Preliminary Designs - BB/BC 1915-17

The KuK Kriegsmarine produced a number of capital ship designs starting from around the time of the Battle of Jutland to late 1917, early 1918 featuring mostly battlecruiser designs but a few battleships as well. Not much is known about the history of these designs apart from that they are prepared for the post war fleet, showing that the Austro-Hungarian Empire wished to end the war soon. None the less, these project feature a good amount of ingenuity as well as traditional elements. Some of you might think these designs strike resemblance to the French warships of the same period like the grouped casemated guns and clear firearcs showing that either the Austro-Hungarians taken the same way of ideas and thinking as the French or simply copied them.

Typical to the Germanic nations these design does not feature the all or nothing armour scheme, instead the armour belt covers almost 100% of the waterline length with the main belt thickness of 225mm (9") and the ends having 100mm (4") which is quite comparable with the armours of the Royal Navy Battlecruisers. Armament consisted of 35cm Cannons the same to be used on the Ersatz Monarch class and which was chosen over the 34.5cm because there was a standard shell in development which could be used both in the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Imperial German Navy.

In 1915 the naval staff of the KuK Kriegsmarine have been impressed by the escape of the German Battlecruiser SMS Goeben from the British forces as well as the effectiveness of the Royal Navy battlecruisers HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible in the battle of Falklands of 1914 December and asked MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee - Naval Technical Committee), Pola to produce designs (at least these were the ones that survived) for the post war fleet and by late 1915 - early 1916, the first design, Project I was born.

It was a battlecruiser derived from the Ersatz Monarch / Improved Tegetthoff class battleships of 1912 and similarly featured 35cm cannons in with various layouts with 15cm secondary and 9cm tertiary armament to fight off enemy cruisers and destroyers.

The design(s) had the following characteristics:

On Variant A 3 triple turrets were chosen all on the same level on the centreline and this was the true battlecruiser equivalent of the Ersatz Monarch class, though this layout seem not to be favoured as all consequent proposals featured twin turrets. Variant B and C featured 4 twin turrets with C 2 of the middle turret offset to the sides ad echelon arrangement providing ahead and abaft fire which was not possible in the previous designs. Variant D,E and F are again basically the same, differing only in placement of the a superfirng turret in either forward, aft or both.

The original drawings can be found here with a small history on them:

Edit: Fixed some error, added some details like Range finders on the Turrets for example

Edit 2: Based on my experience with the Ersatz Monarch / Improved Tegetthoff class battleship drawings I've made some some changes on these designs, mostly adding modifying the searchlight platform and the boats.

And finally based on the naming conventions of the German and Austro-Hungarian navies, the name of the class most likely be Ersatz Kaiser Karl or Ersatz Maria Theresia the two oldest armoured cruisers of the KuK navy.

In mid 1917 the MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee - Naval Technical Committee), Pola prepared a new battlecruiser design: Project II. The Project II based heavily on the previous Project I design, using the same hull and secondary armament but increasing the main gun calibre from 35cm to 38cm in 3 twin turrets.

Choice over the increased calibre might be the result of the early studies based on the results of the battle of Jutland and the knowledge of the new generation of German Battlecruisers (Ersatz Yorck) and then under construction Battleships (Bayern) which to be armed with 38cm cannons. On the other hand the KuK Kriegsmarine might had accessed knowledge about the newly introduced warships of the Royal Navy, the Queen Elizabeth and Revenge class battleships as well as the Renown class battlecruisers which all carried 15" / 381mm cannons, it is also likely that the increased calibre is the result of the new Italian fast battleships laid down at that time: the Francesco Caracciolo class which too would had carried 381mm cannons.

Basically Project II is a modified Project Ia, replacing the triple turrets with twins but putting the 2nd turret between the two boiler rooms to increase survivability of the engine rooms. You can think of this design as the Austro-Hungarian Renown though better in every aspect except the same firepower

The design(s) had the following characteristics:

The original drawings can be found here with a small history on them:

Edit: Fixed some error, added some details like Range finders on the Turrets for example

Edit 2: Based on my experience with the Ersatz Monarch / Improved Tegetthoff class battleship drawings I've made some some changes on these designs, mostly adding modifying the searchlight platform and the boats.

And finally based on the naming conventions of the German and Austro-Hungarian navies, the name of the class most likely be Ersatz Kaiser Karl or Ersatz Maria Theresia the two oldest armoured cruisers of the KuK navy.

In mid 1917 the MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee - Naval Technical Committee), Pola prepared a battleship design the same time they proposed the battlecruiser Project II. The hull shape was similar but shorter and wider providing a more stable gun platform with a more conventional layout of 4 twin 38cm turrets in superfiring pairs forward and aft and a reduced number of 9cm casemated guns only positioned at the ends.

