Andy South

I really wanted to like this monograph on an obscure (but one of my favorite) battleship classes but there are some serious problems. On the plus side is the running comparison with the contemporary 1st Italian Dreadnought Dante Alighieri and a good summary of the four ship's operational history, limited as this was. Also good were the stories of the sinking of St. Istvan and later the Viribus Unitis . However, numerous problems with editing and misspelling (including "Tegatthoff" several times) was distracting. I also found the conclusion weak in that it implies that the underwater protection of the Tegetthoffs was somehow especially weak for the time which was not the case. Although certainly weaker than German battleships, the Tegetthoffs were no worse in this regard than other first generation Dreadnoughts. Although it is implied otherwise in the book, the Tegetthoffs had more thought out and probably better underwater protection than the Dante Alighieri which Breyer gives as only "protective coal bunkers". Given this and its narrower beam, it is pretty clear that the Dante Alighieri would have sank just as quickly as the Austrian ships had she been hit with two torpedoes as with St. Istvan or a mine placed on the hull with Viribus Unitis. In addition, the British Audacious was lost to a single mine and the British battle cruiser Inflexible would have been lost if she had not been beached after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles. Poor underwater protection was just a feature of early Dreadnoughts continued on from the preceding pre-dreadnought era, save to some extent, for the Germans. The book fairly points out that the Austrians did not follow German advice on having no water tight doors low down in the hull but in the event these did not hasten the loss of the St. Istvan as the crew were able to close them after the torpedoes hit. Although, that they were open at all while underway in a combat zone makes the German's point that it was best to not have them at all. The author also finds the Dante Alighieri to be three knots faster (true) and to have about 2,500 meters greater range for her main battery. However, this is tactically irrelevant given WWI fire control technology. The longest recorded range for a battleship gun hitting a target is 24,000 meters for Warspite to Giulio Cesare in WWII. So, the Italian ship was not likely to be hitting anything at 25,000 meters in WWI..

So, this book has some good bits but is marred by poor editing and I don't agree with the conclusion. 2.5 stars for The Tegetthoff Class.… (mais)