Austria-Hungary's internal divisions and the way its government operated made adequate naval funding difficult to secure. Access to the sea through the Adriatic also left the fleet vulnerable to Italian containment. Hypothetical access to the Black Sea or to the Mediterranean outside the Strait of Otranto might have strengthened the navy's funding case. That argument depends on a different territorial and geographical position, rather than a change in ship design alone. The navy remained strategically useful and necessary, but its confined operating area weakened its claim to more resources.
Chapter · 40:46-42:29
Adriatic confinement weakened the case for naval funding
Italian containment and the empire's political structure constrained naval funding; access to waters beyond the Adriatic is considered as a possible change to that calculation.