Retouched and marked-up photograph of Austrian Warships, June 9, 1915. A penciled note on the back says, 'Photo by amateur'. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's primary port was Pola on the Adriatic Sea.
Reverse:Pencil: Austrian warships. Photo by amateur, reproduced by permission.Stamped: Jun-9 1915
"Then the 30th of October dawns.By the order of His Majesty the Emperor and King, the navy is informed in sparse language: the entire navy, the vessels and floating fleet installations, and all construction on land passes into ownership of the new Yugoslavian state. The non-South Slavs are free to continue serving under the new flag. Everyone else is granted permanent leave.In the Bocche we are to continue normal duty until the final surrender order has been accomplished per instructions.Rumor has it that the Yugoslavs took over three war loans in exchange. No one knows whether or not the South Slavs will be a state in the framework of the monarchy.The surrender order is from the Emperor, and so the ships and boats are not sunk."
Excerpt from the memoir of Austro-Hungarian Captain Georg von Trapp, the Empire's most successful submariner. The Emperor, Karl, was also King of Hungary. The Bocche was the Bay of Cattaro, an Austro-Hungarian port and naval base. Yugoslavia, a union of South Slavs incorporating Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, was the dream of Gavrilo Princip and his co-conspirators when he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia on June 28, 1914.
To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander by Georg von Trapp, page 185, copyright © 2007, publisher: University of Nebraska Press, publication date: 2007
1918-10-30, 1918, October, Emperor Karl, Kaiser Karl, Austria-Hungary, Yugoslavia, south Slav
