A recent trip took me to Kotor, Montenegro.  The city sits spectacularly ensconced amidst mountains and fjords, probably the most scenic port in the Mediterranean.  Kotor has seen its share of history over the centuries, but one relatively recent story gets overlooked by even more recent events leading to one of the most famous movies of all time, The Sound of Music.  Understated and often forgotten, here, the story of Georg Luther von Trapp, ace of Austro-Hungarian submariners from World War 1.  His career before falling back on family and music concerned the sea and the Bays of Kotor.

EARLY PERSONA

Georg Johannes Ritter von Trapp was born in Zadar in 1880 to August Johann Ritter von Trapp and his wife Hedwig Emilie Wepler.  August had emigrated at the young age of 14 from Homberg vor der Höhe in Hesse where his father served as a physician.  The family originally came from Carinthia emigrating to Hesse 200 years prior for religious freedoms – the family was Protestant – not offered at the time in Austria. 

Joining the Kaiserlich Österreichische Marine, he was present in the 1866 Battle of Lissa as a lieutenant aboard the SMS Schwarzenberg.  The ship wounded by Italian shellfire, lost navigation ability and drifted out of the battle.  For his service at Lissa, August gained the Military Merit Cross Second Class. 

He went on after the 1866 war to command the SMS Saida.  During a big storm off Sicily which destroyed 20 ships, he was able to skillfully navigate the Saida to a protected bay thereby saving the 73-man crew under his command.  In return, he was raised into the nobility. August received a family coat-of-arms, knighted and a hereditary title of “Ritter von”.

At the relatively young age of 48, August died of typhoid fever in Zadar leaving behind his wife and three young children.  At first, Hedwig moved the family to her mother’s home in Eisenbach, Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.  Later, the family, living of a small Austrian pension, moved back to Austria settling in Graz.

NAVAL ACADEMY

Like his father, Georg von Trapp entered the re-named Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine Academie at 14 years of age.  Four years later, he graduated as Cadet Second class.  Both of his parents were musically inclined.  Cadets at the Academie also were expected to take up a musical instrument.  Georg chose the violin. 

SAILING AROUND THE WORLD

With his classmates, they got assigned to the SMS Saida – a newer ship of the same name his father commanded – for a world cruise on the steam powered sailing vessel. Returning to Pula in June 1899, his next assignment was on the navigation staff of the protected torpedo cruiser SMS Zenta.

ABOARD THE Zenta TO CHINA

With the Zenta, Georg began his second cruise around the world leaving Pula 10 November 1899. He reached Singapore just after a new century began.  With trouble brewing in China with the Boxers, the Zenta shifted north to Japan – surviving a typhoon in the Taiwan Strait – to refuel.  The ship was the Empire’s only naval representative in the Far East.  She joined other international ships – part of an eight-nation alliance. The Zenta then steamed across to help silence the Taku forts at the mouth of the Pei-Ho River. 

The Allies looked to reopen the railroad to Peking to save foreign legations under siege.  One contingent of sailors led by the captain of the Zenta took the last train to Peking before it was cut behind them.  They helped to defend the Legations during the 10-week siege. The captain, Eduard Thomann Edler von Montalmar mortally wounded on 8 July.   

Others from the Zenta fought at Tientsin to keep the railroad open to that point.  A large 100-man contingent joined a much larger Allied force of 8,500 on 22 September to storm the fort at Pei-Tang.  Georg found himself awarded the Silver Bravery Medal Second Class.  He and the Zenta returned to Pula arriving 1 October 1901.

GRADUATING TO FURTHER STUDIES

He graduated to Cadet First Class while still on his cruise.  Continuing his training back in Fiume, Georg von Trapp became an Ensign – Linensciffsfähnrich – 1 May 1903.  As an officer, he completed the sea-mine course in 1904, the torpedo course in1907 and learned how to fly a hot air balloon.  Promoted to Linenschiffsleutnant – battleship lieutenant – late in 1908, he became involved with the Empire’s first foray into submarines – U-boats.

U-BOAT PIONEER

The first two submarines finished at the Whitehead Torpedo Factory in Fiume – U5 and U6 – both American Holland class submarines.  Volunteering to train in the new craft, Georg and his men learned as they went along.  The boats were uncomfortable and dangerous since the gas engines vented directly into the boats.  Carbon monoxide poisoning was an ever-present danger.  Everything was new and near catastrophes becoming enshrined in standard operating procedures on what not to do.  Georg gained command of U6 on 1 July 1910, serving as captain until 1913.

