Premuda · Croatia · Wreck
SMS Szent István
An Austro-Hungarian dreadnought, inverted at 66 m
The last of the Austro-Hungarian navy's four Tegetthoff-class dreadnought battleships, torpedoed off Premuda on 10 June 1918 by an Italian motor torpedo boat and capsized within three hours. She lies upside down at 66 m about 8 nautical miles offshore, her bow broken off alongside the hull, a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture and a technical dive.
Also known as Szent István, SS Szent István.
Where it is and how deep
44.2019° N, 14.4514° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is a technical dive on a battleship rather than a wreck tour. Szent István lies upside down at 66 m, so what meets you on the way down the line is the underside of a Tegetthoff-class dreadnought: 152 metres of inverted hull, heavily encrusted, with the bow section broken off on impact with the seabed and lying immediately next to the rest of the ship.
Depth sets the terms of everything else. At 66 m the bottom time is short and the ascent long, so the dive is planned around trimix and staged decompression rather than around seeing the whole of a 152-metre hull in one go. Nothing about the profile forgives improvisation, and there is no shallow part of the wreck to fall back on if the plan slips.
The ship is also a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture, and she is coming apart. The Croatian Conservation Institute's underwater archaeology department has been scanning her with ROVs, working with the Ministry of Culture and Special Police divers to document the wreck and preserve what can be preserved. Divers leave the structure alone and take nothing off it.
The wreck
- Vessel
- SMS Szent István
- Type
- Tegetthoff-class dreadnought battleship
- Length
- 152 m (499 ft)
- Built
- 1915
- Sunk
- 1918
- Cause
- Torpedoed by the Italian motor torpedo boat MAS-15 during an Austro-Hungarian breakout attempt through the Strait of Otranto
- Lies
- Upside down at 66 m, bow broken off on impact but lying immediately next to the encrusted hull
Built at the Ganz-Danubius yard in Fiume — laid down in January 1912, launched in January 1914, commissioned in December 1915 — Szent István was hit by two torpedoes from MAS-15, commanded by Luigi Rizzo, in the early hours of 10 June 1918. Flooding stopped the bow and stern engine rooms and the list grew about 1° every fifteen minutes. A tow cable was passed from her sister ship Tegetthoff at 05:45 but had to be cut when the list reached roughly 18°, and she capsized around 06:00. One officer and thirteen crew were confirmed dead, three officers and seventy-two crew missing, and twenty-nine wounded.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Premuda: Apr–Oct is the season with the clearest water in late summer; the bura closes the exposed offshore wreck at short notice.
Know before you go
- At 66 m this is a decompression dive on trimix. Gas planning, staged stops and surface support are the dive; there is no recreational version of this profile.
- The hull is deteriorating, which is why it is being surveyed by ROV, so treat the structure as unstable and stay off and out of it.
Dive videos
SMS Szent István Búvár Régészeti Expedíció 2022 · Karsztvíz Buvár És Barlangász Egyesület on YouTube
Immersione sull'SMS Szent István a Settembre 2017 | Relitti dell'Alto Adriatico · Acquelibere Sub on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Szent István wreck?+
She lies upside down at 66 metres off Premuda. That is well beyond recreational limits: the dive is run on trimix with staged decompression, from a boat, by a centre equipped for that kind of diving.
Can recreational divers dive the Szent István?+
No. At 66 m the wreck is technical diving on trimix, and it is a protected site of the Croatian Ministry of Culture. Divers without technical training dive the Katedrala cave system on Premuda instead.
Sources
- SMS Szent István — Wikipedia
- Raid on Premuda — Wikipedia
- Podvodna ekspedicija: skeniramo Szent Istvan robotima — Jutarnji list
- Premuda — Wikipedia
In The Logbook
- How a rebreather works, and what it buys youGear & kit · 8 min read
- Why is 1.4 bar the oxygen limit in diving?Body & health · 13 min read
- Deep wreck diving: where recreational stopsWrecks · 8 min read
- Air, nitrox or trimix: which gas, and when?Gear & kit · 15 min read
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