The navy's organization and training contrasted with the empire's more troubled army. Austro-Hungarian sailors were trained to swim, a practice that mattered when survivors were left in the water after Antivari and upset A. B. Cunningham aboard HMS Scorpion. Greater exchange with Germany might have spread useful professional practices and accelerated construction through shared shipyard capacity. The Central Powers' more professional and better-led surface fleet was also the smaller force and the one most easily contained by geography.
Notable Point · 1:46:20-1:47:37
Professionalism inside the Austro-Hungarian fleet
Crew swimming instruction and effective leadership support the argument that Austria-Hungary fielded one of the Central Powers' more professional naval forces.