[3] During the Thirty Years War, Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein was awarded the Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow as well as given the title "Admiral of the North and Baltic Seas" by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II in 1628 after scoring several military victories against Denmark–Norway in northern Germany.

[4] However, Wallenstein failed to capture Stralsund, which resisted the Capitulation of Franzburg and the subsequent siege with assistance of Danish, Scottish and Swedish troops, a blow that denied him access to the Baltic and the chance of challenging the naval power of the Scandinavian kingdoms and of the Netherlands.

[9] Even Prince Eugene of Savoy, upon being appointed Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands in June 1716, chose to remain in Vienna and direct policy through his chosen representative, Hercule-Louis Turinetti, marquis of Prié.

[15] Frederick II of Prussia almost immediately invaded Austria in December 1740 and took the affluent Habsburg province of Silesia in the seven-year conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession.

However, the Seven Years' War forced Vienna to pay much more attention to Austria's land border with Prussia and its coastline along the Adriatic Sea, preventing Kaunitz's program from achieving success.

[12] These ventures ultimately failed however due to pressure from other colonial powers such as Portugal and Denmark-Norway, both of which forcefully evicted Bolts and his colonists from Africa and the Bay of Bengal respectively.

While Venice had suffered under French occupation, the ships Austria acquired from the city's annexation still allowed the Austrian Navy to grow to some 37 vessels by the start of the War of the Second Coalition in 1799.

[20] On 17 March 1802, Archduke Charles of Austria, acting in his role as "Inspector General of the Navy", ordered the formation of the "Imperial and Royal Naval Cadet School" in Venice (German: k.u.k.

[22] Austria again fought against France during the Second and Third Coalitions, when after meeting a crushing defeat at Austerlitz, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II had to agree to the Treaty of Pressburg, weakening the Austrian Empire and reorganizing Germany under a Napoleonic imprint known as the Confederation of the Rhine.

Austria had to hand over the Duchy of Salzburg to the Kingdom of Bavaria and lost its access to the Adriatic Sea by ceding the Littoral territories of Gorizia and Gradisca and the Imperial Free City of Trieste, together with Carniola, the March of Istria, western Carinthia with East Tyrol, and the Croatian lands southwest of the river Sava to the French Empire.

These terms eliminated Austria's coastline along the Adriatic, thus destroying the Austrian Navy, with its warships being handed over to the French to guard the newly formed the Illyrian provinces.

[24] Three years later, the frigate Carolina escorted Austria's ambassador to Brazil across the Atlantic, before sailing on to China, marking the first time a ship from the Austrian Navy had traveled to East Asia.

The third son of Archduke Charles, a famous veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, Friedrich's decision to join the Navy greatly enhanced its prestige among the Austrian nobility and public, and he pursued a career enthusiastically, commanding a ship sailing to the Orient by 1839.

During the storming of the city, Friedrich personally led the Austro-British landing party and hoisted the Ottoman, British, and Austrian flags over the Acre's citadel upon its capture.

In Vienna, Austrian Chancellor Klemens von Metternich resigned his post and went into exile to London while Emperor Ferdinand I was forced to abdicate the throne in favor of his nephew, Franz Joseph.

Vice-Admiral Anton von Martini, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, attempted to put an end to the rebellion but was betrayed by his officers, the majority of whom were Venetians, and subsequently captured and held prisoner.

Further complicating matters for the Austrian Navy was the loss of Venice's naval dockyards, warehouses, its arsenal, as well as three corvettes and several smaller vessels to the Venetian rebels.

[47] Anthony Sokol describes Ferdinand Max in his book The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy as "one of the most talented of the Habsburg princes...He used his prestige, youthful enthusiasm, and love of the Service to promote it in every way possible.

[49] In addition to obtaining support for the creation of Ministry of Marine, Ferdinand Max was given great freedom by the Emperor to manage the navy as he saw fit, especially with respect to the construction and acquisition of new warships.

[50] Pola in particular saw a considerable amount of attention as its natural harbor and strategic location along the Adriatic coastline of Austria enabled ships docked there to provide protection for Trieste as well as the Dalmatian Coast.

[52] Within a year of Ferdinand Max's promotion to Oberkommandant, the Austrian Navy consisted of four frigates, four corvettes, and two paddle steamers in active service in the Mediterranean Sea.

[61][62] In response to Austria's quick defeat during the Second War of Italian Independence, Ferdinand Max proposed an even larger naval construction program than the one he had initiated upon his appointment as Oberkommandant.

The expedition was planned by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna and aimed to gain new knowledge in the disciplines of astronomy, botany, zoology, geology, oceanography and hydrography.

During the First World War, the navy saw some action, but prior to the Italian entry spent much of its time in its major naval base at Pola, except for small skirmishes.

Throughout September, October and November 1914 the navy bombarded the Allied forces resulting in a decisive defeat for the latter, and again in January 1916 in what was called the Battle of Lovćen, which was instrumental in Montenegro being knocked out of the war early.

Differing command structures, national pride and the language barrier all contributed to a lack of cohesion in the application of Allied sea power, producing a situation in which German and Austro-Hungarian U-boat attacks on shipping flourished.

The Otranto Barrage, constructed by the Allies with up to 120 naval drifters, used to deploy and patrol submarine nets, and 30 motor launches, all equipped with depth charges, was designed to stop the passage of U-boats from Cattaro.

A surprise attack was planned, but the mission was doomed when the fleet was by chance spotted by an Italian MAS boat patrol, commanded by Luigi Rizzo, which had already sunk, at anchor, the 25 year-old battleship SMS Wien (5,785 tons) the year before.

An independent Naval Ministry (Marineministerium) existed in the short period of time between 1862 and 1865 and the Austrian admirals have demanded, that it should be reinstated, but this fell through due to the ongoing negotiations between the Imperial court and Hungary in preparation for the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.

Another point was that naval expenditures were for most of the time overseen by the Austrian War Ministry, which was largely controlled by the Army, the only exception being the period preceding the Battle of Lissa.