SMS Aspern

Aspern during her visit to the United States in 1907
History
Austria-Hungary
Name	Aspern
Namesake	Battle of Aspern-Essling
Builder	Pola Naval Arsenal
Laid down	4 October 1897
Launched	3 May 1899
Commissioned	29 May 1900
Decommissioned	14 March 1918
Fate	Ceded to Britain as a war prize; scrapped in 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	Zenta-class protected cruiser
Displacement	Normal: 2,456 t (2,417 long tons) Full load: 2,562 t (2,522 long tons)
Length	97.47 m (319 ft 9 in)
Beam	11.93 m (39 ft 2 in)
Draft	4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
Installed power	8 × Yarrow boilers 7,200 ihp (5,400 kW)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Sail plan	Brigantine-rigged
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range	3,800 nmi (7,000 km; 4,400 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	308
Armament	8 × single Škoda 12 cm (4.7 in) guns 4 × single Škoda 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 2 × single Hotchkiss 47 mm guns 2 × single 8 mm (0.31 in) machine guns 2 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 25–50 mm (1–2 in) Conning tower: 50 mm Casemates: 35 mm (1.4 in)

SMS Aspern was the second of the three Zenta-class protected cruisers built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1890s. The class included two other vessels, Zenta and Szigetvár. 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; Aspern 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.

Aspern spent much of her early career abroad, being sent to join the campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in Qing China in 1900, though by the time she arrived, most of the fighting was over. She remained there until early 1902 when she briefly returned to Austria-Hungary, though she was sent back to Chinese waters later that year. After returning home again in 1904, she served with elements of the main fleet. The ship was sent to represent Austria-Hungary at the Jamestown Exposition in the United States in 1907 and participated in operations in the eastern Mediterranean to protect Europeans living in the Ottoman Empire later in the decade. In 1913, captained by frigate captain Paul Stupar, she was involved in the blockade of Montenegro imposed by the Great Powers during the First Balkan War.^[1] She was decommissioned in late 1913.

At the start of World War I in July 1914, the ship was mobilized and assigned to I Cruiser Division. She sortied a number of times to support other cruisers and destroyers that were engaged with enemy vessels, though Aspern never directly engaged them. She bombarded Allied positions on Lovćen in January 1916 to support a successful assault on the mountain. The ship was decommissioned again in 1918, disarmed, and converted into a barracks ship. After the war, she was ceded to the United Kingdom as a war prize and was broken up in Italy in 1920.