Výkonostní odznaky rakousko-uherského námořnictva

Performance Badges of the Austro-Hungarian Navy



Pavel P E T E J D L



The Austro-Hungarian Navy consisted of about 20,000 naval officers, seamen, clerks and men.The national composition was very different from the army.In the last year of the World War 34% of Croats and Slovenes, about 20ˇHungarians,16% Germans,15% Italians,11% Czechs and 4% other nationalities of the monarchy served in the navy.The composition of the officer corps was very interesting,from the Czech lands over 20% were mostly ship's doctors,ship's artillery engineers and mechanical engineers.The service of the men until the end of the war was exclusively Voluntary with a 4-year term of service, without any further military exercises.The basic training unit was the so-called Marine Corps (Matrosenkorps) intended for infantry training of recruits and for unattached sailors.The Austrian navy was an elite, well-trained army with excellent artillery, technical and navigational skills, but the actual activity during the war was insignificant compared to the land army of the monarchy.

Strict adherence to military regulations and orders, but basically peaceful regime on ships and naval units, inactivity, all this resulted in an open mutiny of sailors in Kotor in February 1918. The main problem was the question of providing the men materially, financially and morally.Reduced war rations of food were dealt with only by the men's galleys, wartime supplementary rations were paid only when ships sailed for combat action, leave was granted in terms of wartime measures, and only very rarely.In contrast to the gradual inflation in the awarding of commendations and decorations in the land forces,the awarding of commendations or decorations in the Austrian Navy was quite rare and exceptional.There was no satisfaction even among naval officers.Instead of combat actions, war meant for them only training,alarms and a monotonous life on ships and in the garrisons of naval ports.

As with the land forces, performance badges were introduced in the Austrian Navy, circular, 45mm in diameter, stamped in brass or later in metallic composition.They were intended exclusively for men and NCOs and were associated with financial rewards and benefits in service.The first badge was established in 1891, for men and non-commissioned officers of the Marine Corps"
BADGE FOR RIFLEMEN FROM PUŠKY ( Gewehrschutzenabzeichen)stamped in brass, gold-plated, two crossed rifles in the centre, scalloped edge, black painted centre.The conditions for obtaining it were the same as for ground troops.

In 1896, according to the statute for school artillery ships, the Artillerieeschutzenabzeichen was introduced.The badge is again stamped from gilded brass plate, the edge is scalloped, in the centre of the pearl wreath there are two crossed artillery barrels surmounted by an imperial crown, the centre of the badge is again black lacquered.

In 1899 a change was made to take into account the training of the artillery category of marksmanship on school artillery ships.The badge for artillerymen was abolished and replaced by:
SHOOTING BADGE FOR ARCHERY TOWER MANAGERS (Artillereschutzenabzein für Turmgeschutzfuhrer).The badge is artistically the same as the original one for artillerymen.

Currently, with the change, a new Artillery Badge for Gunners(Artillerieschutzenabzeichnung fur Vormeister) has been introduced.The badge is again circular stamped in brass plate or composition.In the pearl wreath there are two crossed artillery barrels surmounted by an anchor,the edge is scalloped.The centre of the badge is black lacquered.

By order of 25.10.1905 was introduced Kokarde zum Artillerieschutzenabzeichen for ship gunners who achieved the best result in shooting for prizes, which were held once a year on the school gunboat.Only one gunner of the Austrian Navy could be awarded the badge for a period of one year or until the next prize shooting ceremony.If he did not defend his artillery skill, he had to postpone the badge.The badge was circular, identical to the original artillery badge and the later badge for gun turrets, i.e. two crossed artillery barrels surmounted by the Imperial Crown, but was backed by a red and white cloth cockade.

In 1912, the ARCHERY ELITE ARCHER'S BADGE (Artilleriescharfschutzenabzeichen) was introduced for ARCHERY INSTRUCTORS ( fur Artilerie-Instruktoren) and for ARCHERY MASTERS ( fur Vormeister).In shape, both badges are the same as the previous ones, but are stamped in silver composition with a pearl inner wreath,For artillery instructors, the central emblem had two crossed barrels surmounted by an imperial crown.

All of these naval performance badges were worn on the walking or day uniform, always on the right side of the blouse or shirt, and could be backed with a ribbon of dark uniform cloth.

In addition to the above badges, the Submarine Crew Badge ( U-Boot-Abzeichen) was introduced in 1910 for submarine crew members.The badge is stamped in white metal,openwork,it consists of a characteristic anchor with a rope.On the left side of the badge is the letter "U" on the right side is the letter "B".The size in height is 55mm, width 35mm.On the back is a clamping pin horizontally placed.The badge could be worn only during the period of assignment to the submarine crew,when transferred to another component of the Navy was not allowed to be worn further.Unlike the previous badges, it was worn on the left side of the blouse or shirt.

Note: The submarine crew badge is extremely rare and the original is not found in our territory( although many believe they own the original)

Abstracts:
Pavel Patejdl: Performance Badges of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, published in the magazine for falerists, SIGNUM Brno


Falerist Pavel Patejdl died on 2 December 1988, he was one of the leading experts on the R-U Navy and was the first to take an interest in these performance badges, The article was also published abroad.

I would like to supplement my colleague Altmann's clear post with pictures of the submarine badge. As the author has already mentioned, the original badge is unknown even to Austrian phalierists. All the badges presented so far are only copies or fakes.

Figure l shows the obverse and reverse of such a badge.

Figure 2 shows the badge in silver, even engraved with the wearer's name, but most likely it is a custom-made badge made after WWI.

Vložil jsem obrázek dalšího oznaku,který byl dražen na A...u za cenu vyšší jak 3000Kč. Pokud by to byl originál, je cena vcelmi slušná až levná, já si však dovolím pochybovat o originalitě odznaku. Rovněž tři odznaky,které jsem pro ilustraci zveřejnil,zde jsou dva(bílý kov) kopie,ale ten poslední(žlutý) je kvalitní originální ražba,která je vzácnější než nappříklad FJO rytíř v bronzu. Obecně je možno říci,že tyto námořní výkonostní odznaky jsou velmi vzácné a v originálu nedostupné.


Poznámka:
Obecně tyto kopie poznáme neb jsou ražené(odlité) v kompozici kovu,která je šedivá, odznaky pan výrobce proto patinoval, zkusíte tvrdou gumou a uvidíte,že patina jde dolu. kov je měkký a odznak těžký.Pochopitelně,že netvrdím,že vše musí být jen takto a pokud máte kdokoliv jisté poznatky či pochybnosti, napište, neb zde máme poradnu s názvem: KOPIE a PADĚLKY

To, co mě zajímá: Je ponorka odznak obr.1.jpg originální?

Myslám, že zde kolega faleristika jasně uvádí, že nejpravděpodoběji jde o pozdnější výrobu a ne originál.