The
Austro-Prussian War of 1866 saw Prussia and its ally Italy in a seven-week
struggle against the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian
Empire. The war left Prussia and its allies as the leading German power, while
Austria lost Venice to Italy as well as official influence over the states of
the former German Confederation. The Italians had been goaded into an alliance
with Prussia with the prize of Venice being dangled before the eyes of fervent
Italian nationalists, and Austria was forced to split its forces to safeguard
against Italian action, and the Prussians could therefore not be met with full
force. The Italians were indeed defeated at Custozza on June 24, but the
dilution of Austrian force only made the Prussian victories easier to come by. The decisive Prussian victory at Kӧniggrätz
on July 3 led to the war ending on July 22, 1866.
Although
the Austrians were losing the war, Italian nationalistic pride sought a way to
avenge the loss at Custozza, and seeking to re-acquire Venice, the Italians
decided that a maritime option would be the best to pursue. The Italian Navy
also outnumbered the Austrian by a considerable margin, and in mid-July, the
Italians ordered Count Carlo di Persano, the 60-year old commander-in-chief of
the fleet to assault the Austrian island of Lissa (today’s Vis) on the eastern
coast of the Adriatic Sea. The Italians were hoping to take Austrian territory
to be used as bargaining chips in the expected future peace negotiations. The
Austrian main fleet was located at Pola, at least one day away from Lissa.
Admiral Persano
The
island of Lissa was fortified and it was defended by 84 guns along with a
garrison of some 2,000 men, and they put up a vigorous defence, damaging the
ram Formidabile and forcing it to
return to Ancona. The Austrian Navy was alerted and promptly left Pola. When it
reached Lissa on the morning of July 20, there were seven armored and eleven
unarmored Austrian ships against twelve armored and seventeen unarmored Italian
ships. The Italian force also included the very powerful ram and turret ship Affondatore that had recently been
delivered from a shipyard in England. The scene was set for the first major
naval engagement with ironclads in European waters not even five years since
the building of the Monitor during
the American Civil War. However, far from all the vessels were ironclads, and
the battle would see Austrian wooden ships-of-the-line furiously engaging
Italian ironclads at point-blank range.
Affondatore
Neither
fleet was very well prepared, though, and both fleets were lacking in
proficiency, training and leadership. The Italian fleet in particular was
poorly trained in both maneuvering and fighting, and this had shown during the
attack on Lissa. Furthermore, Persano’s plan were both poorly conceived and not
well communicated to his subordinates. The Austrian fleet commander, 39-year
old Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, on the other hand, was aware of the limitations of
his fleet, and he had engaged his fleet in as much training as possible since
war was declared. Also, his officers and sailors were filled with great élan,
and perhaps most importantly, Tegetthoff intended to keep all plans simple. He
briefed all of his captains that he was to form his fleet into three divisions,
one of ironclads, one of wooden ships and one of minor vessels. The divisions
were to engage in wedge formations, or “double line oblique” and he was
personally to lead from his flagship Erzherzog
Ferdinand Max in the division of ironclads. Meanwhile, as the Austrian ships were spotted, Admiral Persano received
reports of unidentified ships approaching, and he ordered his force to break of
support to the landings and form a conventional line of battle with the
ironclads spread evenly throughout the line. Most importantly, he also left his
flagship Re d’Italia for Affondatore, hoping that he could lead
this potent vessel to the critical points of the upcoming battle. However, he
failed to notify most of his fleet of his shift of flag, and most of his
signals were thereby ignored as the Affondatore
took up position starboard of the Italian line of battle. It should also be
noted that the Austrian cannon were less powerful than the Italian, since
Prussia had cut off Austria from deliveries of modern breech-loaded rifled
guns. Thus the Austrian vessels were mainly armed with smoothbore muzzle loaders with
little effect on armor.[1]
Von
Tegetthoff’s signal of the day was “Ironclads will dash at the enemy and sink
him.” As the Austrian fleet approached the Italians with heavy black smoke
streaming from the funnels, the Italians had yet to complete forming a line due
to the maneuvering necessary to transfer Admiral Persano from Re d’Italia to Affondatore. The Austrian divisions poured through a gap in the
Italian line after the third ship, Ancona,
and the Re d’Italia. Three Austrians
ships turned port to engage the Italian center, while Tegetthoff himself noted
that the leading Italian ships also were tuning port to engage the Austrian
second division. Tegetthoff turned towards the Italians with his flagship Erzherzog Ferdinand Max as well as Salamander and Habsburg, but after completing his turn, Tegetthoff faced Re d’Italia and Palestro. It would be up to
the Austrian second division to face the Italian onslaught in a chaotic series
of close-range encounters in between enormous clouds of smoke from coal and
gunpowder. Ships would pass one another continually within pistol-shot, rapidly
emerging from banks of smoke and mist and giving gunners little or no time to
fire their cannon before targets were obscured again. It was well-nigh impossible
to see national ensigns, and target identification was only possible because
the Austrian ships were painted black and the Italians grey. Signaling was also
difficult if not outright impossible, but the Austrians benefited from having a
simple battle plan that really didn’t require additional signaling after the
forces were committed.
