Historical model of the Austro-Hungarian torpedo boat SM Tb 12

Exhibit of the month 10 / 2021

The coastal torpedo boat (Küstentorpedoboot) SM Tb 12 saw the light of day in 1910 at the Danubius shipyards in Fiume (now Croatian Rijeka). It is a characteristic representative of the type Tb 7. The boat was 44.2 m long, 4.3 m wide, and had a displacement of 131.5 tons with a draft of 1.5 m. It was powered by two White-Forster diesel boilers with an output of 2,400 horsepower (hp) and reached speeds of up to 27.5 knots. The crew consisted of 18 sailors and 2 officers. The main armament consisted of two 450 mm torpedo tubes, and the secondary armament included two 47 mm Hotchkiss 3-pounder guns, manufactured under license at Škodovy závody in Plzeň.

The most famous torpedo boat of this class is the SM Tb 11, renowned for the sailors' mutiny that occurred in October 1917. At that time, the Czech-Croatian crew rebelled, hijacked the boat, and then crossed the Adriatic Sea to the Italian city of Ancona, where they surrendered to the Italian Navy.

This is a roughly accurate model (with some deviations), made presumably from memory or according to a photograph. The hull is made of wood, and the metal parts of the model are mostly made of brass, aluminum, and iron. Unfortunately, some details have not survived; nevertheless, it is a very valuable example of ship modeling from the period of the First Republic. Many elements were workshop processed, so it cannot be ruled out that the creator of the model worked in a mechanical or locksmith operation.

Text: Jiří Šlajsna – Michal Soukup

Treatment and preparation of the exhibit: Lucie Marková