SMS Radetzky ^[a] was the first of the three Radetzky-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy (K.u.K. Kriegsmarine). She was named for the 19th-century Austrian field marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. Radetzky and her sisters, Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand and Zrínyi,
were the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy—they
were followed by the larger and significantly more powerful Tegetthoff-class dreadnoughts.[sup][url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Radetzky_(1909)#cite_note-pre-dreadnought-5][b][/url][/sup]

[i]Radetzky[/i] was built by the shipbuilding company [i][url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabilimento_Tecnico_Triestino]Stabilimento Tecnico[/url][/i] in [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste]Trieste[/url] and commissioned into the fleet on 15 January 1911. The ship conducted training cruises in the [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Sea]Mediterranean[/url] before the outbreak of [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I]World War I[/url] in mid-1914. During the war, [i]Radetzky[/i] operated largely as part of a [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_in_being]fleet in being[/url] alongside the rest of the Austro-Hungarian Navy; in doing so, the ships tied down considerable naval forces from the [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Entente]Triple Entente[/url]. [i]Radetzky[/i] did participate in some offensive operations, primarily shore bombardments in the [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriatic_Sea]Adriatic Sea[/url] against French, Montenegrin, and Italian targets.

Towards the end of 1918, with the war going against the Austrians, [i]Radetzky[/i] was prepared to be transferred to the [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Slovenes,_Croats_and_Serbs]State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs[/url]. On 10 November 1918 — six days after the Austrian armistice — Yugoslav navy officers sailed the battleship out of [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pula]Pola[/url] and surrendered it to a squadron of American [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_chaser]submarine chasers[/url]. Under the terms of the [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Saint-Germain-en-Laye_(1919)]Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye[/url], the transfer was not recognized; instead, [i]Radetzky[/i] was given to Italy and [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_breaking]broken up for scrap[/url].