History
The keel of the ship was laid down on the Cantiere Navale Triestino shipyard in Monfalcone. She was christened on 9 September 1911 by Archduchess Maria Josepha and Navy Commander Admiral Count Rudolf Montecuccoli and was launched on the same day. [4] The next year, she set off on her maiden voyage from Trieste to New York City. When WWI broke out, the Kaiser Franz Joseph I was in Trieste and was laid up there during the war. [3] In 1918, after the Armistice of Villa Giusti and the surrender of Austria-Hungary, the ship was commissioned by the Italian Navy as a troopship and was renamed Generale A. Diaz.
In 1919, she was sold to the Cosulich Line and was renamed Presidente Wilson. On 5 May 1919 she set off on her first post-war voyage from Genoa to New York City with mainly returning US soldiers on board. On 12 September 1919 she left Trieste on her third journey in peacetime with 97 passengers in first, 371 in second, and 623 in third class. In 1929 she would undergo her last voyage for the Cosulich Line before being sold to the Lloyd Triestino and renamed after the Indian river of the same name. She was then sold to the Adriatica di Navigazione and was renamed Marco Polo after modernization work. [1] She resumed service between Trieste, Venice, Brindisi, and Alexandria, in addition to a Haifa and Beirut route. In 1940 When WWII broke out, the ship was decommissioned for passenger service and served as a troop transport until she was laid up in La Spezia in 1943. On 12 May 1944, as the Allies advanced on Italy the ship was scuttled by the Germans. In 1949 the wreck was raised and scrapped. [3] [2]
SMS Viribus Unitis was an Austro-Hungarian dreadnought battleship, the first of the Tegetthoff class. "Viribus Unitis", meaning "With United Forces", was the personal motto of Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Lloyd Triestino was a major shipping company, created in 1919 when the city of Trieste became part of Italy in the settlement after the First World War. It ran passenger services on ocean liners around the world. Seriously harmed by Second World War, in which it lost 68 ships, it recovered to run passenger services with new ships on routes as far as Australia. In 2006, with the business by then mainly container freight, the company's name was changed to Italia Marittima.
SS Audacious was the former Italian cargo ship Belvedere taken over by the United States during World War II and sunk as a blockship at Omaha Beach on 8 June 1944. Belvedere was built in Trieste and first operated as a passenger and cargo ship when the city and company were part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I the city and ship, converted to cargo in the early 1920s, became Italian. In 1941 Belvedere was in Philadelphia when foreign ships of Axis powers were interned and then seized. The ship was taken over for operation by the War Shipping Administration through agents until scuttled at Omaha Beach.
The MS Vulcania was an Italian ocean liner built by Cantiere Navale Triestino, Monfalcone, northern Italy, in 1926 for the Italian company, Cosulich Line.
Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) ("Technical Establishment of Trieste") was a private shipbuilding company based in Trieste from the mid-19th to early 20th century, and the most important naval shipbuilding firm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
SS Minnedosa was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were built in the United Kingdom, launched in 1917 and operated by Canadian Pacific until 1935. Her sister ship was Melita.
Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico was an Italian manufacturer in the sea and air industry which was active from 1930 to 1966. This shipyard is now owned by Fincantieri.
USS Martha Washington (ID‑3019) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I named for Martha Washington, the first First Lady of the United States. She was originally ocean liner SS Martha Washington for the Austro-American Line before the war. Before and after her Navy service she was the United States Army transport USAT Martha Washington. The liner was sold to the Italian Cosulich Line in 1922. In 1932, when Cosulich was absorbed into Italia Flotte Riunite, the ship was renamed SS Tel Aviv. The ship was scrapped in 1934.
The Cosulich Line, formally the Cosulich Società Triestina di Navigazione, is a steamship line that was based in Trieste, Italy. The company had been founded in 1889 by Antonio F. Cosulich's son as a family business. In 1903 as Unione Austriaca di Navigazione, more commonly called the Austro-American or Austro-Americana Line, when Trieste was under the rule of Austria-Hungary. After the first World War, the company became an Italian-based shipping company. In 1932 the company was forced to merge with the Lloyd Sabaudo and the Navigazione Generale Italiana, to form the Italian Line.
