#Shorts #ww1 #Ship #Battleship
At 3:30 in the morning of June 10, 1918, while sailing with the SMS Tegetthoff and seven other ships en route to the "Otranto Barrier" in the Otranto Canal, the Szent István was impacted along the length of Premuda by two 450 mm torpedoes launched from the Regia Marina torpedo boat MAS-15 commanded by Lieutenant Luigi Rizzo. Many of its 1,087 crew were sleeping, as more time was expected until the start of the battle. After the initial chaos, work began to try to expel as much water as possible from the ship. The Tegetthoff, which initially walked away in fear of further torpedo attacks, returned and took the Szent István in tow, in an attempt to reach the great dry dock of Pula. However, the pumps were unable to evacuate enough water, and the battleship eventually sank slowly at 6:12 a.m. Its easy collapse was possibly due to the lack of torpedo nets, poor quality steel, or the Tegetthoff-class design flaws: a relatively low displacement and a high center of gravity, coupled with the tremendous weight represented by the twelve 305 pieces mm (12 inches) that made up their main armament. Only 89 deaths were recorded; This low casualty number is partially attributed to the fact that KuK Kriegsmarine sailors had to learn to swim before joining active duty.

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