Th e Name Giving and the Launch

bius and the quality of its ships. Th e Navy defended the yard in a letter to the Heir of the Th rone, but he maintained his concerns.286

Th e construction process in the Hungarian yard was very slow compared to the STT. Th e keel of the Schlachtschiff VI (Prinz Eugen) was laid on 16 January 1912 in Trieste and she was launched on 30 November of the same year, so her construction time was ten and a half months. In the case of the Schlachtschiff VII this time was two years. Beside the lack of experience of the workers, strikes and great delays of the subcontractors, like Witkowitz, Schoel ler and Wertheim, slowed the work on the ship. At the end of 1913, the ship was 60 percent complete. At this time, it was evident that the original delivery deadline could not be kept. Th e Bauleitung Bergudi (the board of the Navy which surveyed the works in the Danubius) proposed a new delivery deadline of 20 January 1915 instead of 10 July 1914.287

Th e Name Giving and the Launch

Due to the slow construction of the Schlachtschiff VII it became obvious in the fall of 1913 that the launch would be delayed nearly a whole year from the originally planned date. As was mentioned previously, in Austria-Hungary the process to choose the name for a warship under construction usually began a few months prior to the launch and to choose the name was the Emperor’s right. In the years prior to the First World War the process was controlled by a regulation sanctioned by Franz Joseph in May 1898.288 Since 1908, the Navy sent its proposals to the Heir of the Th rone, but even he had to approve his choice by the Emperor. Sometimes the Emperor exercised his right to choose a name on his own, for example in the case of the Schlachtschiff IV. Franz Ferdinand chose for this ship the name Tegetthoff but Franz Joseph told via his Military Chancellery that he named the ship after his personal motto Viribus Unitis.

Choosing the name for the Hungarian built battleship was a delicate matter. Th e Hungarian government had expressed its wish a few years earlier, when the case of the name giving of the preceding battleships had been at issue, to give a Hungarian name to one of them. In 1911, the Navy proposed the name Hunyadi for the Hungarian built ship, but Franz Ferdinand did not deal with it. In April 1913, the Navy sent the following proposals to the Heir of the Th rone: Corvin Mátyás, Szent István, Hunyadi and Erzsébet Királyné. Franz Ferdinand rejected Corvin Mátyás and Erzsébet Királyné on the ground that these names would fuel the Hungarian separatism, and he rejected Hunyadi stating that there were living relatives of that family. In fact, he wanted a name which symbolized the unity of the Empire: Laudon after the 18th century Austrian General Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon. When he informed of his choice Admiral Anton Haus, the Marinekommandant could not sleep all night because he knew that naming a Hungarian-built ship after an Austrian General would create a scandal and turmoil in Hungary.289 At last the old Emperor saved the situation. General Arthur von Bolfras, the head of the Military Chancellery of the Emperor calmed Haus and the Hungarians by telling them that the Hungarian ship would have a Hungarian name. Bolfras personally backed the name Szent István and he convinced the Emperor. In June 1913, Franz Joseph chose the name Szent István for the Schlachtschiff VII.

290

Th e question of the sponsor (Taufpatin) was another delicate matter. Franz Ferdinand originally wanted the wife of Leopold Berchtold, the common Foreign minister, but his style (“Inevitable that the sponsor should be a Hungarian Lady”) angered the Hungarians. Yet the Navy saved the situation declaring that the sponsor of a battleship could only be an archduchess of the Habsburg family.291 Th e fi rst choice of Franz Ferdinand was Archduchess Zita, but her husband (the later Emperor Karl) rejected it because the archduchess was pregnant (with Archduchess Adelheid). Finally, Archduchess Maria Th eresia, the stepmother of Franz Ferdinand, together with her daughter accepted the task. She was an experienced sponsor. Her daughter, Maria Annunziata called off her participation a few weeks before the launch, in which Haus saw of the hand of the Heir of the Th rone. Franz Ferdinand called off his participation on the launch in November 1913 which angered Haus because he felt, that the Heir of the Th rone discredited pre-eminently the Navy.292 In truth Franz Ferdinand was absent from the launch of the Prinz Eugen too, moreover, on that occasion he had banned the participation of large naval units, while on the launch of the Szent István, the dreadnoughts Viribus Unitis and Tegetthoff were present.

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39 Viribus Unitis, Tegetthoff and the three Radetzkys in the Gulf of Fiume on 17 January 1914

Th e day of the launch was fi xed in October 1913 to 17 January 1914. At the upper end of the slipway a grandstand was erected for the archduchess and the illustrious guests. Two separate smaller ones were constructed for the Österreichische Flot ten verein and for the Magyar Adria Egyesület (Hungarian Adria Association). In the latter was exhibited the Szent István plaque, the present of the Association which was intended to decorate the wall of the admiral’s saloon of the ship. On the launch the common government was represented by War minister Alexander von Krobatin, the Austrian government by the Minister of Landwehr Friedrich von Georgi and the Hungarian government by the Prime Minister Count István Tisza, Finance Minister János Teleszky and Commerce Minister János Harkányi. On the occasion of the launch two squadrons arrived at Fiume under the command of Vizeadmiral Millenik and Kontreadmiral Löffl er. Th e dreadnoughts Viribus Unitis and Tegetthoff were also present. At 8 a.m. the gun salutes of the Tegetthoff signaled the beginning of the event.

Th e archduchess and her escort arrived at Fiume on the board of the admiral’s yacht Lacroma and landed on the Adamich Mole at about 10:30 a.m. and they departed for the shipyard by automobile. In the Danubius Admiral Haus received the archduchess and in a short speech he asked her to christen and launch the battleship. Th e speech of Maria Th eresia had been previously censored by Franz Ferdinand who had cancelled the sentence which praised the Hungarian industry.293 At 10:50 a.m. after her short speech the archduchess pressed the electric button “Christening” and the canvases on the bow were released and a bottle of champagne was broken over the bow. After that, she pressed the button “Launch” and a hydraulic pusher put in motion the hull of the battleship. Th e illustrious guests and the crowd were unaware to the accident which was occurred during the launch where two workmen, Pliskovac and Picco were injured. After he learned of the death of Pliskovac, the Emperor donated 800 Kronen and the archduchess 400 Kronen to his widow.294

Th e students of the Marineakademie (Naval Academy) which was in Fiume and the students of the Magyar Királyi Állami Tengerészeti Akadémia, the “Nautica” (Royal Hungarian Marine Academy) were all ordered to participate in the launch. It’s worth quoting how the students of the “Nautica” saw the launch: “Today was the launch of the ‘Szt. István’, the fi rst dreadnought built in Hungary. At 8 a.m. we left for the yard; our legs were benumbed when fi nally, at 11 a.m. it

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