Battle of Lissa

July 20, Adriatic Sea.

Lissa Island was an Austrian Empire naval base in the Adriatic Sea.

After Italy declared war on Austria, it urgently sought a breakthrough on the battlefield. The Italian Army's combat effectiveness was notoriously hard to put into words.

However, the routes from Venetia into Austrian territory were indeed unsuitable for large-scale marches. Moreover, the Austrian frontline commanders had previously withdrawn voluntarily from Venetia, which was difficult to defend, leaving their main forces intact. Taking advantage of the terrain, they repeatedly repelled the Kingdom of Italy's attacks.

The disadvantage in terrain did give the army an excuse to wriggle free, and this time the Italian Army escaped disaster.

Unable to break through the Austrian Empire's defenses on land, the Kingdom of Italy turned to attacking Austria at sea.

At this time, the Italian Navy was widely recognized as one of the world's strongest navies. It possessed twelve ironclads, including the new fast ships Italy and Dandolo, as well as the new turret-equipped warship Affondatore. It also had sixteen wooden-hulled steam warships.

By comparison, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had only seven ironclads, with all its remaining vessels being wooden warships.

Twelve ironclads against seven—the advantage was mine. Italian naval commander Admiral C. C. Persano decided to launch a direct attack on Lissa Island, Austria's naval base.

On June 16, an Italian squadron composed of eleven armored ships, five cruisers, and three gunboats put to sea from Ancona under Admiral Persano's command. It intended to seize Lissa Island, the Austro-Hungarian naval base, through a landing operation. The island had defensive fortifications: nine permanent works, eleven artillery batteries with a total of eighty-eight guns, and nearly three thousand defenders.

The attacks on Lissa Island on July 18 and 19 both failed. Because the Italian forces lacked essential intelligence on the island's defenders, they met Austrian resistance.

The Austro-Hungarian Army troops defending the island fought with great tenacity, using artillery to damage the Italian ironclad Powerful.

As the Italian fleet prepared to organize another attack, the Austro-Hungarian fleet arrived at dawn on July 20.

When the Italian fleet set out, Tegetthoff and his Austro-Hungarian fleet were still at the harbor of Pola, 165 nautical miles away.

When he learned that Lissa was under attack, he initially believed it was merely a feint.

He found it hard to believe that the Italians would take such a reckless action. As an amphibious attack, it had neither the chance of surprise nor prior control of the sea.

But Admiral C. C. Persano would soon make him understand that reality was often bolder than imagination.

As the Italians launched their attack in full force, Tegetthoff sailed for Lissa. Upon reaching the waters near the island, he ordered the fleet to prepare for battle. Realizing that his firepower was inferior, he chose a formation suited for charging—three V-shaped columns. The first V consisted of the seven ironclads under his command, led by the flagship Ferdinand Max.

The second V consisted of wooden-hulled fast ships and one coastal-defense ship, led by Kaiser.

He arranged the remaining small vessels into the third V-shaped column.

Meanwhile, the Italian naval commander Persano's ships had bombarded the fort batteries on Lissa's shore for two days, yet still failed to silence the eighty-eight small-caliber guns ashore, suffering heavy casualties in the Italian fleet.

One Italian ironclad had lost its ability to attack, most of the ammunition had been expended, and fuel remained for only two days.

Yet on the morning of July 20, Persano launched another attack. As he bombarded Lissa's batteries and prepared to land troops, lookouts suddenly reported that the Austro-Hungarian fleet was approaching from the northwest.

Panic-stricken, Persano hastily formed his ironclads into a column and charged past the front of the Austro-Hungarian formation.

At this critical moment, Persano actually moved his flag from Italy to Affondatore, which stood outside the battle formation, in utter panic.

As a result, a great gap opened between the three Italian warships in front and the vessels behind them.

The Austrian commander Tegetthoff seized the opportunity at once, leading the vanguard formation of ironclads through that gap, while his wooden ships charged at Persano's wooden vessels and remaining ironclads.

The battle quickly turned into a melee, with the ships' movements partly obscured by smoke. Affondatore twice tried to ram the wooden Kaiser but failed. A shell from Kaiser grazed Dandolo, but Kaiser itself caught fire under enemy gunfire and was eventually driven from the battle by Affondatore. At the same time, Austro-Hungarian naval gunfire set an Italian ironclad ablaze.

The most spectacular action of the battle was Tegetthoff's flagship ramming Italy.

