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The Austro-Hungarian Navy drew up the first specifications for the future battleships on 3rd June 1911. The Naval Technical Committee (NTC, Marinetechnische Komitee) presented two series of designs: A 21,650 ton (22,000 mt) ship with 30.5 cm (12") guns and a 23,000 ton (23,400 mt) ship with 34.5 cm (13.6") guns. In February and March 1912 the Navy made a series of displacement calculations with different armament and belt armor. Beside the 34.5 cm caliber, the Navy studied the possibility of introducing the 35.5 cm (14") caliber, and ordered the Škoda to work out the designs of 35.5 cm gun turrets. These guns were to have any-angle loading capability, similar in concept to contemporary British designs. On the basis of these calculations, on 11th March 1912 the Navy drew up new specifications for the battleships. On 1 April 1912, Škoda submitted drawings for both 34.5 cm (13.6") twin and triple gun turrets to the three shipyards and to the NTC, but the 35.5 cm (14") drawings were not finished in time. The 34.5 cm (13.6") turrets were complicated (due to the any-angle loading system, which was more complicated than British designs) and was poorly protected. The shipyards and the NTC presented a total of 25 designs for 23,000 to 26,600 tons (23,400-27,000 mt) battleships armed with eight to thirteen 34.5 cm (13.6") guns. On 25th June 1912 a board headed by Vice-Admiral Karl Kailer von Kaltenfels reviewed the existing designs and found them unsatisfactory. The board decided for a new design, a ship of about 24,100 tons (24,500 mt) armed with ten heavy guns. The board decided that these guns would be yet another new size, 35 cm (13.8"), and that they would have a simpler fixed loading angle. In July 1912 the Navy asked Škoda to work out the designs for 35 cm (13.8") twin and triple turrets. On the order of the NTC's Artillery Department, Škoda returned to the simpler and more reliable fixed-elevation loading system. Actual bore size was 349.5 mm (13.76"). |
 
Demonstration model of the forward turret
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