SMS Babenberg SMS " Babenberg " was a pre - dreadnought battleship built by the Austro - Hungarian Navy in 1899 . She was launched on 4 October 1902 as the last of three s . Along with her sister ships , she participated at the bombardment of Ancona during World War I . At the end of the war , she was ceded to Great Britain as a war prize . She was scrapped in Italy in 1921 . Construction and layout . " Babenberg " was the last of three battleships of her class . Her hull was laid down on 19 January 1901 at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard in Trieste . Following about a year and a half of construction , she was launched on 4 October 1902 . After final fitting - out work was completed , the ship was commissioned into the Austro - Hungarian fleet on 15 April 1904 . The teak used on " Babenberg " s deck was the only available material that Austria - Hungary was able to purchase abroad to build the ship . Like all ships of her class , the " Babenberg " was 113 . 11 m ( 371 ft ) long at the waterline and was 114 . 55 m ( 375 ft 10 in ) in overall length . She had a beam of 19 . 8 m ( 65 ft ) and a draft of 7 . 5 m ( 24 ft 6 in ) . Freeboard was approximately forward and about aft . The ship also displaced 8 , 364 metric tons ( 8 , 232 long tons ) . Once construction was finished , she was commissioned into the Navy with a crew of 638 officers and enlisted men . The " Babenberg " was powered by 2 - shaft , 4 - cylinder vertical triple expansion engines , which were supplied with steam by 16 Belleville boilers . " Babenberg " s power output was rated at 16 , 000 indicated horsepower ( ihp ) , which produced a top speed of . The hull for the ship was constructed from longitudinal and transverse steel frames , over which the outer hull plates were riveted into place . The hull incorporated a double bottom that ran for 63 % of the ship ' s length . A series of watertight bulkheads also extended from the keel to the gun deck . All in all , there was a total of 174 watertight compartments in the ship . " Babenberg " had a metacentric height of between and . Bilge keels were mounted on either side of the hull to reduce rolling and prevent her from capsizing . " Babenberg " had a flush main deck that was planked with wood , while the upper decks were covered with linoleum or corticine . The " Babenberg " had three 24 cm ( 9 . 4 in ) L / 40 guns , two mounted in a twin turret forward and one mounted in a single turret aft of the main superstructure . The C 97 - type guns were manufactured by Krupp in Germany . The main guns fired at a rate of between three to four 215 kg ( 474 lb ) armor - piercing ( AP ) shells per minute . Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm ( 5 . 9 inch ) SK L / 40 guns in casemate s . These guns could fire at 4 – 5 shells per minute . " Babenberg " was built with face - hardened chrome - nickel steel . The main armored belt was in the central portion of the ship , where the ammunition magazines , machinery spaces , and other critical areas were located . The belt tapered slightly to on either end of the central section . Service history . Peacetime . When " Babenberg " was commissioned in 1904 , she began participation in fleet drills with her sister ships the " SMS Árpád " and the " SMS Habsburg " . Following a series of simulated wargames against the three battleships , the " Babenberg " and the other two " Habsburg " - class ships became the I Battleship Division . With the commissioning of the s in 1906 and 1907 , the " Habsburg " - class battleships were transferred from the I to the II Battleship Division , and the three " Monarch " - class battleships were moved from the II to the III Battleship Division . World War I . During World War I , " Babenberg " served with the IV Division of the Austro - Hungarian Navy ' s battleship s and along with her sister ships " Habsburg " and " Árpád " and the remainder of the Austro - Hungarian Navy . " Babenberg " was mobilized on the eve of World War I to support the flight of and . The two German ships were stationed in the Mediterranean and were attempting to break out of the strait of Messina , which was surrounded by British troops and vessels and make their way to Turkey . After the Germans successfully broke out of Messina , the navy was recalled . The fleet had by that time advanced as far south as Brindisi in southeastern Italy . " Babenberg " and her sister ships also participated in the Bombardment of Ancona after the Italian declaration of war on the Central Powers . Towards the end of the war , the ship was decommissioned and was retained as a harbor defense ship . Following the end of the war , the ship was awarded to Great Britain as a war prize , but was instead sold and broken up for scrapping in Italy in 1921 . Footnotes . Explanatory notes Citations