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History of the cruiser Zenta

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Posted by: nghc51 () on 2011. June 17. Friday 19:15

Posted by: nghc51 on 2011. June 17. Friday 19:15

Thank you for this excellent history, Olaf! It is wonderful to see a detailed published account of this battle that I can read online. I did not know that this battle was so significant. I have been doing my family's genealogy for the past year and my brother has been pursuing the military history of our ancestors.  
 
My Croatian grandfather, Ivan Zic, born in 1889 on the island of Krk in the town of Punat in the Adriatic served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy during WW1. He was a crew member aboard the S.M.S. Zenta during the battle on Aug 16th 1914. He told us the story of the battle and how he was in the water while the ship was going down. His pants were around his feet and he struggled to get them off while another sailor was trying to cling to him. He had to fight off his fellow crew member so he himself wouldn't drown. He talked about being in the water for hours and about being a prisoner of war with only potato peels for food.  
 
Ivan Zic. a tinsmith, emigrated to New York City, USA in Sept. 1923 and became naturalized in 1924. I now wonder if he had a chance to reunite with the surviving crew members for that shrine? Do you have pictures of the Shrine or can you direct me to where I can find more about that? It would be a very nice addition to our family history. 
 
My mother, who was born in Yugoslavia in 1918, emigrated in 1931 to America. In 1967 she traveled back to Europe and visited an Austrian Museum (I believe) that had a framed portrait of Commodore Pachner which she took a photograph of. She also got a record from the Austrian Military Archives of her father, Ivan Zic's gold medal of honor for bravery given to him on April 4.1915. 
 
I would like to share some photos with this web site. I will check out the members area to do that.

 

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Posted by: nghc51 () on 2011. June 17. Friday 19:29

Posted by: nghc51 on 2011. June 17. Friday 19:29

Ivan Zic (John Zitz) died December 11, 1969 in the state of New Jersey, USA at the age of 80 and is buried in Queens, NY. 
Findagrave memorial:  
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=41&GSmcid=47418269&GRid=64744121

 

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