At the outbreak of hostilities, the Austro-Hungarian Army expected to sweep down through Serbia. Although this was thought likely to be a move which would be relatively straight forward, it was recognised that there might be high casualty levels, and so a number of liners were requisitioned for medical evavuations:
 

28 Jul 1914	Baron Call	Lloyd Austriaco	3104t	Spitalschiff I (a)
	Africa	Lloyd Austriaco	4921t

Neither ship appears to have actually been used as a hospital ship - Baron Call was used briefly to carry food supplies until returned to her owners on 25 Aug 1914; Africa was retained as Dampfer X for other duties. The Army also purchased the tender Lissa from the Triest Maritime Authority for moving injured soldiers within the Bocche di Cattaro (Bay of today’s Kotor, now in Montenegro).

Shortly, however, further requisitions were made:
 

17 Aug 1914	Elektra	Lloyd Austriaco	3199t	Spitalschiff I (b)
	Metkovich	Lloyd Austriaco	880t	Spitalschiff II
	Tirol	Lloyd Austriaco	2923t	Spitalschiff III

These three vessels were returned to their owner on 16 Nov 1914, 14 Nov 1914 and 24 Dec 1914 respectively. A total of 742 soldiers were transported by them during 1914.

During 1915 there was no medevac traffic and it was not until January of the following year, when the Austro-Hungarian army began a new and successful invasion of Montenegro, and broke through to the Albanian coast in pursuit of the retreating Serbian army, that the use of hospital ships was resumed:
 

04 Jan 1916	Tirol	Rehired and fitted out at Fiume
08 Jan 1916	Elektra	Rehired and fitted out at Fiume

On 27 Feb 1916 Durazzo (today’s Durrës) fell to Austro-Hungarian troops and the harbour finally became available for Austro-Hungarian use. It remained in Austro-Hungarian hands until the final month of the war.
 

16 or 26 Feb 1916	Wien	Requisitioned from Lloyd Austriaco. (Damaged 29 Jun 1916 and returned to her owner) 7367t
End of Feb 1916	Africa	Reassigned as hospital ship again
20 Oct 1916	Graf Wurmbrand	Requisitioned from Tripcovich; ex-Lloyd Austriaco. Spitalschiff IV 952t
? ? 1916	Helouan	Hired briefly from Lloyd Austriaco but not used 7367t
? ? 1916	Metkovich	Rehired

Two further tenders were requisitioned for use transporting injured soldiers within the Bocche di Cattaro - Tivat (48t) from T Radanicich in 1916 and Szamos (138t) from Ungaro-Croata in 1917. This reflected the growing numbers of wounded who had to be evacuated from Albania. Numbers transported for the last three years of the war were:
 

1916 12,388

1917 60,287

1918 55,345

This build-up meant further requisitioning of liners:
 

? ? 1917	Baron Call	Again assigned as hospital ship and on this occasion converted for that use.
? Apr 1918	Argentina	Requisitioned from Austro-Americana. Spitalschiff VI. 5526t
? May 1918	Oceania	Requisitioned from Austro-Americana; ready for use by 18 Aug 1918 as Spitalschiff V. 5497t
? ? 1918	Sofia Hohenberg	Reassigned as a stationary hospital ship in the Bocche. ex-Austro-Americana. 5501t

The latter choice for use a hospital ship was perhaps unfortunate - she had been in use since 1914 as a frozen meat depot at Castelnuovo!

It should be noted that attacks on hospital ships did take place:
 

Elektra	Torpedoed by French submarine Ampère off Cape Plalanka 18 Mar 1916; out of service until early Sep 1916; returned to her owner 04 Dec 1916
Metkovich	Bombed by Italian aircraft at San Giovanni di Medua 16 or 18 Mar 1918; damage not repaired until after the war.
Oceania	Mined between Cape Rodoni and Durazzo 04 Oct 1918 and then attacked by enemy aircraft. Destroyed 15 Oct 1918.
Tirol	Mined off Durazzo 16 Apr 1916; 40 lost. Returned to service 07 Oct 1916

All the ships noted above were requisitions for the transport of soldiers, and operated under the Red Cross flag. The Kriegsmarine designated one single ship from the fleet as a hospital ship - Miramar, a paddle steamer of 1830t which had been the royal yacht during peacetime.
 
 

ADRIATIC

Naval Ship

Requisitioned Tenders

DANUBE FLOTILLA

Requisitioned by Army
 

Elisabeth

Melk

Sophie

Szechnyi

Zsofia Hercegnö

    Barges I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI and XII