Since the invention of the world's first torpedo by British engineer R. Whitehead in 1866, this inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture and powerful weapon has gradually become a nightmare for capital ships of all countries.

According to incomplete statistics, in the whole year from August 1914 to August 1915, a total of 380 warships of Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Japan, Turkey and other belligerent countries were sunk, of which 32 were dreadnought or former dreadnought-class battleships, and the number of warships and battleships sunk by torpedoes reached 150 and 24 respectively, accounting for 39% and 75% of the total number respectively.

In the face of the German torpedoes speeding from 2,500 yards, the sailors on the "Prince Eugen" immediately panicked, some continued to use secondary guns and machine guns to pursue and turn to the departing German torpedo planes, some picked up their weapons and fired at the sea, and some ran towards the port side. Fortunately, most of the officers on the ship were brave and well-trained, and while they did their best to calm the sailors, they organized their men to intercept the torpedoes on the surface with machine guns and machine guns.

At the same time, the battleship, which was moving at a speed of 18 knots, also desperately turned its massive body. A torpedo with a speed of more than 35 knots and a distance of 2,500 yards has half the chance of success and half of the chance of failure.

The loud bang startled many people enough, but fortunately, the short cheers from the upper deck stations shook everyone, and it seemed that at least one torpedo had been detonated by defensive fire. The second torpedo grazed the stern of the battleship, and the sailors in the aft positions almost fainted.

Before anyone could confirm whether all five torpedoes had been dodged, someone on the port side shouted: "Torpedo!" Torpedo! ”

It turned out that after the torpedo planes of the migrating group dropped their torpedoes, another group of German torpedo planes went around the port side of the "Prince Eugen", and this time they approached a distance of 1200 yards before quietly dropping torpedoes, after which anti-aircraft fire from the port side hit one of the "adventurers". It was also the first German aircraft shot down by the Austro-Hungarian fleet.

If given the choice, Admiral Anton House and his men would rather not shoot down that plane than be hit by the torpedoes it dropped.

Half an hour later, the commanding flag of Admiral Anton House was inscribed in the "St. The "Istvan" was raised, and Admiral Anton himself, who was slightly wounded, went to the command room of the "St. Istvan" after an emergency bandaging and continued to direct the fleet to fight the German fleet.

The situation on the surface of the sea looked a little chaotic, most of the ships were organizing anti-aircraft fire while evading, the dense explosions were already difficult to discern, and the sea was filled with black smoke. From time to time, a tall column of water rises.

"General, all the fighters we took off to meet the enemy have been martyred, and the Earl of Mong-cukoli has also sunk! Many ships are now in serious condition. The battleships, Count Cavour, "Radetz", "Mulau", "Leonard" and "Krems", the cruisers "Curry" and "Monlacut" have been confirmed to be sunk, do we order the ships to release smoke and then seek an opportunity to evacuate? ”

Admiral Anton turned his head to look at his embarrassed chief of staff, who seemed to be bewildered by the situation before him, and reprimanded sharply:

"Releasing smoke at this time will not only not be able to evade the German aircraft, but will cause our own ships to collide! The only chance is to shoot down as many German planes as possible! ”

Looking at the tragic battle situation on the surrounding sea, the chief of staff let out a "sigh" of extreme annoyance.

Before the Austro-Hungarian ships ran out of ammunition, this round of attacks by the German aircraft group finally ended.

After being attacked by a German piranha-like madness. The Austro-Hungarian fleet suffered heavy losses. However, the result of the battle in exchange for more than 70,000 tons of warships was only 7 German attack planes, 11 bombers, 17 torpedo planes and 55 German pilots. After capturing the German pilots who had fallen into the water, many Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers angrily shouted that they should be put to death. A local admiral with multiple wounds in the head and body personally approached Admiral Anton House:

"General. If they are not executed, I am afraid that the brothers who died in battle will not be able to rest in peace! ”

Although this request was a serious violation of the admiral's personal principles, he gritted his teeth and agreed to their request in the face of the agitated officers and men of the navy.

Half an hour later, the German pilots were executed in an extremely primitive way by the sailors of the Austro-Hungarian fleet - after tying their hands, they were forced to step on the pedal to the sea.

