November 1, 1918 The Viribus Unitis was sunk by magnetic mines planted on her by Italian frogmen. Viribus Unitis the first dreadnought built for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was a formidable ship which had an uneventful career in WW1. She was launched on June 24,1911 at Trieste, was 499 feet long with a beam of 89 feet, she displaced 20,000 tons and armed with 12, 12 inch guns mounted in four, triple gun turrets. This ship was used to transport the bodies of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie back to Trieste after the assassination in Sarajevo. After the fall of the Empire she was turned over to the newly formed Yugoslavian National Council on Oct. 31, 1918. She was at the naval base in Pola when the mines were attached by Raffaele Rossetti and Dr. Raffaele Paolucci. They managed to sink both Viribus Unitis and the liner Wien and 400 people with them.