Austria 20 Euro Silver Coin 2005 SMS Sankt Georg
Part of the collection "Austria on the High Seas".The obverse shows the armored cruiser S.M.S. Sankt Georg sailing into New York Harbor on 17 May 1907; passing right in front of the Statue of Liberty. This was to be the last visit of an Austrian naval vessel in the U.S.A.
The reverse shows the naval arsenal of Pola, one of the principal naval bases of the Austro-Hungarian navy since the middle of the 19th century. The Olive Island in the harbor, with its two characteristic covered construction docks, can be seen. The stern and the propellers of the S.M.S. Sankt Georg are clearly shown in one of the docks. In the foreground a smaller steamship sails.
Designer: Thomas Pesendorfer
Mint: Münze Österreich AG
Value: 20 Euro; Alloy: Ag 900 (Silver); Quantity: 50,000; Quality: Frosted Proof;
Issued: 14 September 2005; Diameter: 34 mm (1.34 in); Weight: 20 g (0.71 oz; 0.64 ozt);
Issue value: €35.50
The Fourth 20 Euro silver commemorative in the “Austrian on the High Seas” series is dedicated to the armoured cruiser of the Austro-Hungarian Navy - S.M.S. Sankt Georg, which was launched in 1903 in the naval dockyards in the harbour of Pola (today “Pula” in Croatia) and was taken into active service in the imperial navy in 1905. Its first overseas mission (that is, outside the Mediterranean) was in 1907 when it was dispatched together with the smaller cruiser S.M.S. Aspern to represent Austria-Hungary at the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia.
After the celebrations opening the great Jamestown Exposition, which included an international naval review before President Theodore Roosevelt, the ships visited the Annapolis Naval Academy before moving up the coast to New York. During their stay there, the captains had to cancel all shore-leave in order to stem the number of desertions, since the Sankt Georg had 17 men jump ship and the Aspern lost 10 crew members. The call of the New World was proving too strong! The Sankt Georg and the Aspern were the last Austrian naval vessels to visit America.
In the First World War, the Sankt Georg was confined to operations in the Adriatic Sea, as was the rest of the imperial navy.
The end of her story was regrettably less admirable. In February, 1918, her crew joined with some other disaffected sailors in the southern Adriatic port of Cattaro (Kotor) in a short-lived mutiny. In April she was decommissioned and awarded to the British as war booty after the armistice. The Sankt Georg was broken up and scrapped in Genoa at the end of 1920.