This cruel act temporarily calmed the anger of some officers and men of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, and also brought bad luck to the entire fleet.

At 4 p.m., the second batch of 120 German planes flew over the fleet again. This time, although the number of German planes was small, the targets they chose were all wounded and slow-moving ships. By the end of the day's fighting, the German air force had expanded to 6 battleships, 3 cruisers, 7 destroyers, 1 seaplane carrier, and 21 transports, with a total tonnage of nearly 100,000 tons sunk! The surviving battleships "St. István", "Combined Forces", "St. Poelten", "Karl", "Apada", "Gusvik", "Zollini", and "Krems" were all traumatized to varying degrees, among which "Apada" and "Krems" had lost their combat effectiveness, and the entire fleet lost half of its capital ships in just one day, which not only greatly exceeded the expectations of the An-Austria-Hungary admirals, but also made the German high command overjoyed.

When the report of the day's results reached Admiral Hipper, the admiral, who had been worried a lot, finally let out a long breath and waved his hand. Order the fleet to speed up the mine-laying, and after the mine-laying is completed, the starry night will advance in the direction of Venice Bay!

At this time, the minelayers in the fleet were laying mines near Pula Harbor under the protection of battleships, and because the capital ships were exhausted and the other side was outside the range of the fortress guns, the Austrian garrison in Pula Military Harbor could only watch the submarines leave the port, however, the torpedo boat fleet was bombarded by German battleships and then fled back to the harbor in ashes, and the two submarines were also bombarded by German destroyers with depth charges that they could only flee for their lives.

After nightfall, the Hipper fleet completed the mine-laying mission, and six mine-laying boats successively laid 120 drifting mines and anchor mines outside the port of Pula, although the number was not large. But it has been able to seriously affect the entry and exit of ships in and out of the port of Pula.

Faced with the fact that Vienna had been taken over by the Austrian army, the German High Command finally decided to change its predetermined strategy of "encircling but not occupying" Vienna to "a quick victory", and ordered Major General Fleming's 2nd Panzer Army, General Dimlin's 1st Army, and General Immer's 2nd Army to launch an offensive and take Vienna at night without destroying the buildings in the city.

It was night, and there was a lot of gunfire in Vienna.

The remnants of Offenberg and Baron Vladimir could not resist the rested and extremely high morale of the German army, and the news of the capture of Vienna reached Berlin before the early hours of the morning.

At dawn. Baron Condra and Anton House, located in the southern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were informed of the loss of Vienna, and at the same time, they received a telegram from the Austrian "new emperor" Adamus, in which they demanded that they immediately cease resistance and accept the "escrow" of the German army.

Kondra and Anton House, the Austrian Army and Navy, made very different decisions on the morning of April 9.

Baron Condra telegraphed the whole country that the army would swear allegiance to the new emperor.

Admiral Anton House ordered the fleet to sail south, and prepared to fight Hipper's German fleet to the death—after receiving reports from the port of Pla, he concluded that Hipper would lead the fleet north to the Gulf of Venice after laying mines outside the harbor.

In this age of planes, submarines and torpedoes. Anton House and his fleet wanted to play the swan song of the Austro-Hungarian fleet with cannons.

However, before encountering the Hipper fleet. At 11:35 a.m., the huge German airship formation again covered the Bay of Venice, and spotted the equally large but weak Austro-Hungarian fleet a mile from the coast.

1 hour later. The German fleet rushed to hear the news.

At 3:10 p.m., when the Austro-Hungarian fleet met the German Mediterranean fleet, Admiral Anton House was no longer able to witness the final battleship duel, as he and his ground ship were unfortunately killed in the attack of the German group. However, his subordinates faithfully carried out his last order - to go south and fight the German fleet in a decisive battle!

Thus, near the Brijuni Islands in the southern part of the Venetian Bay, 30 Austro-Hungarian ships fought a magnificent naval battle with 35 German ships. The last main force of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, the battleships "Combined Forces", "Gusvik" and "Zorini", went into battle with wounds, the light cruiser "Parag" launched a desperate torpedo attack with 3 destroyers and 7 torpedo boats, and 8 small gunboats opened fire on the German fleet like a car......

Between contempt and admiration. Hipper chose the latter.

