SMS Custoza

SMS Custoza
Class overview
Preceded by	SMS Lissa
Succeeded by	SMS Erzherzog Albrecht
History
Austria-Hungary
Name	Custoza
Namesake	Battle of Custoza
Builder	Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino
Laid down	17 November 1869
Launched	20 August 1872
Commissioned	February 1875
Fate	Ceded to Italy, 1920, broken up
General characteristics
Type	Casemate ship
Displacement	7,609 to 7,730.99 long tons (7,731.10 to 7,855.05 t)
Length	92.14 m (302 ft 4 in) p/p 95.03 m (311 ft 9 in) o/a
Beam	17.7 m (58 ft 1 in)
Draft	7.9 m (25 ft 11 in)
Installed power	4,158 ihp (3,101 kW)
Propulsion	1 × marine steam engine 1 × screw
Speed	13.75 knots (25.47 km/h; 15.82 mph)
Crew	548–567
Armament	8 × 26 cm RK L/22 guns 6 × 9 cm (3.5 in) guns 2 × 7 cm (2.8 in) guns
Armor	Belt armor: 229 mm (9 in) Casemate: 152 to 178 mm (6 to 7 in)

SMS Custoza was an ironclad warship built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1870s, the only member of her class. She was the first Austro-Hungarian ironclad to be built after the navy studied the results of the Battle of Lissa of 1866; she was also the first iron-hulled capital ship to be built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was laid down in November 1869, launched in August 1872, and completed in February 1875. Her career was fairly limited, in part due to reduced naval budgets in the 1870s that also delayed her completion. Custoza was somewhat more active in the 1880s, taking part in an international naval demonstration against the Ottoman Empire in 1880, being modernized in 1882, and a trip to Spain for the Barcelona Universal Exposition in 1888. The ship became a training ship in 1902, was converted into a barracks ship in 1914, and after World War I, was awarded as a war prize to Italy. Custoza was immediately broken up.