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SMS ''Leitha'' or Lajta Monitor Museumship was the first river monitor in Europe and the oldest and also the only remaining, fully restored warship of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The monitor was an innovation in the history of warship construction. The first European river monitors were constructed by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, namely the SMS ''Leitha'' and SMS ''Maros'', and since then the river warships of the Monarchy were built in pairs. According to the customs of that time, river warships were named after the rivers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The names were given in the spirit of dualism, thus one of the ships received an Austrian name, the other one a Hungarian. This is the reason why this warship was named after the Austrian river Leitha (in Hungarian “Lajta”), while her sister ship was named after a Hungarian river, the Maros. The construction of the first Danube monitors was dictated by the Monarchy's foreign policy ambitions, and the military and economical situation of the times. The ambition of becoming a great continental power, turned the attention of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the direction of the Balkans as it could not expand towards the West. However, the Monarchy had to be prepared to compensate the states along the Danube, which had been newly liberated from Turkish rule, and that of Czarist Russia. To gain more influence in the Balkans therefore the commander of the Monarchy’s naval fleet, admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff suggested the construction of monitor type warships. Finances were raised, the necessary funds having been voted from the budget of 1869. The cost of the ''Leitha'' amounted to 425,000 HUF. ==Construction== The construction of the two monitors begun in 1870 at a Hungarian shipyard, with some parts, including the turret, arriving from England. The monitors were launched one year later in 1871: the SMS ''Leitha'' on 17 May, and the SMS ''Maros'' on 20 April). The designer of the first pair of monitors was Josef von Romako, who designed many other seagoing warships for the Empire. He had to take into consideration the fact, that because of the low average depth of the Hungarian rivers, he could only build shallow-draft ships, which made his task very difficult. Warships are very heavy due to their armour and weaponry, Romako solved the weight problem with a curved hull and lighter armour plates. With a low-freeboard, the ship needed less armour, ending up with a draft of just 1.3 m. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SMS Leitha」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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