In 1908, while studying torpedo and submarine instruction at the Whitehead factory in Fiume, Georg met Agathe. She was the daughter of Countess Agathe Goberina von Bruenner Whitehead and John Whitehead. John was the son of Baron Robert Whitehead, the inventor of the torpedo and founder of the Whitehead Torpedo Factory.   The U5 launched 10 February 1909. The honor of christening the new submarine fell to daughter Agathe, an event attended by Georg. 

FAMILY LIFE BEGINS

Later, in the evening, mother on the piano and daughter with the violin played at a celebratory ball.  Smitten at first glance, mother Agathe invited the young naval officer to spend some time in the summer at their vacation home, the Erlhof, on the Zeller See across from the town of Zell am See.  Two years later, they married at the Academie chapel in Fiume. The first of seven children was born eleven months later.

Marrying Agathe brought happiness, but also, she was well off financially thanks to her family.  The Trapps moved their growing family to the main naval base in Pula in 1913.  There they built the Villa Trapp just east of the home of Miklós Horthy, the naval aide-de-camp to Emperor Franz Josef just before the war.

BATTLESHIP SERVICE

In 1913, Georg von Trapp left the submarine service to gain more training on the ships of the navy.  Early in 1914, he served on the SMS Monarch, a coastal battleship dating to 1895.  One of three ships in its class, the Monarchs represented a large jump in naval construction for the Empire.  Those jumps in navy architecture became even more dramatic when the Monarch took part on a training cruise in the eastern Mediterranean along with the dreadnoughts Viribus Unitis – “With United Forces”1912 – and Tegettthoff 1914 – and the pre-dreadnought Zrínyi – 1911.

WAR BEGINS ON TORPEDO BOATS

With the onset of the war later in the year, Georg found himself in command of Torpedo Boat 52 – TB52.  He found himself based further to the south in Sebenico – Šibenik – from where they would cruise out through the Kornati Islands, picking their way through the passages in the blackness of the night.  Light beacons turned off with the war.  Mines between islands complicated navigation even further.  

The little motorboats worked between Sebenico and Cattaro keeping the supply line going and keeping the communication stream ongoing.  They worked as escorts for merchant vessels and kept an eye out for mines laid by the enemy. 

Then, in April 1915, bored with his work on the TB52, word came Georg von Trapp was to relinquish his command.  He then proceeded to Cattaro as a passenger on the torpedo boat to take command of the old boat, U5, launched by his wife.

TO WAR ON THE U5

The small fleet of U-boats and their “mother” ship, the SMS Erzherzog Rudolf lie in the Bocche di Cattaro just inside the entrance at small Port Rose at the end of Luštica Peninsula – the site of a small resort today.  Four submarines operated out of Cattaro towards the Strait of Otranto, two more called Trieste home and the last U-boat served at the main naval base at Pula.  The submarines job was to try and interdict the supply line coming from Italy over to Montenegro.  Those boats supplying the Montenegrins used neutral ships and neutral ports in far northwestern Greece.  Italy had not quite joined the war, so the neutral ships – mostly Italian – were not fair game for the Austrian mariners.

THE Leon Gambetta

French naval vessels – using “neutral” Greek port at Astacco just north of the west end of the Gulf of Corinth – also cruised the Strait of Otranto to ensure the flow of supplies and to make sure the Austrian fleet stayed in the Adriatic.  Georg von Trapp and the U5 went hunting, leaving Port Rose in the dark of night to avoid detection by the Montenegrins on Mount Lovćen.  While patrolling, the U5 spotted a ‘Victor Hugo’ – type French cruiser out in the darkness but they could not maneuver to fire off a torpedo at her. 

Four days later, after calculating what route the cruiser was on, with a full moon illuminating the target, U5 executed the first underwater, night-time attack in the Adriatic.  From 500 meters out, two torpedoes hit ten seconds apart and the cruiser went down within ten minutes into the sea.  Of the 821 crew on the Leon Gambetta, only 137 survived.

In honor of his victory, Georg von Trapp became a media star across the Empire.  He gained both the Austro-Hungarian Knight’s Cross of the Leopold Order and an Iron Cross from the German Empire.  Later in the year, U5 found itself in a shootout style duel with the Italian submarine Neride just off Palagruža Island in the middle of the Adriatic west from Dubrovnik.  The Neride fired first but Georg was able to evade the torpedo.  Next, it was his turn.  The torpedo of the U5 ran true sinking the Neride with all of hands – 17 to 20 men.

