Editing Tegetthoff-class battleship (section)

== Funding ==
=== Budget crisis ===
[[File:Arbeiter-Zeitung.png|thumb|right|The front page of the [[Arbeiter-Zeitung (Vienna)|''Arbeiter-Zeitung'']] on 14 April 1910, which broke the story of the secret funding agreement for the ''Tegetthoff'' class|alt=An old newspaper written in German Fraktur script. The date printed on the newspaper is 14 April 1910.]]
The development of ''Dante Alighieri'' left the Austro-Hungarian Navy in a precarious position. The Italian battleship was laid down largely due to the leaking of Montecuccoli's memorandum, while the proposal for constructing four new battleships still remained in the planning stages. Complicating the matter further was the collapse of [[Sándor Wekerle]]'s government in Budapest, which left the [[Diet of Hungary|Hungarian Diet]] without a prime minister for nearly a year. With no government in Budapest to pass a budget, efforts to secure funding and begin construction had stalled.{{sfn|Gebhard|1968|p=252}}

The budget crisis likewise affected industries with close ties to the navy, particularly the [[Vítkovice Mining and Iron Corporation|Witkowitz Ironworks]] and the [[Škoda Works]]. With {{SMS|Radetzky|1909|2}} nearing completion and {{SMS|Zrínyi||2}} the only remaining Austro-Hungarian battleship still under construction in the shipyards of Trieste, the major shipbuilding enterprises in Austria offered to begin construction on three dreadnoughts at their own financial risk, in exchange for promises from the Austro-Hungarian government that the battleships would be purchased as soon as the budget impasse had been resolved. After negotiations involving the ministries of foreign affairs, war and finance, the navy agreed to the offer but lowered the number of dreadnoughts that would be constructed before a budget was passed from three to two.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|pp=191–192}} In his memoirs, former Austrian [[Field Marshal]] and [[Austro-Hungarian General Staff|Chief of the General Staff]] [[Conrad von Hötzendorf]] wrote that due to his belief in a future war with Italy, construction on the battleships should begin as soon as possible. He also worked to secure agreements to sell the dreadnoughts to, in his words, a "reliable ally" (which only Germany could claim to be) should the budget crisis fail to be resolved in short order.{{sfn|Conrad|1925|p=360}}

Facing potential backlash over constitutional concerns that the construction of the first two battleships committed Austria-Hungary to spend roughly 120 million ''[[Austro-Hungarian krone|Kronen]]'' without prior approval by either the Austrian ''Reichsrat'' or the Diet of Hungary, the deal remained secret.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|pp=192–193}} In the event of the agreement being leaked to the press prior to the passage of a new naval budget, Montecuccoli drafted several explanations to justify the battleships' construction and the necessity to keep their existence a secret. These included the navy's urgent need to counter Italy's naval build up and desire to negotiate a lower price with their builders.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=192}} By the time the agreement was leaked to the public in April 1910 by the [[Arbeiter-Zeitung (Vienna)|''Arbeiter-Zeitung'']], the newspaper of Austria's [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Social Democratic Party]], the plans had already been finalized and construction on the first two battleships, ''Viribus Unitis'' and ''Tegetthoff'', was about to begin.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=194}}

=== Costs ===
The costs to construct the ''Tegetthoff''-class battleships were enormous by the standards of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. While the {{sclass|Habsburg|battleship|0}}, {{sclass|Erzherzog Karl|battleship|0}}, and the ''Radetzky''-class battleships cost the navy roughly 18, 26, and 40 million ''Kronen'' per ship,{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=192}} each ship of the ''Tegetthoff'' class was projected to cost over 60 million ''Kronen''.{{sfn|Sieche|1991|p=116}} Under the previous budgets for 1907 and 1908, the navy had been allocated some 63.4 and 73.4 million ''Kronen'', which at the time was considered an inflated budget due to the construction of two ''Radetzky''s. Montecuccoli worried that the general public and the legislatures in Vienna and Budapest would reject the need for the expensive ships, especially so soon after the political crisis in Budapest. The dramatic increase in spending meant that in 1909 the navy spent some 100.4 million ''Kronen'', a huge sum at the time. This was done in order to rush the completion of the ''Radetzky''-class battleships, though the looming construction of four dreadnoughts meant the Austro-Hungarian Navy would likely have to ask the government for a yearly budget much higher than 100 million ''Kronen''.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=192}}

In order to guarantee funding for the ships from the [[Rothschild banking family of Austria|Rothschild family in Austria]], who owned the Witkowitz Ironworks, the [[Creditanstalt]] Bank, and had significant assets in both the Škoda Works and the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, Archduke Franz Ferdinand personally courted [[Albert Salomon Anselm von Rothschild]] in order to obtain his family's monetary support until the government could buy the ships.{{sfn|Vego|1996|p=62}}{{sfn|Gebhard|1968|pp=203–204}}

=== Budget negotiations and passage ===
[[File:Rudolf Montecuccoli.png|thumb|left|200px|Rudolf Montecuccoli, ''Marinekommandant'' of the Austro-Hungarian Navy from 1904 to 1913|alt=A black-and-white photo of an elderly naval officer in full dress uniform, with several medals pinned to his left breast.]]
The budgets providing funding for the ''Tegetthoff'' class were finally approved after two meetings of the Austrian ''Reichsrat'' and the Diet of Hungary in October and November 1910, with opposition being rejected as the Italian Navy had laid down [[Conte di Cavour-class battleship|another three battleships]] during the summer.{{sfn|Sieche|1991|p=115}}{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=194}} The retroactive passage of the 1910 budget and the passage of the 1911 budget was secured between December and March with little opposition. [[István Tisza]], who had won [[Hungarian parliamentary election, 1910|Hungary's 1910 parliamentary election]] but instead chose to allow a government to form under [[Károly Khuen-Héderváry]], secured passage of the budgets with his large parliamentary majority. This was done after it was agreed the contract for the battleship which would eventually become ''Szent István'' was to be awarded to the Ganz-Danubius shipyard in Fiume.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=195}} Tisza's political allies were likewise won over with bribes such as being appointed to the board of directors of the Adria Line.{{sfn|Gebhard|1968|p=211}} Securing passage of the budgets in the Austrian ''Reichsrat'' had been comparatively easy. [[Karel Kramář]], leader of the [[Young Czech Party]], supported the budgets with the justification that he had "a certain weakness for the navy."{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=195}} Šusteršič, leader of the Slovene bloc, rallied support by arguing that the battleships were in the best interests of the navy and the Slovenian people. German politicians supported the battleships' construction on the grounds that their existence made Austria-Hungary a more powerful ally for Germany. The final package included provisions which ensured that while the armor and guns of the ''Tegetthoff'' class were to be constructed within Austria, the electrical wiring and equipment aboard each ship was to be assembled in Hungary. Additionally, half of all ammunition for the battleships' guns would be purchased in Austria and half was to be bought in Hungary.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|pp=195–196}} Only the Social Democrats opposed the budgets. Their leader, [[Karl Seitz]], decried the worsening relations with Italy and called for negotiations with Rome to end the Austro-Italian naval arms race. In a sign of Austria-Hungary's strained relationship with her nominal ally Italy, the proposal failed with little support outside of Seitz' party. The budgets passed both parliaments with large majorities, ensuring that the financial questions regarding the construction of the ships were resolved.{{sfn|Sondhaus|1994|p=195}}