The
second Austrian division was composed of a starbord wing of four wooden ships (Graf Radetzky, Donau, Novara and Kaiser), a port wing of another four
wooden ships (Erzherzog Friedrich, Adria,
Furst Schwarzenberg, Greif, and from 5PM, Stadium). The division was led from Kaiser sailing in between the two wings, and commanded by Commodore
Anton, Freiherr von Petz.
Anton von Petz
Von Petz was born on January 24,
1819, in Untervenitze (today's Veneţia de Jos), which was located in the region
of Siebenbürgen in present-day Romania. He joined the Austrian Navy as a cadet
in 1837 after finishing the Naval College in Venice, which was part of the
Austrian Empire at the time. He was posted to the frigate Guerriera
under command of Archduke Friedrich in 1840 and he took part in actions off the
coast of Syria as part of a British-Turkish-Austrian expedition against
Muhammed Ali Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, who was engaged in a war against the
Ottoman Empire.
1842 saw von Petz appointed as the
adjutant of the commandant of the Austrian Navy, Archduke Friedrich, on board
the frigate Bellona as the Archduke traveled to England for studies. Von
Petz then spent three years as professor of mathematics at the Marine College. Anton
von Petz was then again to see combat in 1849 as 1st Lieutenant on board the Vulcan,
when the Austrian Navy took part in the naval blockade of Venice during the
First War of Italian Independence, which mainly was a war between Austria and
Sardinia. He was then in command of minor warships until he was made Director
of Fitting at the Sea Arsenal of Venice as well as adjutant to the Commander of
the Navy.
Von Petz’s ship Kaiser of 5,194 tonnes was launched on October 5, 1858, at the Marinewerke (today’s Uljanik shipyard) at
Pola. She was both the last wooden ship-of-the-line built for the Austrian Navy
and the only screw-driven ship of this type. Kaiser had a crew of some 900 sailors and officers and she was
armed with 90 guns on two decks: sixteen 60-punders, seventy-four 30-pounders
and two 24-pounders. She was rigged as a three-masted full rigged ship with an
auxiliary 2,000 horsepower steam engine. The ship was 266 feet long with a beam
of 56 feet and a draft of 24 feet. Her top speed was 12.5 knots. Following
commissioning in 1859, Kaiser became
the flagship of the Austrian Navy, but she quickly became obsolete following
the introduction of ironclads. Kaiser
served in a defensive role during the German-Danish war of 1864 as part of the
Austrian squadron in the North Sea. Following the Battle of Lissa, Kaiser was reconstructed as an ironclad
and modified to carry ten 23-pounder guns in casemate mountings. She served in
this role until 1902, when she was decommissioned, striped and renamed Bellona. She served as a hulk in Pola
until 1918.
This painting by Constantine Volanakis shows the ships locked in tight groups. The Kaiser dominates the foreground while the Re d'Italia sinks to her left
Von Petz was not one to be
intimidated as the Italians steamed towards his wooden ships, even as he saw Affondatore emerging from the dense smoke
clouds. Admiral Persano tried to ram Kaiser
twice, but as it turned out, maneuvering a large vessel in an attempt to ram is
more difficult than it seems. However, fire from the enormous 300-pounder guns
of Affondatore caused quite a bit of damage
to the Kaiser, dismounting an
upper-deck gun, wounding or killing six men at the wheel of the Kaiser, smashing the engine-room telegraph,
binnacle and other parts of the vessel. Von Petz responded with broadsides from
his damaged ship, and much damage was caused to the Affondatore’s top-hamper and deck. The proximity of the ships also
led to exchanges of small-arms fire from marines and sailors on deck and on the
tops. A third attempt to ram found Kaiser
straight ahead of Affondatore. However,
as the Affondatore steamed towards
the Austrian ship, Admiral Persano ordered the captain to veer off to avoid a
collision, perhaps out of chivalric sentiment.
A painting by Alex Kirchner featuring the Kaiser with the Ré di Portogallo behind her and Erzherzog Ferdinand Max to the left.
Von Petz had barely managed to evade
the formidable Affondatore when a new
threat emerged in the shape of the ironclad Ré
di Portogallo, which was commanded by Captain Ribotti who led Italian rear.
Ré di Portogallo, together with Maria Pia and Varese, had brought heavy fire to bear on the lead ships of von
Petz’s division. Several projectiles flew over Kaiser, hitting Novara, Erzherzog Friedrich and Kaiserin Elizabeth instead. Von Petz ordered
full speed ahead in an attempt to ram and sink Ré di Portogallo. Kaiser
did hit the Italian vessel at the beam abreast of the machinery, but at an angle.
