Delta Force
Banned
The Brandenburg class battleships were the first modern oceangoing battleships of the Imperial German Navy. A few years later, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was seeking to replace two obsolete ironclads with three new ships, but only succeeded in acquiring the three Monarch class coastal defense ships. It wasn't until the dreadnought arms race began that Austria-Hungary attempted to build a strong oceangoing fleet, and plans for a fleet of twelve consisting of twelve battleships and four armored cruisers were approved. However, there were problems with a lack of infrastructure and the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments (as an imperial institution of the Dual Monarchy, both had to approve funding for the Austro-Hungarian Navy) battled over costs and construction locations. As a result, the Radetzky class was completed as a semi-dreadnought instead of to a dreadnought design as suggested by Siegfried Popper due to lack of dock facilities capable of handling anything larger than 16,000 tons displacement (Popper thought it would be difficult to get funding for docks). Ironically enough, approval of the Tegetthoff class required financing the construction of an entire shipyard in the Hungarian part of the Empire, because Hungary insisted on having a share of the production.
Although Austria-Hungary didn't have much of a naval tradition, it had some advocates, including Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It also had a strong armaments and metallurgy industry, including the large Whitehead torpedo factory at Fiume and Škoda Works in Czechoslovakia, which most prominently produced armament, armor, and metal products for the Austro-Hungarian Navy during and (as export) for the Royal Navy during the 1920s and 1930s.
Given the large historical improvements in the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the dreadnought era, is it possible that something might have been done earlier to make it into a powerful oceangoing fleet?
Although Austria-Hungary didn't have much of a naval tradition, it had some advocates, including Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It also had a strong armaments and metallurgy industry, including the large Whitehead torpedo factory at Fiume and Škoda Works in Czechoslovakia, which most prominently produced armament, armor, and metal products for the Austro-Hungarian Navy during and (as export) for the Royal Navy during the 1920s and 1930s.
Given the large historical improvements in the Austro-Hungarian Navy during the dreadnought era, is it possible that something might have been done earlier to make it into a powerful oceangoing fleet?