal station there.

The summer of 1915 was a successful time for Austrian submarines as well: on 10 June, SMU U-11 (Austria-Hungary) sank the Italian submarine ITALIAN SUBMARINE Medusa and torpedo boat ITALIAN TORPEDO BOAT Serpente; SMU U-10 (Austria-Hungary) sank the Italian torpedo boat PN 5 on June 26 off Venice; SMU U-4 (Austria-Hungary) torpedoed and sank the ITALIAN CRUISER Giuseppe Garibaldi on 18 July; and SMU U-5 (Austria-Hungary) captured the Greek steamer Cefalonia off Durazzo on August 29. But this was not without losses. On 13 August, SMU U-3 (Austria-Hungary) was sunk at Brindisi by the French destroyer Bisson, after having been severely damaged by the Italian auxiliary cruiser ITALIAN AUXILIARY CRUISER Città di Catania the day before.

The Austro-Hungarian naval air-arm also began regular bombing raids against Bari and Brindisi in June, slightly damaging the British protected cruiser HMS Amethyst (1903) in one such raid with machine gun fire. And the British armed trawler Schiehallion was sunk by a mine. The ITALIAN CRUISER Amalfi was sunk off Venice by the German submarine SMU UB-14 on July 2. While the Italian scout cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Marsala shelled Gravosa station on 18 July, the scout cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Quarto and three Italian destroyers attacked the Austrian installation at Guiparra.

SMS Helgoland, seven destroyers and four torpedo boats supported the Austrian landings at Pelagosa on 28 July, but within two weeks the battalion of troops are taken off. On 17 August, the cruiser was unsuccessfully torpedoed by an Italian submarine on return journey. The town's freshwater cistern was damaged during the bombardment and the Italian troop evacuation took place the following day. The last act of the summer was the sinking on 26 September of the Italian battleship ITALIAN BATTLESHIP Benedetto Brin in Brindisi Harbor by Italian-speaking Austro-Hungarian saboteurs. Over 450 were killed.

In late September, the Allies established the Otranto Barrage, an attempt to blockade the entrance to the Adriatic Sea at the Strait of Otranto.

December


In early December, the French submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Fresnel ran aground off the Bojana River estuary due to bad navigation, and was sunk by the Austrian destroyer SMS Warasdiner. The cruiser SMS Helgoland and three destroyers sortie against the Otranto Barrage from 5–22 December and performed reconnaissance off the Albanian coast and San Giovanni di Medua. They sank an Italian picket boat, three steamships loaded with ammunition and two armed schooners en route to Northern Albania.

On 30 December, the French submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Monge was rammed by the cruiser SMS Helgoland, and finally sunk by gunfire from the destroyer SMS Balaton.

1916
Austrian submarines sank or damaged a number of ships in 1916. SMU U-11 (Austria-Hungary) captured the Italian hospital ship King Albert on 18 January at San Giovanni di Medua. SMU U-6 (Austria-Hungary) sank the French destroyer FRENCH DESTROYER Renaudin on 16 March at Durazzo. On 8 June, U-5 torpedoed and sank the Italian troop transport Principe Umberto at Linguetta. Later, U-5 fought a French-Italian destroyer group to a stalemate on 2 August, and torpedoed the Italian Q-Ship Pantelleria south of Taranto on August 14.

On 15 September 1916, the two Austro-Hungarian seaplanes L.132 and L.135 forced the French submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Foucault to surface by dropping bombs. L.135 finally sinks the sub while the 27 survivors were clinging to the two planes now floating, to be finally saved by the alarmed Tb 100M. This was the first sinking of a submarine by airplanes in naval war history.

The very same day, the French submarine Ampére scored two torpedo hits on the Austro-Hungarian Hospital ship No I (the former Lloyd steamer Elektra) off Cape Planka (Rat Ploca), causing two fatalities. The damaged hospital ship had to be beached in Borovica Bay for further repairs.

On the night of 22/23 December, the Austro-Hungarian destroyers SMS Scharfschuetze, SMS Reka, SMS Dinara and SMS Velebit attacked the drifters patrolling the Otranto barrage, which applied for help to the French destroyers FRENCH DESTROYER Casque, FRENCH DESTROYER Protet, FRENCH DESTROYER Commandant Rivière, FRENCH DESTROYER Commandant Bory, FRENCH DESTROYER Dehorter and FRENCH DESTROYER Boutefeu which were escorting a convoy from Brindisi to Taranto. Because of communication problems, only Casque and Commandant Rivière attacked, but Casque's boiler rooms were hit immediately and she had to slow down to 23 kn. For further assistance, the Italian destroyers ITALIAN DESTROYER Giuseppe Cesare Abba, ITALIAN DESTROYER Ippolito Nievo and ITALIAN DESTROYER Rosolino Pilo left Brindisi shortly followed by the British cruiser HMS Gloucester (1909) escorted by ITALIAN DESTROYER Impavido and ITALIAN DESTROYER Irriquieto. The French and Italian groups met during darkness, Giuseppe Cesare Abba rammed Casque; some moments later, Boutefeu rammed Giuseppe Cesare Abba. While the damaged vessels had to be taken into tow, the Austrians escaped in the darkness.

