Italian Sinkings of Two Austrian Battleships
In 1918, two of the Austrian dreadnoughts were sunk.
One sank during a war-battle near the island of Premuda in Dalmatia. This was the SMS Szent István, which was sunk during another sortie (June 10) against the Allied blockade by fast moving Italian motor torpedo boats of Luigi Rizzo.
The second, the SMS Viribus Unitis, was sunk by a new weapon created and used by engineer and naval officer Raffaele Rossetti: the human torpedo called "Mignatta". At the end of the war there was a mutiny in the Austrian Navy and Horthy was ordered to surrender the entire Austrian fleet to the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Rossetti did not know of this decision and did his well planned attack the same day. So, another Austro-Hungarian dreadnought sank. The explosion went off under the ship on November 1 (just after the Austro-Hungarian government collapsed) and the Slav National Council made no efforts to restore the hulk, since Italy occupied the region only a few days later.
Read more about this topic: Naval Warfare In The Mediterranean During World War I
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