http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Hungarian_Navyhttp://militaryhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_final_end_of_the_austrian_navyThe world class Austro Hungarian Navy slipped from the waves after defeat in World War One removing the country's blue water fleet. The treaty of San Germain in 1919 left Austria with a length of only 330 kms of the Danube River, as opposed to more than eight times that length in 1914. Of the ten monitors and 18 patrol boats of the Danube flotilla at the end of the war nearly all were given to the newly independent country of Hungary. Only the broken down fifty year old 310ton river monitor Maros and two 133ton patrol boats the Barsch and Compo were maintained in Vienna (Wien) of the now pitifully small Austrian Navy. When Austria was absorbed by Germany in 1934 these ships went along with the deal. These ships served in the interwar years, and the Compo even remained afloat during World War Two, eventually surrendering to the American Army in May 1945. Many Austrians served in the German Kriegsmarine and one such unit of the German navy even carried the traditional name of an old Austrian warship. the Prinz Eugen.
After losing another war, Austria was occupied by the Allies for ten years and had no military at all. In 1955, Austria declared her Everlasting Neutrality and made neutrality a constitutional law. The main purpose of the Austrian military since then has been the protection of Austria's neutrality. The first new Austrian naval vessel built since 1918 was laid down, the 12 meter (40ft) long Patrol Boat RPC Oberst Brecht (Reich patrol boat Colonel Brecht). She was completed and assumed service in1958 with a special naval squadron in the Austrian army. She was joined by a second ship the 29meter (70ft) long RPB Niederösterreich (“Lower Austria’) in 1970. They were built by Korneuberg Werft AG and were equipped with a 20mm dual purpose cannon, 50 caliber machine guns, Carl Gustav 84mm antitank missiles, a PAR 66mm mortar and small arms. For fifty years these vessels have kept the watch along the now peaceful Danube, protecting not only the capital city but the all important power plants (more than 20) along the river that feed the country. The total complement of tthe squadron was a total of 2 officers and 30 enlisted men.
With the end of the cold war and international draw down in military spending that followed hit the Austrian military hard. In 1994 the shipyard that bulit the patrol craft , Korneuberg Werft AG, closed its doors and eliminated the possiblity of overhaul work and replacement craft being built in Austria. Budget cuts across the board decreed that the Patrol Boat Squadron, along with its vessels be stricken without replacement. On August 30, 2006 the Squadron was dissolved, the flags lowered, and their crews reassigned to other units in the army. This ended over six hundred years of Austrian naval history.
This history itself is thankfully preserved. On November 16, 2006, both of the patrol vessels were handed over to the Heeresgeschichtliche Museum (Museum of Military History) in Vienna to be maintained as floating museums with the help of the Österrreichischen Marineverband (Austrian Navy Association). These ships join parts of von Trapp’s submarine U20 and the bell of the Prinz Eugen (of ‘Sink the Bismarck’ fame) on display. The maritime tradition of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Imperial Navy is still alive in its former provinces as well. Every year, on November 1st, the day "Viribus Unitis" was sunk, the Croatian Navy along with several veterans organizations assemble in Pula to commemorate the disaster. The old Imperial Navy Church and the Navy Cemetery, including the 20,000 volume priceless former Naval Library is still preserved at Pula after being maintained in turn by the Italian, Yugoslav, and finally the Croatian navy.
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