!!!Tegetthoff, Wilhelm von

b. Maribor, Slovenia (then Marburg), Dec. 23, 1827, 
d. Vienna, April 7, 1871, most important admiral of the Austrian navy. 
1840-1845 at the Austrian navy college in Venice; given his first 
independent command in 1854. Was among the first to call for the 
introduction of steam ship construction. As commander-in-chief of the 
Austro-Prussian squadron defeated the Danish navy ( German-Danish War) 
at Helgoland on May 9, 1864. 1866 in the  Austro-Prussian War 
Tegetthoff won the naval battle against an Italian fleet of superior 
strength at  Lissa on July 20, by ramming the enemy´s ships 
(awarded the military order "Kommandeurkreuz des Militaer-Maria 
Theresien-Ordens"). 1866/67 went on study trips to France, Great 
Britain and to the USA. 1868 became head of the navy department of the 
Ministry of War. While reorganizing the Austrian navy he encountered 
distrust and fierce opposition, yet his reforms remained in force 
until World War I and formed the basis of the sea power of the 
Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

!Literature
H. H. Sokol and P. Handel-Mazzetti, 
W. v. T., 1952; U. Schoendorfer, W. v. T., 1958; 
K. Mueller, T. Marsch in die Nordsee, 1991.



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