The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part Two: The SMS Zenta

The SMS Zenta in 1901 at the Pola Shipyard after returning from China in 1901.

Truth in advertising time: I'm an Infantry, maneuver warrior kind of guy. But I love old ships. My real world experience with the United States Navy was interesting. At one time (this sounds more impressive than what it really is) I was the Lead Joint Planner, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, United States Army Europe. I got to work in a vault in Heidelberg, Germany. On the gripping hand, I got to work with the Navy and Air Force and could chose which operations I would be involved with - as long as the 2 Star was okay with it! As the Lead Planner, I was also the Army Liaison to the US Sixth Fleet. I actually had a billet, when activated, on the now decommissioned USS LaSalle.

The Navy loved me when I was on board when I was on that great boat, umm, ship the USS Lasalle:

"Excuse me Chief, what floor is Commander Smith on?'

"It's a deck sir."

"Do I go through this door Chief?'

"It's a bulkhead sir."

"Excuse me Chief, is the latrine through that door, er, bulkhead?
"You mean the head sir?'

"Now where did I put my hat?"

"Here's your cover, sir."

"During General Quarters, should I be on the left side of the ship, or the right side of the ship?"

"I don't care what the admiral said, I'm putting you in the brig sir."

They loved me! Gaming with ships can be fun too! Just don't have me in command of your flotilla. Let's see, how many times did I get my gunboats stuck on sandbars going up the Nile River in the 1890's? My greatest success was storming a British gunboat that got stuck during a fictional Boxer Rebellion game as an Imperial Chinese commander during a great game of The Sword and the Flame, Those were the days.

Anyway, while recovering from foot surgery, I discovered the Georg von Trapp of Sound of Music fame was a decorated hero during the Boxer Rebellion which is my next project. Here are some details on his ship, the armored cruiser SMS Zenta just for fun.

The SMS Zenta was launched in 1897 and represented one of the new iron ships in the Austro Hungarian fleet, a transition away from wooden vessels. Her overall length was 96.88 meters (317 ft 10 in) and a beam of 11.73 meters (38 ft 6 in). Her two four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each drove a single propeller shaft with eight Yarrow boilers for an average total of 8,160 indicated horsepower (6,080 kW),  achieving a maximum speed of 21.87 knots (40.50 km/h; 25.17 mph).

She also had the extra protection of an armor deck, two layers of 12.5 millimeter (0.49 in) plates and 50 millimeters (2.0 in) over the engine and boiler rooms. Further, she was armed with two 45 centimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, eight 40-caliber Škoda 12 centimeter (4.7 in) quick-firing guns, eight 44-caliber 4.7 centimeter (1.9 in) Škoda guns, and two 33-caliber 4.7 centimeter Hotchkiss guns.

The start of my Austro-Hungarian landing party; figures are Russian Navy from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond range.

Next: Lt. Col. Shiba Gorō of the Japanese Imperial Guard.