The Pola Naval Base of Austria-Hungary

In All Its Glory: The Austro-Hungarian Fleet at Pola

The Pola (now "Pula") Naval Base was  located in Pola, a city in the Istrian peninsula, which is now part of Croatia. [Since our focus is on the WWI period we will use "Pola" exclusively in this article.]

During the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the mid-19th century, Pola became the Monarchy's main wartime harbour which led to the construction of the maritime arsenal of the Austro-Hungarian navy. Located on the south coast of the Pula Bay, it is surrounded by high hills and the Brijuni islands from the sea side. Its position, size, and the protection from winds and waves made it one of the most suitable natural ports. The works commenced in 1848 by the erection of three warehouses. The arsenal cornerstone was laid in 1856 by Empress Elisabeth herself. At the same time, the Navy or the Military Hospital and the Franz Joseph Barracks were also erected. The base eventually included dry docks, an arsenal, shipyard, and fuel storage facilities. The military infrastructure around Pola would grow to include 28 forts and concrete fortifications, and over 200 military buildings.

Location on the Adriatic

Polad the Great War

The base was the primary operating base for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. It was home to the main battlefleet and its headquarters, U-boat operation, aviation units, and the navy's main fueling and supply depots. Additionally, the Imperial German Navy (IGN) formed the Pola Flotilla to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The flotilla operated out of Pola and Cattaro to the south. Underground tunnels were erected during the war throughout the city to provide shelter for people in case of air raids. This underground tunnel system consisted of shelters, trenches, galleries and passages, as well as ammunition storages and communication passages.

Three Dreadnoughts at Pola

During the First World War, Grossadmiral Anton Haus, commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, consolidated the fleet at Pola and refused to send forces to operate outside the Adriatic, stating that “his first obligation was to keep the fleet intact to meet the Italian threat.” He espoused the policy that Austria-Hungary's naval position was best maintained by avoiding risk to the country's battlefleet in risky offensive naval actions. 

Repair Docks at Pola

Haus, however, would die of pneumonia in August 1917. By March 1918, he had been succeeded by Admiral Miklos Horthy who had seen great offensive success in  the May 1917 Battle of the Strait of Otranto, the largest naval engagement of the war in the Adriatic Sea. Horthy had subsequently gained the Emperor's attention by subduing a series of naval mutinies, trying 40 of the sailors and executing four.

One of the Forts That Guarded the Approaches to Pola

By June 1918, Horthy planned another attack on Otranto, and in a departure from the cautious strategy of his predecessors, he committed the empire's battleships to the mission. This would mark a great downturn in the fortunes of the empire's navy. While sailing through the night, the dreadnought SMS Szent István met Italian MAS torpedo boats and was sunk, causing Horthy to abort the mission. Szent István is the ship immortalized in the film of its sinking that often shows up in WWI documentaries and at our site HERE.  

U-Boat Docked at Pola

Disaster at Pola

By the summer of 1918, as World War One was drawing to close, the Austrian navy had suffered a series of setbacks, its most powerful ships retreating to the port of Pola. The entrance to this harbor was protected by forts and floating booms and barricades designed to ensnare and destroy enemy ships. The Italian navy made several attempts to attack the Austrian fleet at Pola but failed to breach the elaborate harbor defenses. On 31 October, with the war clearly winding down,  Horthy was ordered by Emperor Charles to surrender the fleet to the new State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs (the predecessor of Yugoslavia). Nonetheless, early the next morning, two Italian frogmen  executed a brilliant attack within the Pola harbor defenses that resulted in the mining and sinking of the Dreadnought Viribus Unitis and a nearby freighter. Viribus Unitis had by the time of the explosion been turned over to its new owners. This Italian Triumph / Austrian Humiliation was covered in depth in our earlier two-part article HERE and HERE.

Viribus Unitis Going Under

Aftermath

After Austria-Hungary collapsed in 1918, Pola became part of Italy. During World War II, the German Wehrmacht occupied Pola, and the Kreigsmarine again used it as a U-boat base. The city was repeatedly bombed by the Allies from 1942 to 1944. After the war, Istria was partitioned into occupation zones until the region became officially united with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 15 September 1947. Since the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991, Pula has been part of the Republic of Croatia. The city today holds many clues to its once naval character but (sadly) hosts no men-of-war.

Pula, Croatia, Today