Editing Tegetthoff-class battleship (section)

==== 1916–1917 ====
[[File:SMS Prinz Eugen_underway.png|thumb|left|300px|''Prinz Eugen'' underway on 28 June 1917|alt=A large battleship steams through the water. Water breaks against the bow as heavy dark smoke emerges from the ship's two funnels.]]
Largely unable to engage in major offensive combat operations after the Bombardment of Ancona, the ships were mostly relegated to defending Austria-Hungary's coastline for the next three years.{{sfn|Sokol|1968|p=71}} The lack of combat engagements, or even instances where the ''Tegetthoff''s left port, is exemplified by the career of ''Szent István''. The ship was unable to join her sisters in the Bombardment of Ancona and rarely left the safety of the port except for gunnery practice in the nearby Fažana Strait. She only spent 54 days at sea during her 937 days in service and made only a single two-day trip to Pag Island. In total, only 5.7% of her life was spent at sea; and for the rest of the time she swung at anchor in Pola Harbour. ''Szent István'' saw so little action and so little time at sea that she was never drydocked to have her bottom cleaned.{{sfn|Sieche|1991|pp=, 123, 133}}

In January 1917 [[Charles I of Austria|Emperor Karl&nbsp;I]] attended a military conference at [[Pszczyna Castle|Schloss Pless]] with German Kaiser Wilhelm&nbsp;II and members of the German Army and Navy. Haus, along with members of Austria-Hungary's naval command at Pola, accompanied the Emperor to this conference in order to discuss naval operations in the Adriatic and Mediterranean for 1917. Days after returning from this conference, Grand Admiral Haus died of pneumonia aboard his flagship ''Viribus Unitis'' on 8 February 1917. Newly crowned Karl I attended his funeral in Pola.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=294}}

Despite his death, Haus' strategy of keeping the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and particularly its dreadnoughts, in port continued. By keeping the ''Tegetthoff''s as a fleet in being, the Austro-Hungarian Navy would be able to continue to defend its lengthy coastline from naval bombardment or invasion by sea. The major ports of Trieste and Fiume would also remain protected. Furthermore, Italian ships stationed in [[Venice]] were effectively trapped by the positioning of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, preventing them from sailing south to join the bulk of the Entente forces at the Otranto Barrage.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|pp=294–295}}

Njegovan was promoted to admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. With Njegovan appointed to higher office, command of the 1st Battle Division, which consisted of all four ''Tegetthoff''-class ships, fell to Vice-Admiral [[Anton Willenik]]. Njegovan had previously voiced frustration watching the dreadnoughts he had commanded under Haus sit idle at port and upon taking command he had some 400,000 tons of coal at his disposal, but he chose to continue the strategy of his predecessor. Despite a change in command of both the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Empire which it served, there would be no change in strategy regarding the employment of the ''Tegetthoff'' class in battle.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=304}}

Having hardly ever ventured out to port except to conduct gunnery practice for the past two years, the most significant moments the ''Tegetthoff''-class ships saw while moored in Pola were inspections by dignitaries. The first such visit was conducted by Emperor Karl&nbsp;I on 15 December 1916. During this brief visit the Emperor inspected Pola's naval establishments and ''Szent István''.{{sfn|Sieche|1991|p=122}} Karl&nbsp;I returned to Pola in June 1917 in the first formal imperial review of the Austro-Hungarian Navy since 1902. This visit was far grander than his previous trip to the naval base, with officers and sailors crowding the decks of their ships at port and the naval ensign of Austria-Hungary flying from every vessel. The Emperor received multiple cheers and salutes from the men at Pola, who had spent the past two years doing little more than shooting down Italian airplanes and airships.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=309}} The third dignitary visit came during Kaiser Wilhelm&nbsp;II's inspection of Pola's German submarine base on 12 December 1917. During this trip, the German Emperor also took the time to inspect ''Szent István'' in similar fashion to his Austro-Hungarian counterpart. Aside from these visits, the only action the port of Pola and the ''Tegetthoff''s were subject to between the Bombardment of Ancona and the summer of 1918 were the more than eighty air raids conducted by the newly formed [[Corpo Aeronautico Militare|Italian Air Force]].{{sfn|Sieche|1991|pp=120, 122–123}}