The return from the Otranto battle—15 May 1917—brought the British cruiser HMS Dartmouth within the range of the SMU UC-25 which had already laid mines off Brindisi.

At 13:30, UC-25 torpedoed Dartmouth approximately 36 mi off Brindisi, for some time the ship was considered to be lost, but was manned by a rescue crew later and finally towed into port. On hearing that Dartmouth had been torpedoed, Boutefeu went to assist, only to hit one of UC-25's mines.

1917
By August 1917, Lt. Von Trapp and SMU U-14 (Austria-Hungary) had sunk more than 24000 LT of enemy shipping, including the Italian steamer Milazzo (11480 LT). U-4 torpedoed the French steamer Italia near Taranto on 30 May, and on 16 November SMU U-43 (Austria-Hungary) severely damaged the Italian steamer Oriona between Brindisi and Valona.

The Premuda attack
At 03:30 on the morning of 10 June 1918, the battleship SMS Szent István—in the company of SMS Tegetthoff and seven other ships en route to attack the Otranto Barrage—was hit by two torpedoes launched from the Italian MAS-15 Motor Torpedo Boat under Corvette Captain Luigi Rizzo near Premuda island, near Zara. Many of the 1,087 crew were asleep, getting rested for the battle expected in a few hours. Immediate chaos soon changed into frantic efforts to save the vessel which was rapidly shipping water. Even Tegetthoff was hit by another torpedo from a second MAS, but it did not exploded.

Then Tegetthoff—which had at first sped away from the vicinity of the torpedo attack—returned and took Szent István in tow, in an attempt to reach the massive dry dock at Pola. However, the pumps were unequal to the task before them and the ship continued to slowly list, sinking at 06:12.

It is said she sank easily due to faults in the design: relatively low displacement and high centre of gravity, together with the tremendous weight of twelve 305 mm main artillery. There were, however, only 89 dead, partly attributed to the fact that all sailors with the K.u.K. had to learn to swim before entering active service.

The attack on the Otranto Barrage was cancelled as a consequence of this attack.

1918
On 13 February, the submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Bernoulli (Audry) was lost with all hands after hitting a mine off the Bocche di Cattaro.

On 22/23 April, the Austro-Hungarian s SMS Triglav, SMS Uzsok, SMS Dukla, SMS Lika and SMS Csepel encountered the British destroyers HMS Jackal (1911) and HMS Hornet (1911), the Australian HMAS Torrens (D67) and the French FRENCH DESTROYER Cimeterre. HMS Hornet was badly damaged in the ensuing fight but the alarm went up and the Austrians turned for home, pursued by Jackal, who had lost her mainmast.

On 20 September, the French submarine FRENCH SUBMARINE Circé was torpedoed 7 nmi north west of Cape Rodoni by the Austro-Hungarian submarine SMU U-47 (Austria-Hungary) and lost with all hands.

Second Battle of Durazzo
On 2 October, an allied fleet composed of Italian, British, Australian and American warships attacked the port of Durazzo, Albania during the Second Battle of Durazzo. The fleet consisted of over 55 vessels along with MAS boats and supporting aircraft. Allied forces destroyed Austro-Hungarian shore batteries and defeated a small squadron of patrol craft while sustaining comparatively light damage. Durazzo was left in flames, several building, bridges and railroad targets were bombarded which forced the evacuation of the city. A week or so after the battle an allied army occupied the city without resistance.

Sinking of the Viribus Unitis
On 1 November, the ex-Austro-Hungarian dreadnought flagship SMS Viribus Unitis was sunk—along with the merchant ship Wien—at anchor at Pula by limpet mine attached by the crew of an Italian mignatta (human torpedo). The mignatta was the precursor of the human torpedo and was invented by Major of naval engineers Raffaele Rossetti.

The whole Austrian Navy was just being transferred to the new state after the dissolution of Austria Hungary.

Austro-Hungarian submarines results
Many Austro-Hungarian and German U-boats operated out of the Adriatic for the whole of the war. Due to lack of cooperation of the Allies in the Mediterranean control zones, and the late institution of the convoy system, U-boats experienced substantial success throughout the first war years.

K.u.K. Kriegsmarine submarines sunk 117 ships during World War I, with the total of 220121 LT. The most well-known casualties were:


 * FRENCH ARMOURED CRUISER Léon Gambetta
 * ITALIAN CRUISER Giuseppe Garibaldi
 * ITALIAN SUBMARINE Nereide
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Renaudin
 * FRENCH DESTROYER Fourche
 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Impetuoso
 * ITALIAN DESTROYER Nembo
 * HMS Phoenix (1911)
 * FRENCH SUBMARINE Circé

Also, the K.u.K. Kriegsmarine submarines damaged the following ships:
 * FRENCH BATTLESHIP Jean Bart
 * HMS Dublin (1912)
 * JAPANESE DESTROYER Sakaki
 * HMS Weymouth (1910)