Background
Anton Haus was born in Tolmein, Slovakia, on June 13, 1851, the son of a tavern owner.
Anton Haus was born in Tolmein, Slovakia, on June 13, 1851, the son of a tavern owner.
Haus originally wanted to study natural science, but owing to financial stringency instead entered the navy in 1869. A master of six languages, he taught oceanography for four years at the Naval Academy in Fiume; in 1890-1892 he sailed around the world on the Saida.
Thereafter, Haus was assigned to the torpedo service and in 1901 as captain took part in the expedition to quell the so-called Boxer Rebellion in China on board the cruiser Maria Theresia. For the next three years he served in the Naval Section of the War Ministry, and in 1902 befriended the heir presumptive, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, an ardent supporter of a modern battle fleet. Rear Admiral Haus represented the Dual Monarchy at the Second Peace Conference at The Hague in 1907, and for the next three years commanded the Active Fleet; he was promoted vice admiral in 1911 and one year later the special post of inspector of the navy was created for him. Upon the retirement of Admiral Rudolf von Montecuccoli in February 1913, Haus was promoted full admiral and appointed head of the navy as well as chief of the Naval Section. He abandoned Vienna in favor of Pola on the Adriatic Sea in order to be closer to the fleet.
At the outbreak of the war, Haus made the fateful mistake of halting all ship construction and releasing highly skilled workers to the army, since he felt, along with so many others, that the war would not last long. The admiral concentrated his forces at Pola and saw his primary objective as the blockade of the Montenegrin coast. When Italy declared war against Austria-Hungary, however, Haus on May 24, 1915, ordered a raid on the eastern seaboard of Italy from north of the Po River as far south as Ancona. A flotilla including ten capital ships shelled the Italian coast from Barletta to Rimini, catching the Italians completely off guard and delaying the assembly and transport of ground forces in Venetia for several weeks. In May 1916, Haus was promoted grand admiral the only officer of the Austro-Hungarian navy ever to reach that grade.
Haus was initially opposed to the concept of German unrestricted submarine warfare, but in time came to champion this new weapon of guerre de course. At the crown council on January 20, 1917, he was the only high-ranking government official save General Conrad von Hötzendorf to support unconditionally Germany's decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare.
Lung disease cut short his career; the grand admiral died on board the dreadnought Viribus Unitis on February 8, 1917. Haus had several times rejected offers of ennoblement.