SMS Warasdiner

SMS ''Warasdiner'' was a destroyer launched in 1913 as ''Lung Tuan'' (), intended for sale to China. She was taken over by the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1914, renamed and rearmed. She served in World War I with the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Following the war, the ship was ceded to Italy and scrapped.

Construction and design

In 1912, China placed an order for a single destroyer with the Austrian shipyard Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT) of Trieste. The design of the destroyer, to be named ''Lung Tuan'', was based on that of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's , which had entered service between 1905 and 1911.

Like the ''Huszár''s, ''Lung Tuan'' was to be powered by two triple expansion steam engines, fed by four Yarrow boilers, rated at , driving two shafts, although at , the ship was slightly faster than the ''Huszár'' class. The ship's hull was long at the waterline and between perpendiculars, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was standard and deep load. The ship was to be armed with two 12-pounder and four 3-pounder guns, all supplied by Armstrong Whitworth of Great Britain and two torpedo tubes.

''Lung Tuan'' was laid down in 1912 and launched in 1913. Although the ''Huszár'' class and therefore ''Lung Tuan'' were obsolete by 1913, the Chinese government ordered a further 12 destroyers from STT that year, partly due to the low price (£16,500 per ship).

Service

''Lung Tuan'' was virtually complete when Austria-Hungary declared war with Serbia on 28 July 1914, beginning the First World War. ''Lung Tuan'' was seized by Austria-Hungary on 1 August and towed to Pola where she was re-armed with Austrian weapons, receiving a gun outfit of two L/45 Skoda guns and four 6.6 cm L/30 guns, together with four 45 cm torpedo tubes. Renamed ''Warasdiner'', the ship entered service with the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 10 September 1914.

''Warasdiner'' served for the remainder of the First World War. On 18–19 June 1915, the Austro-Hungarian Navy carried out a series of raids against towns on the Italian Adriatic coast, with ''Warasdiner'' shelling Monopoli, south-east of Bari on 19 June. On 5 December 1915 ''Warasdiner'' was returning from another raid on the coast of Italy when she sank the , which had run aground off Cattaro. On 2 August 1916 ''Warasdiner'' and sister ship were returning from bombarding the Italian city of Molfetta when they encountered the French destroyers and and the Italian destroyers ''Ardito'' and ''Impavido''. The French and Italian destroyers set off in pursuit of the Austro-Hungarian ships, but broke off the chase as they neared the Austrian base of Cattaro (now Kotor), when the Austrian cruiser and two torpedo boats sortied in support of ''Warasdiner'' and ''Wildfang''.

She was ceded to Italy in 1920 and scrapped.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Warasdiner
1913 ships
Ships built in Austria-Hungary
Destroyers of the Austro-Hungarian Navy
Destroyer classes
World War I destroyers of Austria-Hungary