List of Battleships of Austria-Hungary - Habsburg Class

Habsburg Class

The Habsburg-class battleships were the first class of pre-dreadnought battleships to be built by Austria-Hungary between 1899 and 1902. The construction of the Habsburg-class battleships marked the beginning of the naval expansion program by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The Habsburg-class was also the first class of sea-going battleships the Austrio-Hungarian Navy built since the construction of the ship Tegetthoff 24 years earlier in 1876. The class was composed of three ships: Habsburg, Árpád, and Babenburg.

The members of the Habsburg-class were built in the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyards in Trieste. The lead ship of the class, Habsburg, was launched on 9 September 1900. Árpád followed a year later, with her launching on 11 September 1901. The last ship of the class was the Babenburg, launched on 4 October 1902. The first two ships, Habsburg and Árpád, were modernized either in 1910 and 1911 respectively, or in 1911 and 1912, by having one deck of the superstructure removed. At the outbreak of World War I in late July 1914, Habsburg was serving as the flagship of the III Battleship Division of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, under the command of Captain Miklós Horthy, alongside her two sisters. They were later transferred to the IV Division after the new Tegetthoff-class battleships came into service. All three battleships saw a limited service during World War I as members of the IV Division of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. While both Babenburg and Árpád participated in the bombardment of the Italian port city of Ancona in 1915, the class was largely inactive for the remainder of the war, serving as coastal defense ships. All three were decommissioned in 1916 in order to allow their crews to serve in the Austro-Hungarian air force and as crew members of Austro-Hungarian U-boats. Following the end of World War I, all of the Habsburg-class battleships were handed over to Great Britain. They were then sold to Italy and broken up in 1921.