SMS Szigetvár

SMS Szigetvár was a protected cruiser of the Zenta class, the third and final member of her class, which was built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the late 1890s. The class included two other vessels, Zenta and Aspern. The Zentas were intended to serve as fleet scouts and to guard the battleships against attacks by torpedo boats. They carried a main battery of eight 12 cm (4.7 in) guns manufactured by Škoda; Szigetvár and her sisters were the first major warships of the Austro-Hungarian fleet to be armed entirely with domestically produced guns. Unlike earlier Austro-Hungarian cruisers, the Zenta class discarded heavy belt armor in favor of a higher top speed.

Early in her career, Szigetvár embarked on a major overseas cruise to North America and northern Europe between October 1901 and October 1902. She thereafter served with the main fleet in home waters, where she typically took part in major training maneuvers every year. She also went on voyages to other country in the region, including frequent visits to the Ottoman Empire and Greece. In 1905, she was part of an international naval response to domestic unrest in the Ottoman Empire. The ship carried replacement crews to vessels stationed in East Asia, in 1907 and 1912. Szigetvár was in the Ottoman Empire when the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated, prompting her recall during the July Crisis that led to the start of World War I.

Szigetvár was assigned to I Cruiser Division of the main Austro-Hungarian fleet for most of the war. She took part in bombardments of locations in Montenegro in the early months of the war. Following Italy's entry into the war in May 1915, the Austro-Hungarian fleet, including Szigetvár, sortied to shell targets in Italy, during which Szigetvár screened the fleet and attacked an Italian airship. She took part in further attacks on Italy later that year, including supporting air strikes in December and January 1916. She was reduced to a guard ship in Cattaro Bay in June 1917 before being withdrawn from service in March 1918. She was thereafter used as a barracks ship and a target for the Torpedo Warfare School. After the war, she was ceded to Britain as a war prize and was broken up in 1920.