Austro-Hungarian Battleships 1914-18

Description

Austria-Hungary did not have an overseas empire; its empire lay within its own boundaries and the primary purpose of its navy until the beginning of the twentieth century was the defense of its coastline. As its merchant marine dramatically grew, admirals believed that the navy should take a more proactive policy of defense. The 1890s saw the beginning of a series of naval building programs that would create a well-balanced modern fleet. Cruisers were constructed for the protection of overseas trade and for "showing the flag" but the decisive projection of Austria-Hungary's commitment to control the Adriatic was the construction of a force of modern battleships. Despite the naval arms race throughout Europe at the time, the navy had difficulty obtaining funds for new ships. The difficulties experienced in battleship funding and construction mirrored the political difficulties and ethnic rivalries within the empire. Nevertheless by August of 1914, the Austro-Hungarian had a fleet of battleships. This book details the five classes of Austro-Hungarian battleships in service during World War I.

Ryan Noppen is an aviation author/amalyst originally from Kalamazoo, MI, USA. A Master of Arts holder from Purdue University, he specialized in the history of aviation, completing a major thesis on German trans-Atlantic aviation during the interwar years. He worked as a subject matter expert for a defense firm on projects involving naval and aviation logistics and has taught several college courses on the First and Second World Wars. Currently he is finishing his first book: Blue Skies, Orange Wings: The Global Reach of Dutch Aviation, 1914-1945, to be published by Eerdemans Publishing Company in the spring of 2011. Additionally he is working with Osprey author Douglas Dildy on a book entitled Swept from the Skies, for another UK publisher.

"This book is useful on several levels. The ship modeler will find new topics and colour schemes in it. The novice to the field will find Noppen's work a useful introduction to the subject and the bibliography a guide to further study. The expert can use it as a handy brief reference work. Noppen's work is a long-overdue and worthy tribute to long-forgotten sailors and warships. It is recommended." --The Northern Mariner (January 2013) "In this latest edition of Osprey's New Vanguard series, author Ryan Noppen tells us the story of the big ships of the Austro-Hungarian navy. From their inception through the building of all five classes of ships, we can see how each subsequent design was an improvement over the ones before it. Half of the book is devoted to the operational record of these ships and the various battles in which they were involved. True, most of these actions were against high value shore targets, but they performed their missions as expected. A couple were destroyed by Italian torpedo boats, both occasions being ones where the laxity of security was the cause for loss. Included in this book are some superlative period photographs of the men and ships. This is additionally enhanced by the excellent art work of Paul Wright. It is a well done addition to the series and tells the story of the interesting, and rarely covered capital ships." --Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness (October 2012) "Austro-Hungarian Battleships superbly summarizes a spellbinding subject. And it perfectly complements OSPREY's two-volume study of German Battleships 1914-18 -- New Vanguard 164 and 167. Read them together!" --David L. Veres, www.cybermodeler.com