Gallery-Death at Dawn - The Emperor's Last Battleship (2008)
A film by: | Maria Magdalena Koller; Produced by Heinrich Mayer (Interspot Films) |
Original Airing: | Thu 27.11.2008 ORF2 |
YouTube Video: |
June 10, 1918: SMS "Szent István" sinks in the Adriatic Sea. The most advanced battleship of the K.u.K. Kreigsmarine perishes when hit by two torpedoes from the Italian motorboat MAS-15. The "Szent István" - a giant warship equipped with triple turrets, erected in the Hungarian war harbor of Fiume with a construction cost of half a billion Austro-Hungarian crowns. The successful shooter is Luigi Rizzo and has since been a national hero in Italy. Another man becomes a hero on the sinking ship: Franz Dueller. The corporal and his machine crew in the boiler room manage to keep the ship afloat for nearly three hours, so that most of the crew can escape. "Death at dawn" documents the demise of SMS "Szent István", the climax and at the same time dramatic ending point in the battle between the former allies Italy and Austria-Hungary in the First World War.
The 3D Model of the Austro-Hungarian Battleship Szent István shown here was created by the author Andrew Wilkie for the documentary “Death at Dawn”. The model was developed from his original Viribus Unitis 3D model with the appropriate alterations for Szent István. These alterations included the headlight platform around the funnels, two propeller shafts, blast bags on the guns, ventilation shafts and funnels elevated in height, among other minor changes.