The Central Powers in the Adriatic, 1914–1918 tells at least the essential parts of the story of Austro-Hungarian and to a lesser extent German navies in this narrow sea during World War I. Because the Austro-German naval effort here could only be heavily one-sided, the story is basically that of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Navy.
German surface forces did indeed have a small role in the opening days of the war; their U-boats did have a steadily increasing part as the war went on. But that is all.
Against this the Kaiserliche und Konigliche Kriegsmarine played out to the full its role as Austria’s balanced regional naval force. This was what it was supposed to do. While so doing, it gave cover to the U-boat war, furnishing bases, defending them, and—insofar as it could—joining in.
History may well largely ignore the naval warfare that took place in the far-off Adriatic during World War I. What for instance do you know about it? But history should remember enough to tell posterity that the Austro-Hungarian Navy (die Kaiserliche und Konigliche Kriegsmarine or KuK Navy) fought
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