Battle of Lissa ( 1866 ) The Battle of Lissa ( sometimes called " Battle of Vis " ) took place on 20 July 1866 in the Adriatic Sea near the Dalmatian island of Lissa ( " Vis " in Croatian ) and was a decisive victory for an outnumbered Austrian Empire force over a numerically superior Italian force . It was the first major sea battle between ironclads and one of the last to involve deliberate ramming . The Italian navy fired roughly 1450 shots during the engagement , but failed to do any serious damage to any Austrian ship while losing two battleships . One of the main reasons for this poor performance was internal rivalry between the Italian fleet commanders : for example , Italian Vice Admiral Albini , with his group of ships , did not participate in the battle . The engagement was made up of several small battles : the main battle was between seven Austrian and four Italian ironclads and showed the ability of Austrian commander Tegetthoff to divide his more numerous opponents and then destroy the isolated ironclads . Historical situation . The battle occurred as part of the Third Italian Independence War , in which Italy allied with Prussia in the course of the conflict against Austria . The major Italian objective was to capture Venice and at least part of the former Venetian territory from Austria . The fleets were composed of a mix of unarmoured sailing ships with steam engines , and armoured ironclad s also combining sails and steam engines . The Italian fleet of 12 ironclads and 17 unarmoured ships outnumbered the Austrian fleet of 7 and 11 respectively . The Austrians were also severely outmatched in rifled guns ( 276 to 121 ) and total weight of metal ( 53 , 236 tons to 23 , 538 tons ) . A single turret ship took part in the action — the Italian " Affondatore " . Piedmontese Count Carlo di Persano ( 60 years old ) commanded the Italian fleet , while the Austrian fleet was commanded by " Konteradmiral " Wilhelm von Tegetthoff ( 39 years old ) . The Fort of Lissa was put under the authority of the " Oberst " David Urs de Margina , Romanian of Transylvania . Plans for the battle . The Italian fleet under Persano was divided into 3 divisions : Persano commanded the main battle force with 9 ironclads ; his deputy , Albini , commanded a " support " division ( engaged mainly in landings ) ; and Admiral Vacca commanded a third " reserve " division with minor wooden ships . The attacking Austrian fleet was also split into 3 divisions . The 1st Division consisted of the armoured ships , while the 2nd consisted of the powerful but obsolete unarmoured wooden ship of the line and 5 frigates . The 3rd Division consisted of the smaller screw gunboats and armed merchantmen . The armed merchant cruiser " Stadion " was ahead of the fleet acting as a scout . The three Austrian divisions were formed up into three consecutive arrowhead or " V " formations ; the armoured 1st division under Tegetthoff was in the van , the weaker gunboats and paddle steamers of the 3rd division to the rear , while the powerful but unarmoured vessels of " Kommodor " Petz ' s 2nd division were in the centre . The Austrian plan , due to their weaker firepower , was to close quickly into a melée , and to use close range fire and ramming to sink a small portion of the Italian fleet , thereby breaking the Italian will to fight . The Italians , despite their numerical superiority , were not prepared for battle . They were busy preparing for landings on the island of Vis ( Lissa ) when the news that the Austrian fleet was at sea and seeking battle reached them . Persano cancelled the landings , ordered the fleet into line abreast but having second thoughts , cancelled that order ( creating confusion among the Italian commanders ) and ordered the fleet into 3 divisions in a line ahead formation , the same formation as at battles in the age of sail . The 1st division in the vanguard consisted of " Principe di Carignano " , " Castelfidardo " and " Ancona " under Admiral Vacca , Captain 1st Class Faà di Bruno ' s 2nd division in the centre consisted of , " Palestro " and " San Martino " , and the 3rd division to the rear had the , " Regina Maria Pia " and , at the extreme rear , " Varese " under Captain Augusto Riboty . In total , the Italians had 11 ironclad s in the battle line . The other ( wooden ) ships were dispersed into the battleline . The exception was , which was on the far side of the 2nd squadron and out of the battleline . Persano may have intended this to be an uncommitted reserve . Before the battle Persano caused more confusion by deciding to transfer his flag to the " Affondatore " and the 2nd and 3rd Divisions slowed to allow " Re dItalia " to lower her boats . However the signal to slow down never reached the 1st Division and they continued to steam on , allowing a gap to open in the Italian battle line . To compound the error Persano never signaled the change of flag , and throughout the action the Italians