Choice over the increased calibre might be the result of the early studies based on the results of the battle of Jutland and the knowledge of the new generation of German Battlecruisers (Ersatz Yorck) and then under construction Battleships (Bayern) which to be armed with 38cm cannons. On the other hand the KuK Kriegsmarine might had accessed knowledge about the newly introduced warships of the Royal Navy, the Queen Elizabeth and Revenge class battleships as well as the Renown class battlecruisers which all carried 15" / 381mm cannons, it is also likely that the increased calibre is the result of the new Italian fast battleships laid down at that time: the Francesco Caracciolo class which too would had carried 381mm cannons.

You can think of this design as the Austro-Hungarian equivalent of the Queen Elizabeth and Revenge classes but faster though with thinner belt and deck armour.

The design(s) had the following characteristics:

The original drawings can be found here with a small history on them:

And finally based on the naming conventions of the German and Austro-Hungarian navies, the name of the class most likely be Ersatz Habsburg class the next oldest battleships of the KuK navy after the Monarch class.

The designers at MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee - Naval Technical Committee), Pola continued to improve the battlecruiser proposals taking into account the experiences gained at the battle of Jutland and in they proposed what is basically a modified Project II battlecruiser:

Like on Project II the Project IV design too featured 3 twin 38cm cannons in par with the German designs and to use a standard shell by both countries. Simply put Project IV is a streamlined and slightly lengthened Project II with no tertiary armament and the introduction of heavy turreted DP-AA weaponry. If Project II was the Austro-Hungarian Renown, then Project IV is the Renown killer!

The design(s) had the following characteristics:

The original drawings can be found here with a small history on them:

Edit: Fixed some error, added some details like Range finders on the Turrets for example

Edit 2: Based on my experience with the Ersatz Monarch / Improved Tegetthoff class battleship drawings I've made some some changes on these designs, mostly adding modifying the searchlight platform and the boats.

And finally based on the naming conventions of the German and Austro-Hungarian navies, the name of the class most likely be Ersatz Kaiser Karl or Ersatz Maria Theresia the two oldest armoured cruisers of the KuK navy.

This was the final battleship proposal by the MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee - Naval Technical Committee), Pola offered in late 1917, early 1918. It was a further improvement on the previous Project III type with another step taken in a larger main weapon calibre: the 42cm sized cannons. These weapons first appeared on the Imperial German navy post Jutland battleship and battlecruiser (The Grosskreuzer and L 20) designs planned for the post war fleet of Germany as well. The 4 turrets are in a conventional layout of superfiring pairs forward and aft while the secondary armament are along the sides in casemates, while the 15cm heavy Dual Purpose AA guns are located in turrets on the deck with a single large funnel emphasising this design. What you actually see is the battleship equivalent of the Project VI battlecruiser mounting the same kind of armament but on a thicker and more armoured hull.

The ship reminiscent both in size, armament and armour to the Japanese Nagato class battleships laid down a few years earlier.

The design(s) had the following characteristics:

The original drawings can be found here with a small history on them:

And finally based on the naming conventions of the German and Austro-Hungarian navies, the name of the class most likely be Ersatz Habsburg class the next oldest battleships of the KuK navy after the Monarch class.

This was the final battlecruiser proposal by the MTK (Marinetechnische Komitee - Naval Technical Committee), Pola offered in late 1917, early 1918. It was a further improvement on the previous Project IV type with another step taken in a larger main weapon calibre: the 42cm sized cannons. These weapons first appeared on the Imperial German navy post Jutland battleship and battlecruiser (The Grosskreuzer) designs planned for the post war fleet of Germany as well.

The two twin turret layout while reminiscent of the British Courageous class light battlecruisers this design share more similarities with the Gk 4021 and 4221 designs of the Imperial German Navy which too had the same armament but due to being faster (32knots) and would carry thicker armour of 80mm deck and 320mm belt but this resulted in a 40-42.000ton displacement some 10.000tons heavier than their Austrian counterparts!

The hull too further refined and adjusted for the heavy twin 42cm gun turrets, while the DP-AA guns moved towards the centre of the ship, further away from the blast area of the main turrets

The design(s) had the following characteristics:

The original drawings can be found here with a small history on them:

As a side note:

While the British were the first to build battlecruisers with such minimal main armament, the Japanese designed a similar vessel with 3 and later 4 single 30cm gun turrets, I've mentioned the German Grosskreuzer series of 1916-17, but on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean the USN too played with the idea but they called this vessel a battle scout. Also note that the Royal Navy's Courageous and Furious classes were designed for the Baltic Sea to provide fire support for the abortive Baltic amphibious operations and thus were very lightly armoured for minimal displacement and thus shallow draught, while the German and Austro-Hungarian proposal were true battlecruisers with thicker armour and heavier secondary armament ideal for fleet action or lone hunting duties!

Edit: Fixed some error, added some details like Range finders on the Turrets for example

Edit 2: Based on my experience with the Ersatz Monarch / Improved Tegetthoff class battleship drawings I've made some some changes on these designs, mostly adding modifying the searchlight platform and the boats.

And finally based on the naming conventions of the German and Austro-Hungarian navies, the name of the class most likely be Ersatz Kaiser Karl or Ersatz Maria Theresia the two oldest armoured cruisers of the KuK navy.