SMS Szent István
Montecuccoli's plans for the construction of "Szent István" and her sister ships earned the approval of Emperor Franz Joseph I in January 1909, and by April plans for the design, construction, and financing for the battleships had been laid out. For a full year, the Austro-Hungarian Navy attempted to keep the looming construction of the first two battleships a state secret. This did not prevent rumors from circulating across Europe of two dreadnought battleships being constructed in Austria-Hungary. The French Naval Attaché in Vienna complained to Paris in 1910 of extensive secrecy within the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which manifested itself in several ways. Among these were a ban on photography in the Pola, future home port of "Szent István", and near-constant observation by the Austro-Hungarian police.
List of heads of government under Austrian Emperors
Franz Joseph ruled over the Austrian Empire which had a Minister-President and later a Chairman of the Ministers' Conference as head of government. Due to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 both parts of Austria-Hungary received their own heads of government; the Minister-President of Cisleithania for Cisleithania (the Austrian part of the empire) and the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary for Transleithania (the Hungarian part of the empire).