Painting of a view from an airplane of an attack by the Austro-Hungarian fleet on the Italian coast. The message on the reverse is dated November 2, 1918.
Weltkrieg 1914/16.Angriff auf die Italien Küste.World War 1914/16.Attack on the coast of Italy.Reverse:Ostmark, Bund deutscher ÖsterreicherHauptleitung: Linz a. d. DonauKarte Nr. 153Eastern Province, Federation of German AustriansHeadquarters: Linz a. d. DanubeCard No. 153Message dated November 2, 1918
"The most damaging attack on the drifters took place on 15 May 1917 and led to the largest action of the war in the Adriatic. . . . The three Austrian cruisers when they passed through the line of drifters between Cape Santa Maria di Leuca and Fano were at first assumed in some places to be friendly and no alarm was given. The attack on the drifters began at approximately 3:30 A.M. and continued until after sunrise. The cruisers were armed with 3.9-inch guns and were able to overwhelm the little drifters, armed with six pounders or 57-mm guns. The Austrians at times behaved with considerable chivalry, blowing their sirens and giving the drifter crews time to abandon ship before they opened fire. Some of the drifter men chose to put up a fight, and Skipper J. Watt of the Gowan Lee, which survived in battered condition, was later awarded the Victoria Cross. There had been 47 drifters on the line that night, 14 were sunk and 4 damaged, 3 badly. Seventy-two of the drifter crews were picked up by the Austrians as prisoners."
In his Naval History of World War I, Paul Halpern describes the three Austro-Hungarian ships involved in the action of May 15 — Novara, Helgoland, and Saida — as 'the three best Austrian light cruisers that bore the brunt of the war in the Adriatic.' A drifter was a navy version of a trawler, used in mine-sweeping and anti-submarine operations and typically armed with a cannon and depth charges.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, pp. 162–163, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
1917-05-15, 1917, May, Adriatic Sea, Adriatic, drifter, submarine, anti-submarine, Italian coastal attack
