In 1904, the Austro-Hungarian Navy, after allowing the navies of other countries to pioneer submarine developments,[4] ordered the Austrian Naval Technical Committee (German: Marinetechnisches Komitee or MTK) to produce a submarine design.[5] When the Navy rejected the January 1905 MTK design and other designs submitted as part of a public competition as impracticable, they instead opted to order two submarines each of designs by Simon Lake, Germaniawerft, and John Philip Holland for a competitive evaluation.[4][Note 1]