Battle of Cer On 28 June 1914, Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. The assassination precipitated the July Crisis, which led Austria-Hungary to issue an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July on suspicion that the assassination had been planned in Belgrade. The Austro-Hungarian government made the ultimatum intentionally unacceptable to Serbia, and it was indeed rejected. The Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia on 28 July and that same day the Serbs destroyed all bridges on the Sava and Danube rivers in order to prevent the Austro-Hungarians from using them during any future invasion. Belgrade was shelled
SMS Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand of these dreadnoughts, the navy shifted "Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand" and her sisters to the 2nd Division of the 1st Battle Squadron. The ship was named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination on 28 June 1914 triggered World War I. At that time, the battleships in the Austro-Hungarian Navy consisted of the "Radetzky" class, the "Tegetthoff" class, and the older and es. Along with the remainder of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, "Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand" was mobilized in late July 1914 to support the flight of and . The two German ships broke out of Messina, which was surrounded by the British navy,