SMS Huszár was the lead ship of her class of a dozen destroyers built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Completed in 1905, she ran aground three years later. Her wreck was subsequently salvaged shortly afterwards.
Design and description The Huszar-class ships had a flush deck design with a distinctive "turtleback" forecastle that was intended to clear water from the bow during high-speed navigation, but was poorly designed for high waves or bad weather. The ships normally displaced and at full load. They measured long overall with a beam of , and a draft of .Freivogel, p. 64 The ships were propelled by two 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam from four Yarrow boilers; each boiler was provided with an individual funnel. The turbines were designed to produce a total of for an intended maximum speed of . During the ships' sea trials, they generally exceeded this figure, reaching . The ships carried enough coal to give them a range of at 28 knots. Their crew numbered 70 officers and men.Noppen, p. 18
The main armament of the Huszar class consisted of a single 45-caliber Škoda SFK () gun]. The gun was mounted on a platform on the forecastle with the turtleback leading right up to it. Their secondary armament included seven guns. Two guns were positioned on the main deck right behind the bow gun's mount, four others were located on the deck amidships; all of these guns were on the broadside. The seventh gun was on the stern. All of the guns were fitted with gun shields. The ships were equipped with two torpedo tubes in two single, rotating mounts. One of these was located between the forward gun mount and the superstructure while the other was positioned between the aft funnel and the stern gun.Freivogel, p. 62Sieche, p. 338
Construction and career Huszar was laid down by Yarrow on 14 November 1904 in their London shipyard and launched on 31 May 1905. Completed on 4 July, she arrived at Pula on 28 July where she had her armament installed and various problems rectified. The ship ran aground on 3 December 1908 on a voyage between the Bay of Kotor and Budva and was badly damaged with all of her forward compartments flooded. An effort to pull her free by the armored cruiser failed when the tow rope broke despite the removal of of equipment. A storm began around 10 December and salvage efforts had to be cancelled. The storm threw the destroyer against the rocks and caused the rear compartments to flood. The wreck slid off the rocks on 12 December and sank in of water. Salvage efforts resumed on 19 December and all four boilers and one propeller shaft were recovered before efforts were terminated.Freivogel, pp. 52, 55
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