It was also the most meaningful naval battle of his long and illustrious naval career.

After the fleet collectively turned to the right, the 20 305-mm 50-diameter guns on the "Elector" and the "Prince William" fired a thunderous salvo, followed by the 10 280-mm 45-diameter guns of the "Seydlitz" and the 13 305-mm 45-diameter guns of the "Heinrich", and the first wave of 43 heavy shells would set off artificial waves on the sea around the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Before the splash had fallen, there was a glitter of fire in the distance, and the Austro-Hungarian battleships opened fire with their 305-mm, 240-mm, and 203-mm cannons, which were inferior in number and accuracy to the German fleet, but they were fearless in this final battle, and the sailors on board seemed intent on venting the anger they had received from the Luftwaffe for several days. The rate of fire of the three Austro-Hungarian battleships even slightly exceeded that of several advanced German capital ships.

Shells from both sides came and went, and huge columns of water from the explosion continued to rise on the sea surface 10,000 meters apart.

"The fleet turns 15 degrees to the left!"

After advancing diagonally for some distance, Admiral Hipper decisively gave the order to turn again, and soon the bow of the German fleet was pointed back to the north, and the main guns on the battleship were slightly adjusted to point to the Austro-Hungarian fleet at 45 degrees to port side.

After the loss of the core commander, the formation of the Austro-Hungarian fleet became a bit chaotic, but fortunately they now only had 3 battleships, and the light ships that could fire torpedoes were rushing on the side of the desperate over-German fleet, and the battleships opened fire as fast as possible in order to provide them with fire cover.

On the side of the German fleet, the continuous salvo projectile landing point was getting closer and closer to the target, and the fifth salvo of the "Prince William" and the sixth salvo of the "Seydlitz" hit the "Combined Forces" of the other side one after another, and the 21,000-ton battleship immediately smoked and caught fire and fell silent, and only the "Zollini" and "Gusvik", which had shaved off the weaker firepower, were still firing.

The accurate hit of the 8th salvo of the "Elector" was worthy of its flagship status, and two 305 mm caliber armor-piercing shells directly penetrated the thin armor of the "Gusvik", and after two violent explosions in a row, the old 10,000-ton battleship broke off from the middle and quickly sank to the bottom of the sea.

The sacrifice of the "Gusvik" and the damage of the "Combined Forces" bought precious time for the lightning strike fleet, and the 150-mm guns in the German fleet opened fire, but could not stop the desperate determination of the Austrians, one battleship after another was hit and exploded, and the remaining ships were still moving at full speed, and when the German fleet was only 3,000 yards away, the Austrians were left with only one destroyer and four torpedo boats.

The destroyer and two torpedo boats dropped torpedoes at this distance, but the other two continued to rush forward like crazy, 2,500 yards, 2,000 yards, 1,800 yards, and at this time, one of the torpedo boats was hit by the secondary guns of the "Elector", and the red-stewed hull was immediately killed by the mixed action of shells and torpedoes! The last one, without hesitation, aimed its torpedoes at the flagship of the German fleet.

"Port side, 500 yards out of the sea, anti-torpedo shot!"

A trembling voice came from the mouth of the commander of the secondary gun on the port side of the "Great Elector," and the officers and men on each combat position quickly aimed their muzzles and muzzles at the sea 500 yards away, and the 88-mm single-mounted anti-torpedo boats, anti-aircraft guns, 20-mm machine guns, and machine guns opened fire at the same time, forming a defensive line on the sea 500 yards away from the battleship.

The command to make an "emergency right turn" took less than 10 seconds from top to bottom, and the helmsman turned the rudder sharply as fast as he could, and the huge battleship immediately turned to its starboard side.

After taking all the measures that could be taken, the officers and men could only pray that Heaven would not give up this new battleship that had gathered their hearts and minds!

With a loud bang, a huge column of water rose more than 500 meters on the port side of the battleship.

"Keep shooting! And one more! The commander shouted again, and the sailors in the battle positions were sweating profusely, but they were still trying to reload their ammunition.

Half a minute later, however, another loud bang came from the stern of the "Elector".

This was also the last honor of the huge Austro-Hungarian fleet in naval battles.

From then on, the era that belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Navy ended!