St Stephen Revisited

The Austrian-Hungarian dreadnought was taken by surprise by the brave crews of two Italian torpedo-boats, and the Szent Istvan became the only WW1 warship the sinking of which was captured on film. VIC VERLINDEN joins a technical-diving team to recover artefacts from the massive, deep-lying Adriatic wreck

- Vic Verlinden

IT WAS A QUIET NIGHT on 9 June, 1918, when the two Austria-Hungarian sister-battleships SMS Szent Istvan and Tegettoff left the port of Pula (now in Croatia) and set course for Dubrovnik.

Neither vessel was felt to have much to fear from the Italian Navy, because they were accompanied by a destroyer and six torpedo-boats.

The Szent Istvan, named after the first Christian king of Hungary, St Stephen, was still a new ship of 20,000 tons, and to that date had fired her gigantic 30cm guns only in practice. The plan was for both ships to rendezvous with others in the fleet and attack the Allied sea blockade near Brindisi in southern Italy.

The captain and his officers were conducting a final preparatory meeting in the admiral’s cabin on the rear deck. The captain was issuing instructions as the watch-keepers got ready.

The look-outs had nothing to report, and none of the 1000-plus crewmen could suspect that all hell was about to break.

Meanwhile it had been barely nightfall when Italian Navy corvette captain Luigi Rizzo gave the command to return to base. The crew of the torpedo-boats MAS15 and MAS21 had experienced rough weather but little action, and were keen to enter port.

As it was a clear night, they suddenly noticed smoke-plumes on the distant horizon. It could only be an enemy vessel.

Rizzo ordered his Captains Gori and Aonzo to sail straight for the plumes. It was a long way, but both torpedo-boats succeeded in breaking through the cordon of escorting vessels, and went on the attack against the Austria-Hungarian battleships.