continued to look to the old flagship " Re dItalia " for orders rather than " Affondatore " . Engagement . Having ignored warnings from his pickets of suspicious ships in sight , Persano had effectively allowed the Austrians to ambush his force while it was still forming . Tegetthoff , seeing a gap opening between the 1st and 2nd Divisions , forced his fleet into it and concentrated on raking the Italians and ramming . This meant that he allowed his T to be crossed . While the Austrians were approaching , Vacca ' s 1st Italian Division threw a heavy weight of fire at them . The Austrians could only reply with their chase guns . Because Persano was in the process of transferring his flag , no general order was given . The 2nd and 3rd Divisions did not join in and the Austrians crossed the killing area , suffering some serious damage but no ships were lost . " Drache " on the extreme right ( starboard ) wing of the Austrian 1st Division was hit 17 times by heavy shells , losing her mainmast and temporarily losing propulsion . Her captain , von Moll , was decapitated by a heavy shell , but his subordinate , Karl Weyprecht , brought the ship back into the fight . By 10 : 43 am the Austrians had brought the Italian van to close action . , and on the Austrian ' s left wing had engaged the Italian 1st Division , while the right wing of , and engaged the Italian 2nd Division . Persano , now on the most powerful warship in either fleet , " Affondatore " , stayed clear of the engagement . With the confusion in the Italian van , " Kommodor " von Petz took the opportunity to take his 2nd Division to the Italian rear and fall on their 3rd Division . The unarmoured wooden ships of the Austrian 2nd Division were facing modern ironclads armed with heavy guns , yet despite suffering heavy fire they held together . The screw frigate was hit 47 times , and her captain , Erik af Klint , was killed . was hit by a heavy shell below the waterline but still remained afloat , while was disabled by heavy Italian fire and set adrift . Ramming attacks . Seeing things going badly , Persano found the courage to throw himself into battle , deciding to ram the unarmoured screw battleship " Kaiser " rather than one of the armoured ships engaged with the Italian 2nd Division much nearer him . However , " Kaiser " managed to dodge " Affondatore " . Taking heart from his admiral , the captain of " Re di Portogallo " decided to hurl his ship at " Kaiser " , maintaining a heavy fire with her rifled guns as he did so . At the last moment , von Petz turned the tables on her and turned into the ram , in effect conducting a counter ram . The impact tore off " Kaiser " s stem and bowsprit , leaving her figurehead embedded in " Re di Portogallo " . The Italian used the opportunity to rake " Kaiser " with fire , putting her mainmast and funnel into the sea . The smoke was so great that as they backed off for another ram they lost sight of each other and ended the duel . At roughly the same time , Tegetthoff threw his flagship " Erzherzog Ferdinand Max " ( commanded by Maximilian Daublebsky von Sterneck ) at first at the former Italian flagship , " Re d ' Italia " , and then at " Palestro " . In both cases he scored only glancing blows , but these caused serious damage , especially to " Palestro " , which was dismasted and set afire . " Palestro " s captain , Cappellini , told his men that they could abandon ship but he would stay , and pulled his ship out of the line . His crew refused to leave their Captain and " Palestro " finally blew up and sank at 2 . 30pm , with only 19 survivors out of the ship ' s complement of 230 . Meanwhile " Erzherzog Ferdinand Max " was circling Faà di Bruno ' s , pouring on fire before surging forward and achieving a good impact with her ram , aided by the Italian ship having reversed her screws ( in a poorly thought - out attempt to avoid crossing the Austrian ' s bows ) at the crucial moment . This put an 18 foot hole below the Italians ' waterline , and the Italian ship struck her colours and sank two minutes later . According to legend , her Captain shot himself after giving the order to strike the colours . As the " Erzherzog Ferdinand Max " limped away , damaged after conducting three ramming attacks , the " Ancona " closed on her attempting to ram . The Italian gunners got a full broadside off at point blank range , but while they had remembered the gunpowder , in the excitement they had forgotten to load the shot . After his encounter with " Re di Portogallo " earlier in the battle and having fought his way clear of " Maria Pia " , " Kommodor " von Petz ' s " Kaiser " found itself at close range with " Affondatore " . Despite being a perfect target for a ram , " Kaiser " survived when Persano ordered " Affondatore " to turn away . Tegetthoff ' s victory was saluted by his mariners - mainly Croats and a few Venetian - with the traditional Venetian cry of victory : " Viva San Marco ! " ( " Hurrah with