I am looking for a naval officer or a sailor of the Imperial-Royal or Imperial and Royal (Austro-Hungarian) Navy

We hold personnel files of members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy born before 1865 and of those born after 1865 but within the borders of present-day Austria some of which can already be searched online.

(Clicking on the link will take you to the relevant catalogue entry. Clicking on the ‘Localize in archive plan’ tab will take you from the detailed view to the overview plan. In the overview, clicking on the ‘+’ symbol takes you to the sub-sections, whilst double-clicking on entries takes you back to the detailed view.)

All items can also be searched for by name online using our field search. To do this, set the drop-down menu in the ‘Title’ field on the first line to ‘contains’ and enter your search term in the text box next to it. Then, in the second row under “Ref. code”, set the drop-down menu to “contains” and enter the abbreviation “AT-OeStA/KA Marine NMA Pers” in the text field. Then click on the “Search” button at the bottom. If you have found any results, you can view further details by clicking on the name. These include the reference number and the title.

If you wish to order these documents for viewing in the research room in 1030 Vienna, please send an e-mail to ka@oesta.gv.at, stating the reference number and title.

After the break-up of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1918 files of navy personnel born after 1865 and whose place of birth/”Heimatzuständigkeit” was now in another successor-state had either never been in Vienna or were handed over to the successor-state concerned. The Kriegsarchiv therefore does not hold personnel files for these individuals.

The admirals of the Austrian Empire (1804-1867) and of Austria-Hungary (1867-1918) are well covered by Antonio Schmidt-Brentano, Die österreichischen Admirale, 3 vols. (Osnabrück/Düsseldorf 1997–2005).

Please note: We do not hold personnel files of civilian shipping staff or registers of emigrants to the New World.