As Ferdinand Max searched through the smoke of battle, it struck Italy's side, causing the Italian warship to lose steering control.

Another Austro-Hungarian warship blocked its path ahead. When it backed away, Maximilien rammed its side at full speed, making it list heavily to starboard.

As Maximilien slowly withdrew, Italy righted itself. Then, under the force of its own momentum and the tons of seawater pouring through the breach, it listed to port. As it capsized and sank, the poorly trained but high-spirited sailors aboard shouted long live their king.

The sinking of Italy ended the battle, and the Italian fleet withdrew westward. Since several Austro-Hungarian warships had been damaged and remained at a disadvantage, Tegetthoff did not pursue. In any case, he had completed his mission of relieving Lissa and returned to Austria as a national hero.

On the Italian side, Persano was relieved of his post after the war ended.

The Battle of Lissa was a great victory for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, completely lifting the siege of Lissa. In the naval battle, the Italian fleet suffered devastating losses, losing three ironclads and more than a thousand officers and sailors.

This first battle between steam-powered ironclads drew great attention. Navies around the world studied it in depth and detail, examining its tactics, armaments, and ship construction.

The role of ironclads in this naval battle drew the attention of all nations. The battle marked the transition of naval warfare from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam Ironclads.

After this battle, the Italian fleet went into retreat. Italy's defeat resulted from poor reconnaissance, no battle plan, bad communications, and Admiral Persano's indecision.

Italian sailors had not received good training, their officers lacked initiative, and their commander, Admiral C. C. Persano, seemed to know nothing at all about his own fleet.

Compared with Persano's dozen or so ironclads, Austro-Hungarian Empire had only seven ironclads, all steam-powered fast ships and relatively outdated.

Its wooden-hulled ships mainly consisted of the steam-powered Kaiser, five screw-driven fast ships, and one coastal-defense ship. Only a small portion of the guns on each wooden-hulled ship were rifled guns. In fact, Austro-Hungarian firepower was not even half of Italy's.

But their immeasurable advantage lay in their fleet commander, Rear Admiral B. von Tegetthoff. His soldiers were well trained, enterprising, and proficient in their profession—qualities the Italian commanders lacked.

Persano, the Italian commander, not only failed to value intelligence, but also lacked professional knowledge and was stubbornly arrogant.

At first, Persano ignored the order to "clear the enemy from the Adriatic Sea," merely making pointless movements of the warships at the Ancona base. During this time, he did not drill the untrained gunners.

In the end, the King of Italy issued a compulsory order: "Launch an attack against the enemy's fortresses or fleet. Any action shall be considered capable of achieving victory."

Only driven by this order did Persano make the strategic decision to seize Lissa, an Austro-Hungarian island.

In this naval battle, Rear Admiral von Tegetthoff led his fleet to support the island's defenders.

The Austro-Hungarian fleet launched a sudden attack, concentrating its fire on the ships at the center of the Italian fleet. But artillery exchanges between the armored ships proved ineffective.

Thus, the Austro-Hungarian flagship, the armored ship Archduke Ferdinand Max, rammed the Italian armored ship King of Italy, sinking it along with four hundred crewmen and deciding the outcome of the battle.

Another Italian warship, Palestro, caught fire after being hit by artillery and lost its combat capability before finally exploding.

In short, commanders of vastly different abilities produced an unexpected result: the seemingly powerful Italian Navy instead fell into rout.

Wilhelm von Tegetthoff's V-shaped tactics also became famous in a single battle alongside the Battle of Lissa.

Later, the Beiyang Fleet copied Austria's V-shaped tactics, but the result was far from satisfactory.

Of course, the Battle of the Yalu River was completely different from the Battle of Lissa. The Austrian Navy was well trained, while the Italian Navy had expanded too rapidly for its training to keep pace. At the Battle of the Yalu River, however, the poorly trained and under-supplied Beiyang Fleet faced the well-trained Imperial Japanese Navy.

Furthermore, the Austro-Hungarian fleet's ramming tactics repeatedly proved effective at the Battle of Lissa. Thus, this ancient tactic came back to life, and afterward, until the early twentieth century, warships of most nations were fitted with rams.

The naval battle of Lissa Island was the first great sea battle between steam-powered armored ships. It proved that artillery was no longer effective against armored warships. Steam-powered vessels possessed high mobility and could swiftly shift into all kinds of battle formations.

And Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, Austro-Hungarian Admiral and victor of the Battle of Lissa, became one of the greatest naval commanders of the nineteenth century.