List of ironclad warships of Austria-Hungary

Between the 1860s and the 1880s, the Austro-Hungarian Navy acquired a fleet of seventeen ironclad warships, including broadside ironclads, central battery ships and barbette ships. The first generation of ships, the seven broadside ironclads of the Drache, Kaiser Max and Erzherzog Ferdinand Max classes, formed the core of the Austrian fleet that was involved in an ironclad arms race with Italy in the 1860s and defeated the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) at the Battle of Lissa in July 1866. The Austrian commander, Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, used ramming tactics to win the battle, which influenced the second generation of ironclads that he ordered in the late 1860s and early 1870s. These ships—Lissa, Custoza, Erzherzog Albrecht and the rebuilt ship of the line Kaiser—were central battery ships; this placed an emphasis on end-on fire capabilities, a necessity for ramming attacks since broadside guns could not be brought to bear when ramming.

Following Tegetthoff's death in 1871, Friedrich von Pöck succeeded him as the head of the Austro-Hungarian Navy; Pöck lacked Tegetthoff's prestige and had great difficulty in securing funds from the Austro-Hungarian parliament for new ironclads. Pöck resorted to subterfuge to build the three Kaiser Max-class ironclads in the mid-1870s, ostensibly as simple reconstructions of the earlier vessels of the same names but little material was reused in the new ships. Pöck gained parliamentary approval for two new vessels, the center battery ship Tegetthoff in 1876 and the barbette ship Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf in 1881. Pöck's successor, Maximilian Daublebsky von Sterneck, used the same ruse to acquire funding for the barbette ship Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie, using funds supposedly devoted to rebuilding Erzherzog Ferdinand Max to build the new ship.

None of the second generation of Austro-Hungarian ironclads saw significant activity, owing to meager naval budgets, which precluded much active use throughout the late 19th century. By the early 1900s, the ships still in the navy's inventory had been reduced to secondary duties such as harbor defense or training exercises, with just Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf operational, serving as a guard ship. She was the only Austro-Hungarian ironclad in service during World War I, though she saw no action. After the war, most of the ships were surrendered to Italy as war prizes, though Kronprinz Erzherzog Rudolf and Kaiser Max were awarded to the Royal Yugoslav Navy. Most of the surrendered vessels were broken up in the 1920s, though Erzherzog Albrecht, having been converted into a barracks ship, remained in the Italian Navy inventory until 1950.