a blockade of the coast of Montenegro. Eight days later, Zenta sortied again, now in company with the destroyer to patrol the blockade line off Teodo. The same day, the main French fleet, the 1er Armée Navale (1st Naval Army) under Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère's command, entered the southern Adriatic to search for the Austro-Hungarian fleet. Battle of Antivari At around 08:30, lookouts in the French fleet spotted smoke on the horizon as they steamed north, prompting Boué de Lapeyrère to turn his ships to investigate. The Austro-Hungarians had in turn spotted the approaching French fleet, and so moved closer to shore to flee north, hoping the coastline would obscure them. At 09:03, the French fleet encountered Zenta and Ulan off the coast of Montenegro and opened fire, though Boué de Lapeyrère initially ordered his battleships to fire warning shots, but this caused confusion among the fleet's gunners. Zenta, commanded by Paul Pachner, turned to engage the French while Ulan fled to the north at high speed. Zenta came under a hail of French gunfire, though the sheer volume hampered French gunnery, as it was impossible to determine each ships' fall of shot. Zenta fired her 12 cm guns, though they fell some short, and would not have inflicted damage on the heavily armored battleships in any event. The slower Zenta attempted to evade French gunfire, but she quickly received several hits that disabled her engines and set her on fire by about 09:12. At 09:20, Boué de Lapeyrère ordered his ships to cease fire, by which time Zenta was burning badly and settling by the stern. By 09:30, Zentas bow lurched upward at an angle of 45 degrees and quickly sank around off the coast of Castellastua, her flags still flying. Her crew suffered heavy casualties in the battle, with 173 men killed, though 139, including Pachner, managed to swim to shore. The French failed to pick up survivors, as Boué de Lapeyrère assumed that Zentas boats could pick them up, or they could swim to shore. They were captured by Montenegrin forces and imprisoned as prisoners of war in Podgorica. By early 1916, the Austro-Hungarian Army had defeated Montenegro and the survivors from Zenta were freed. Ulan, meanwhile, successfully fled north, having been pursued by the French destroyer screen and the armored cruiser . Notes References Further reading Zenta-class cruisers Ships built in Pola 1897 ships World