To reinforce their Prussian allies and break the blockade, the Austrians assembled a powerful squadron, which equaled the Danish fleet, and ordered it to steam from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea to break the blockade. The squadron was to comprise the ship-of-the-line , the armored frigates and , the screw frigates and , the screw corvette , the sidewheel gunboats and , and the gunboats and . Initially, only the Austrian Levant Squadron, commanded by Commodore Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, was ready and so those ships were ordered north in advance of the rest of the squadron. The Levant Squadron, centered on "Schwarzenberg" and "Radetzky" arrived in the North Sea on 1 May; Tegetthoff's other two vessels, the corvette and the gunboat "Seehund", were unavailable due to boiler trouble and a grounding, respectively. The Austrian and Prussian squadrons rendezvoused in Texel, the Netherlands, and Tegetthoff added "Preussischer Adler", "Blitz", and "Basilisk" to his force. Tegetthoff took his flotilla to attack the Danish North Sea Squadron.