Rudolf Montecuccoli Overview . Montecuccoli was born in Modena in 1843 , a descendant of the famous imperial " Feldmarschall " , Raimondo Montecuccoli ( 1609 – 1680 ) . Raimondo Montecuccoli ' s only son died in 1698 , but the title of count descended through his daughters to two lines , Austrian and Modenese . When Rudolf Graf Montecuccoli was born , Modena was still an Austrian Habsburg possession , ruled by the house of Austria - Este . During the 1859 Italian campaign , however , the last Habsburg Duke of Modena , Francesco V , fled to Austria following the Austrian defeat at Magenta ( 4 June ) . Italian patriots seized control , demanding union with the Kingdom of Sardinia . This was confirmed by plebiscite in March 1860 , and at the age of 17 Montecuccoli saw his birthplace and ancestral home pass under what he considered a foreign sovereignty . ( A year later , Modena became part of the Kingdom of Italy . ) Educated as a naval officer , Montecuccoli was little known outside the Austro - Hungarian naval establishment before his appointment as " Marinekommandant " ( Navy Commander ) and " Chef der Marinesektion " ( Chief of the Naval Section of the War Ministry in October 1904 , upon the resignation of Hermann von Spaun . Montecuccoli found his efforts to modernize the fleet impeded by chronic domestic political friction in the annual budget debate of the Reichstag , which was composed of 60 - member delegations from the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments . Faced with Italian plans to build a dreadnought battleship , Montecuccoli on 20 February 1908 announced Austria - Hungary ' s intention to build such vessels . The design was accepted on 27 April 1909 ; Montecuccoli thought the necessary funds could be obtained in the 1910 budget , to be debated in October 1909 . He suggested that Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino ( STT ) and Škoda should begin construction of the ships and guns on their own account until the naval budget was adopted . When the time came , the Reichstag denied the funds for domestic political reasons . Montecuccoli was compelled to resort to an intricate web of propaganda and deception to camouflage the fact that the new ships did not have Reichstag approval . He asserted that industry was financing the construction of two dreadnoughts on speculation ; this was completely untrue , and both STT and Skoda were extremely nervous about the subterfuge . In the event , and could not be laid down until after Montecuccoli took an expensive 32 million crown credit in 1910 upon his own responsibility . By that time Italy had launched and laid down three more dreadnoughts , and France had laid down , her first . The first Austro - Hungarian dreadnoughts were thus already under construction when the Reichstag delegations met in March 1911 to consider the 1911 budget . " Viribus Unitis " and " Tegetthoff " were authorized retroactively by the deputies , who also sanctioned construction of and . Approval of these two later ships was calculated to keep the balance between the Austrian and Hungarian parts of the Dual Monarchy . Only one went to the Austrian - owned STT , the other going to the Hungarian Danubius Yard at Hungarian - controlled Fiume , and the two ships ' names carefully chosen to reflect , respectively , Austrian and Hungarian national pride . Montecuccoli retired as head of the naval administration on his 70th birthday , 22 February 1913 , and was succeeded by Anton Haus . The Austro - Hungarian fleet , so arduously modernized by Montecuccoli and maintained in wartime by Haus as a ' fleet in being ' , was parcelled out among the victorious powers after 1918 . Montecuccoli died in Baden - bei - Wien in 1922 , at the age of 79 .