Italian Grillo 1918
|
Names |
Mb.164, 165 |
|
Builders |
Eppel, Wien: Mb.164, 165 |
|
Commissioned |
none |
|
Losses |
BU incomplete: Mb.164, 165 |
|
Transfers |
none |
|
Discarding |
none |
|
Displacement normal, t |
10.5 |
|
Displacement full, t |
|
|
Length, m |
13.3 |
|
Breadth, m |
2.40 |
|
Draught, m |
0.9 / - |
|
No of shafts |
1 |
|
Machinery |
1 electric motor for cruising / 1 electric motor for tracks |
|
Power, h. p. |
2 / 13 |
|
Max speed, kts |
4 / |
|
Fuel, t |
battery only |
| Endurance, nm(kts) | 30(4) |
|
Armament |
2 - 450 TL |
|
Complement |
3 |
Project history: The Austrian Navy was deeply impressed by the Italian tracked MTB Grillo (this was not an amphibious tank, as might be expected, the tracks being designed only to negotiate floating barricades) which was captured on 14 May 1918 after an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate into Pola harbour, the Vienna-based boatyard of Fritz Eppel Jr was ordered to design and built two austere versions of such a vessel. Mb.164 was intended to attack Ancona, and her sister Mb.165 to penetrate into Chioggia harbour. On 12 October 1918 test runs were held with Mb.164 in a tributary of the Danube at Vienna, in the presence of high-ranking Austro-Hungarian naval officers, but when the unit was ready for railway delivery to Pola, the war was over. Both units-were scrapped after the war.
© Ivan Gogin, 2014