The U-48 class was a class of four submarines or U-boats planned for the Austro-Hungarian Navy during World War I. The design of the boats was based on plans purchased from the German firm AG Weser in January 1916. The Navy authorized Cantiere Navale Triestino to begin construction of the submarines in Pola in September 1916. Only two of the planned four boats were laid down, but neither of them was launched or completed. Both incomplete submarines were scrapped after the war ended.
Empire Baron was a 5,890 GRT cargo ship which was built in 1926 for Navigazione Generale Gerolimich & Compagnia Società in Anzioni, Trieste, Italy. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1940 and ownership passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was renamed Empire Baron. She was sold in 1947 to Navigation & Coal Trade Ltd, London and renamed Rubystone. She was sold to a Panamanian company in 1951 and was scrapped in 1960.
Cantiere Navale Triestino – abbreviated CNT, or in English Trieste Naval Shipyard – was a private shipbuilding company based at Monfalcone operating in the early 20th century. The yard still functions today, though under a different name.
SMS Kaiser Karl VI was the second of three armored cruisers built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was built by the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in Trieste between June 1896 and May 1900, when she was commissioned into the fleet. Kaiser Karl VI represented a significant improvement over the preceding design—Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia—being faster and more heavily armed and armored. She provided the basis for the third design, Sankt Georg, which featured further incremental improvements. Having no overseas colonies to patrol, Austria-Hungary built the ship solely to reinforce its battle fleet.
A naval arms race between the Austrian Empire and Italy began in the 1860s when both ordered a series of ironclad warships, steam-propelled vessels protected by iron or steel armor plates and far more powerful than all-wood ships of the line. These ships were constructed to establish control over the Adriatic Sea in the event of a conflict between the two countries.
The Kaiser Franz Joseph I class was a class of two protected cruisers built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Named for Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I, the class comprised SMS Kaiser Franz Joseph I and SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth. Construction took place throughout the late 1880s, with both ships being laid down in 1888. Kaiser Franz Joseph I was built by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in Trieste, while Kaiserin Elisabeth was built at the Pola Navy Yard in Pola. The Kaiser Franz Joseph I-class ships were the first protected cruisers constructed by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Kaiser Franz Joseph I was the first ship of the class to be commissioned into the fleet in July 1890. She was followed by Kaiserin Elisabeth in November 1892.
SMS Kaiser Franz Joseph I was a protected cruiser built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Named for the Austrian emperor and Hungarian king Franz Joseph I, Kaiser Franz Joseph I was the lead ship of her namesake class. Constructed by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in Trieste, she was laid down in January 1888 and launched in May 1889. Kaiser Franz Joseph I was commissioned into the Navy in June 1890. As the first protected cruiser constructed by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, she was intended to serve as Austria-Hungary's response to the Italian cruisers Giovanni Bausan and Etna. Her design was heavily influenced by the Jeune École, a naval strategy which had gained prominence in the 1880s as a means to combat a larger and more heavily armored navy of battleships through the use of torpedo flotillas.
SS Melita was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were built in the United Kingdom, launched in 1917 and operated by Canadian Pacific until 1935. Her sister ship was Minnedosa.
SS Lombardia was one of a pair of transatlantic steam ocean liners that were launched in 1914 in Germany for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), sold to a Dutch shipping line in 1916, and seized by the United States as World War I reparations in 1922. United American Lines (UAL) operated her until 1926, when HAPAG bought her back.
The MS Neptunia was an Italian ocean liner built by Cantiere Navale Triestino, Trieste for the Cosulich Line. She was launched on 27 December 1931 and on 5 October 1932, she left Trieste on her maiden voyage to Buenos Aires. During 1935 the ship began operating on the Bombay to Shanghai route. During 1937 the Cosulich Line was amalgamated into the Italian Line.