A NEW SUBMARINE

Two months later, 14 October 1915, Georg transferred to command the SMS U14, the former French Curie caught trying to raid inside the Austrian port at Pula 20 December 1914.  The French sub had been raised and salvaged beginning Austrian service in June 1915.  The first commander fell ill and needed replacement.  Who better than the K. und K. star submariner.  Revisions to the French sub gave it a new conning tower and new diesel engines gaining the boat a 12,000-kilometer range up from its old 3,100.  This allowed the submarine to venture far south of the Strait of Otranto into the middle Mediterranean, vastly increasing the hunting grounds.  The new range put the boat more on par with German submarines also operating out of Austrian ports into Mediterranean seas.  German IIB sub ranges were from 12,000 to over 13,000 kilometers.

With the U14, from April to October, 11 vessels were sank.  Allied losses from 1916 and 1917 were staggering.  

Convoys became regular events in the Mediterranean in 1917, especially after the announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare by both Germany and Austria-Hungary early in that year.  Early in 1918, Georg became commander of the entire submarine base now moved over to the opposite side of the bay to Ðjenovići.  Promoted to Korvettenkapitän in May, he waited for the completion of one of the newer Austrian longer-range submarines in the shipyards at Pula before heading out to sea again.  The subs were never completed, and the war ended on the Bocche 1 November 1918.  His naval career was over.

POST WAR CAREER

Zadar was annexed to Italy after the war.  By this measure, Georg von Trapp, born in Zadar, gained Italian citizenship.  Being on a war criminal list for his submarine activities, he rejoined his family at Zell am See where they had moved to be safer during the war.  He stayed busy starting up two different shipping enterprises which lucratively provided the family with income when he sold them.

In 1924, Georg received his highest military award, the Knight’s Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.  The award came in recognition of his overall submarine career during the war.  With the award came a higher title Freiherr – Baron.  The only problem with his title, titles became outlawed in postwar Austria.  He went on to write a book about his World War One experiences Bis zum letzten Flaggenschuß.  The book was a best-seller in Austria and one of his granddaughters recently put out an English translation To the Last Salute.

Georg von Trapp’s story after the war belongs more to the Sound of Music and eventually Stowe, Vermont where the family finally ended up after a period of time living in Salzburg. 

SUBMARINE SERVICE UNDER THE DOUBLE EAGLE

Before World War 1, Austria Hungary lagged in building up an underwater arm to their costly navy, preferring to put their scarce resources into battleships.  By 1905 France featured 26 submarines in her fleet with 20 under construction.  The British operated 9 submarines with another 21 building.  By contrast, German and Austro-Hungarian navies only had design stages initiated.

U1 CLASS

The following year, Austria-Hungary went with three options. The navy ordered two boats from three designers for a competitive evaluation.  Simon Lake, an American, provided the first pair of submarines – U1 and U2.  Lake had hoped to have his designs picked up by the American navy but had lost out to John Holland.  One of his designs purchased by the Russian fleet in 1904.  The first two submarines measured out at 100 feet long powered by two gasoline engines on the surface and two electrical motors for underwater use.

The U1 class was regarded as obsolete by the time the boats the navy commissioned them in 1911.  They served as training boats up until 1914.  When the war began, boat boats were in drydock at Pula awaiting new diesel engines.  Both boats served as reconnaissance boats sailing out of Pula and Trieste.  They did not sink anything during the war becoming relegated as training boats at the beginning of 1918.    Eventually, Italy gained both vessels at the end of the war and both scrapped in 1920.

U3 CLASS

The next two boats – U3 and U4 – came from the Germaniawerft shipbuilders in Kiel.  Germaniawerft eventually became the primary builder of submarines for the German navy in both World Wars.  U3 and U4 were longer than Lake’s boats at 138 feet.  They joined the fleet early in 1909.  Judged to be the most reliable of the three pairs of boats and the boats with the best living conditions, the U3 design had the worst diving abilities and suffered from excessive exhaust smoke.  Used mainly as training boats before the war, they put to sea when the war came as half of Austria Hungary’s submarine fleet.  U3 suffered ramming by an Italian armed merchant cruiser 12 August 1915.  Damaged, a French destroyer Bisson sank the submarine the next day.

U4 was more successful.  She captured several small boats during the first year of the war.  Then July 1916, she sank the Italian armored cruiser Giuseppi Garibaldi.  U4 would go on to sink fifteen ships in total and survive the war only to be given to the French as a war reparation and then scrapped in 1920.

