Some Austrian cruisers

[Karle94]

Seems you had the same problem I had with the Sankt Georg. Looks simple, but so much work.

[eswube]

Great work.

[Garlicdesign]

Hi all!

Zenta-class protected cruisers: Aspern, Zenta and Szigetvar.

A class of small (2.300ts) and not very fast (21kts) scouts of 1900 vintage.


Completed without w/t gear, they were retrofitted at some point before the war. Other than that, there were no significant modernizations. Zenta was sunk in this state (she may have been painted grey immediately before) by virtually the whole French navy.


The other two survived the war, were ceded to Great Britain in 1919, sold to an Italian company in 1920 and scrapped there. Late in the war, they were fitted with a single 66/50 AA gun.


Cheers
GD

[eswube]

They are done splendidly well.

[Gollevainen]

Yes really great work. Zenta's have always been one of my favorite cruiser aesthetics, there just is something truly pleasing in their appearance in the most subtle and humble ways.

[Garlicdesign]

Hi all and thanks for the praise!

Just for completeness' sake: The Panther- and Tiger-class torpedo ram cruisers.

Panther and Leopard were two small (1550 ts) Elswick-built cruisers the Austrians ordered in 1884 to gain insight in modern shipbuilding technologies; they were Austria's first steel-hulled cruisers. They had modern looks and were quite fast (18,5 kts) for their time, but were weakly armed (only one 120mm gun on each broadside, both theoretically able to fire dead ahead, plus ten 47mm pieces and four 350mm torpedo tubes (fore, aft and one on each beam, all above water).


As soon as both were delivered in 1886, the Austrians built a slightly larger (1650 ts) copy; they used the additional weight to double main armament to four 120mm guns, all else remaining the same.


Their service was uneventful; none were modernized in any significant way. All were rated obsolete towards the end of the first decade of the new century.


All were disarmed before 1910. Panther and Leopardserved in auxiliary roles, Tiger was converted to admiralty yacht. All were scrapped after the war.

Greetings
GD

[waritem]

Problem is i don't know if i can henceforth go on without my weekly measure of garlicdesign drawings... .........................

One good reason for the confinement to keep going on...................

[maomatic]

Very nice work!

[Hood]

This has been a fantastic series of drawings.

[eswube]

Excellent drawings.