Saint Mark ! " ) . In fact , Tegetthoff had his naval training in Venice and was a fluent speaker of Venetian , the most used language in the fleet . During the battle he gave his orders in that language . The official name of the imperial navy had been " Oesterreich - Venezianische Marine " ( Austrian - Venetian Navy ) until 1849 . Of the 7 , 871 sailors on the Austrian ships , around 5 , 000 were Croats . Members of the crew coming from Italian families of Venetia , Istria and Dalmatia gave no signs of irredentism , and national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi became very angry when he understood that some Venetian people had shown no desire to become part of the Italian state . Later he admitted those crew members were bound to their military orders and duty . In Italy , the outrage over the loss of two ironclads was huge and Persano after the battle was forced to resign with dishonor , together with Albini ( whose ships only participated in landings and never fired a shot against the Austrian ships ) . Aftermath . " Kaiser " s encounter with " Affondatore " was the last major action of the battle . With two armoured ships sunk , the Italians withdrew , although there would be some exchange of long range fire for several hours . Incidentally , this was the first and last time " Affondatore " saw action until her scrapping in 1907 . Persano returned and announced a victory , causing much initial celebration until the real outcome of the battle was publicized . He was forced to appear in front of the Italian Senate , which had the power to prosecute its members ( such as Persano ) , and was dismissed from the navy for incapacity and alleged cowardice . Tegetthoff returned home a hero , was promoted " Vizeadmiral " , and is considered one of the greatest naval commanders in Austrian history . The engagement had no impact on the outcome of the war , as the Italian defeat was overshadowed by the crushing Prussian victory over the Austrian Army at Königgrätz . Austria , humbled by Prussia and bullied by Napoleon III of France , agreed to cede Venetia to Italy despite the overall failure of the Italian war effort . The French Emperor ' s ironic comment about Italian leaders became historic : " " Another defeat , and they will ask me for Paris ! " " However , Tegetthoff ' s efforts were instrumental in preventing the Italians from annexing some of the Dalmatian islands , which were once part of the Republic of Venice . The importance of ramming in the battle led to naval designers , over the next 50 years , equipping future warships ( especially battleships and cruisers ) with ram bows . This aggravated a number of incidents of ships being sunk by their squadron - mates in accidental collisions . Ramming never featured as a viable battle tactic again . The fixation on ramming may also have inhibited the development of gunnery . Modern commentators now take the view that Lissa occurred during a period of weapons development when armour was considerably stronger than the guns available to defeat it . This was compounded , on the Italian side , by poor gunnery and , on the Austrian side , by the fact that a number of their ships ( including " Ferdinand Max " ) had been forced to go into battle without their full armament owing to the Prussian embargo . " Kaiser " , remarkably , reported herself fit for action the morning after the battle . She was converted into an ironclad in 1869 - 1873 and remained in commission until she was renamed " Bellona " and hulked in 1902 . Her feat in willingly engaging four ironclads at short range while an unarmored , wooden ship appears to be unprecedented and was never emulated . Order of battle . Note : Awaiting confirmation of some details and the names of all the Italian gunboats . Vessels are ranked by fighting power ( most powerful first ) . Namesakes . , an Austro - Hungarian broadside ironclad , was launched in 1869 and named in honor of the battle of Lissa . She was scrapped between 1893 and 1895 . Alfredo Cappellini of " Palestro " was the namesake of an Italian armored gunboat launched in 1868 and a Italian monitor Alfredo Cappellini launched in 1915 . Faà di Bruno of " Re d ' Italia " was the namesake of an Italian armored gunboat launched in 1868 and a monitor launched in 1916 . During World War II , an Italian submarine with his name was sunk in 1940 near Scotland . Augusto Riboty of " Varese " was the namesake of an Italian destroyer leader launched in 1916 ( and which survived both world wars , finally being scrapped in 1951 ) . " Vizeadmiral " von Tegetthoff was the namesake of an Austro - Hungarian center battery ironclad launched in 1878 , a class of dreadnought battleships and the lead vessel of that class , launched in 1912 . Ironically , at the end of World War I , the latter ship was given to the Italian Royal Navy , which in 1924 - 25 scrapped the ship that bore the name of the man who had defeated it in its first battle .