U5 CLASS

The U5 and U6 were based on John Philip Holland’s US C-class submarine design with a single, teardrop hull at about 105 feet long.  The two ships were built by the Whitehead & Company partly at Fiume, Hungary and partly in the United States.  Eventually, another boat – U12 – came online, completely built in Fiume. 

U5, we talked about earlier.  U6 started the war still as a training boat.  She did sink a French destroyer in March 1916 before becoming entangled in the anti-submarine nets of the Otranto Barrage.  The submarine abandoned and then sunk by gunfire from boats in charge of the drift nets.  All of her crewmen survived though as prisoners of war. 

U12 was purchased by the navy at the outbreak of war being commissioned in August 1914.  Whitehead had been early trying to sell the boat – launched in 1911 – to different navies before the war.  U5 sank one ship during the war, capturing six Montenegrin sailing vessels in March 1915.  She also damaged the French battleship Jean Bart in December 1914.  Making an attempt at penetrating the port of Venice in August 1915, U12 hit a mine blowing off her stern.  All of her crewmen went down with U12, the first Austro-Hungarian submarine to sink in the war.

U7 CLASS

The navy decided to go with Germaniawerft for a succeeding class of five boats – U7 to U11 – were not finished in time for delivery from Germany before the war broke out.  These five boats were then sold to the Imperial German navy which operated them during the war as U66 to U70.

The French submarine Curie was sunk and the re-floated after it tried to penetrate the defenses at Pula.  That submarine was pressed into Austrian service quickly as U14 – more on this boat later, too.

U10 CLASS

In order to enlarge their underwater force – only four boats to start the war off operational – the next class of submarines used were the U10 class.  These were small coastal submarines, ninety feet in length.  They built up quickly after transportation from Germany by rail in pieces.  The five boats entered Austrian service in the first half of 1915.  The first two boats manned by German crew and officers initially, but by July those two were under Austro-Hungarian crews on commissioning joined in October by the other three.  One of the boats sank during the war and one heavily damaged from a mine hit.  The class sank three destroyers – two Italian and one French – and a few other ships, as well.  Four surviving submarines became Italian at war’s end.  These faced the scrapyard in 1920 at Pula.

U20 CLASS

Austria-Hungary’s need for submarines at the onset of war forced then to order four boats based on a Royal Danish design built in 1911 in Fiume.  Even though the navy considered the design obsolete, the plans were the only ones on hand in Austro-Hungarian shipyards in the summer of 1914.  Political problems – decisions to build the ships in Austria versus Hungary – led to the ships not joining the fleet until mid-1917.  Unreliable engines and handling problems plagued the boats during their service.  They enjoyed no wartime success while two of the ships sank with all hands.

U27 CLASS

A final class of submarines became built – four in Pula and four in Fiume – joining the fleet in 1917-1918.  This class based its design upon the German Type UB II – thirty such boats served in the High Seas Fleet.  The class became the last built in Austria-Hungary.  These boats enjoyed the most success in terms of ships sunk with only one lost.  U27 sank or captured 35 ships following her commissioning 24 February 1917. The most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine, the British destroyer Phoenix was one of her victims while the Japanese destroyer Sakaki was damaged. 

U28 sank ten ships surviving the war, then scrapped by the Italians in 1920.  U30 joined the fleet 17 February 1917 sailing out from Kotor 31 March.  On its first voyage the boat went our but was never heard from again.  U31 sank two ships, U32 five, U40 three and U41, the last Austro-Hungarian vessel completed and commissioned into the navy – 19 February 1918 – sank one.  All of these submarines – except the U30 – were scrapped after the war by either France or Italy.

OTHER CLASSES AND THE GERMANS

Several other classes of submarines were designed for the Austro-Hungarian navy.  Those classes suffered from a lack of trained shipbuilders.  Several laid down, but none completed before the war ended.  One of these boats Georg von Trapp waited to command, but he waited in vain.

Two other German UB II boats were sold to the Austrians in 1917 – the U43 and U47.  Both of these ships had already seen lots of action in both the North Sea and the Mediterranean and became labelled “worn out” by the Austrian navy when they took over.  The U43 spent a lot of time under repair sinking one ship – she claimed 32 under German command – before the war ended.  U47 claimed three under Austrian command – she claimed 22 under German command including two large liners – the Franconia and Ivernia – and a French pre-dreadnaught Gaulois under tow for repair at Toulon after damaged in the Dardenelles.

The German navy sent several submarines to fight in the Mediterranean-Adriatic region, as well, during the war.  Most famous of these, the U35 captained by Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière.  Under his command U35 sank 191 ships making him the most successful submarine commander in history.