Monarch-class coastal defense ship

Monarch-class coastal defense ship

SMS Wien circa 1898
Class overview
Name	Monarch class
Operators	Austro-Hungarian Navy
Preceded by	SMS Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie
Succeeded by	Habsburg-class battleship
Built	1893–1896
In commission	1895–1920
Completed	3
Lost	1
Scrapped	2
General characteristics [1]
Type	Coastal defense ship
Displacement	5,878 tonnes (5,785 long tons)
Length	99.22 m (325.5 ft)
Beam	17 m (55 ft 9 in)
Draught	6.6 m (22 ft)
Propulsion	12 coal-fired Belleville boilers without economizers outputting 9,180 hp (6,846 kW) (for Budapest only) coal-fired cylindrical boilers (Wien and Monarch); inverted vertical triple expansion engines outputting 8,500 hp (6,338 kW)
Speed	15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) (Monarch and Wien) 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) (Budapest)
Range	2,200 nmi (4,100 km)
Complement	469
Armament	4 × 240 mm (9.4 in) guns 6 × 150 mm (5.9 in) guns 1 × 7 cm (2.8 in) anti-aircraft gun 2 × 66 mm (2.6 in) L/18 landing guns 10 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 4 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 1 × 8 mm (0.31 in) MG 2 × torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 270 mm (11 in) Turrets: 203 mm (8.0 in) Conning tower: 220 mm (8.7 in) Deck: 60 mm (2.4 in)

The Monarch class was a class of three coastal defense ships built by Austria-Hungary at the end of the 19th century. The Monarchs were the first ships of their type to utilize turrets. The class comprised three ships: SMS Monarch, SMS Wien, and SMS Budapest, each armed with four 240 mm (9 in) L/40 guns in two turrets and capable of 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) at full speed. Budapest was fitted with slightly more modern and powerful engines, giving her a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph).

Monarch was launched on 9 May 1895, Wien on 7 July 1895, and Budapest just over a year later on 24 July 1896. The ships saw very little service during World War I in the V Division of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Budapest and Wien took part in the bombardment of Italian positions along the Adriatic coast in 1915 and 1917, but the three battleships went largely inactive for the remainder of war.

In 1917, Wien was struck by Italian torpedoes and sank in her home port of Trieste. The remaining two ships were ceded to Great Britain following the end of the war and were scrapped between 1920 and 1922.