Nevertheless, the impacts shore off most of the small boats and damaged several
gun ports as well as tearing off some sixty feet of armor. Ré di Portogallo replied with broadside from point-blank range that
tore of the bowsprit, started a fire on board as well as causing the foremast
to fall down with rigging and all into the funnel. The imperial crown from the Kasier’s figure-head was left on Ré di Portogallo’s deck. More
importantly, the steam pressure began to decrease, but Kaiser managed fire off additional rounds at the Ré di Portogallo as the Italian vessel
turned starboard, with several shot striking below her armor and with a
24-pound shell exploding on deck before the Ré
di Portogallo disappeared in the smoke. Yet, the action wasn’t over for Von
Petz as the ironclad Maria Pia loomed up at a distance of some 800
yards. Von Petz immediately engaged the enemy despite the state of his damaged
and burning ship, and as the Kaiser fired
its guns, two Italian shells burst between the decks of the Kaiser, putting part of her battery out
of action. A steam pipe was also
ruptured and the quarter deck was almost swept clean. The chief engineer informed
von Petz that the machinery no longer could be trusted, and with fire on the
port side and over the wreck of the funnel, von Petz decided to pull away in
attempt to reach the harbor of San Giorgio di Lissa. Several other ships of von
Petz’s division had also been damaged by the Italian ironclads, but the rear of
the Italian line had unexpectedly been held in check by von Petz’s wooden
ships.
Eduard Nezbeda's painting of the Kasier ramming the Ré di Portogallo.
While von Petz and his division
battled the Italians, the Austrian ironclads were fully engaged with their
counterparts. Erzherzog Ferdinand Max rammed Re d'Italia and Palestro.
Striking both ships with glancing blows, Tegetthoff inflicted enough damage to
sink Palestro. Returning to Re d'Italia, Erzherzog Ferdinand
Max pounded the Italian ship with gunfire before ramming it. Opening an
18-foot hole, the ramming attack sent the Italian ship to the bottom. Following
these dramatic actions, Admiral Persano chose to withdraw with his fleet.
Aftermath
The Battle of Lissa was the first
time two fleets of ironclads met in battle and it was also the last time the
ram was used effectively in battle. The Italians lost two ironclads as well as 620
dead and 20 wounded. Several Austrian ships were damaged in the battle,
although the casualties were limited to 38 killed and 138 wounded. The battle
did demonstrate many of the challenges of the ironclad era, for example how to
handle machinery and steering gear, what formation to fight in, and how to
communicate. Also, the Battle of Lissa serves as an excellent example of the importance
of establishing and maintaining the Aim, as demonstrated by Tegetthoff and his
simple and direct plan.
Admiral Persano returned to Italy
and a court-martial for cowardice. He was found guilty of negligence and incapacity,
stripped of his rank and forced to leave the Italian Navy. However, Austria was
forced to cede Venice to Italy, although the Austrian victory at the Battle of
Lissa probably did prevent additional loss of territory along the Dalmatian
coast.
The Battle of Lissa did show that
the ram could be of use in an era when armor was superior to guns, and rams came
in vogue in shipbuilding around the world for several decades after the battle.
Ramming as a tactic also pointed out the necessity of being able to fire the
main armament over the prow of a vessel. Various solutions with central
batteries and prow-mounted heavy guns were tried out over the next decade, and
these experiments led up to the turreted men-of-war that emerged during the
late 1800s.
Commodore von Petz was one of the
celebrated victors of Lissa. He was awarded the Maria-Theresia-Orden on August 29, 1866 and promoted to Rear
Admiral. Von Petz then went on to serve as commandant of the Fiume Naval Academy
between October 1866 and September 1867. He was subsequently made the deputy Harbor
Admiral of Pula before taking command of an expedition to Siam, China, Japan and
South America between 1869 and 1871 with the frigate Donau and the corvette Erzherzog
Friedrich. Von Petz was eventually promoted to Vice Admiral and commander
of the Trieste Naval Region. He died on May 7, 1885, and he is buried at the
Trieste military cemetery together with his wife, Elisabeth von Petz (neé von Narischkine).
Kaiser immediately after the Battle of Lissa. Note the missing funnel and foremast.
Sources
Sir William Laird Clowes. Four
moderns naval campaigns. January 1902.
R. G. Grant. Battle at Sea: 3,000
years of Naval Warfare.
Richard Hill. War at Sea in the
Ironclad Age. London: Cassel, 2000.
Donald Macintyre and Basil W. Bathe.
Örlogsfartyg genom seklen. Gӧteborg: Wahlstrӧm & Widstrand, 1968
Lincoln P. Paine. Warships of the World to 1900.
Lawrence Sondhaus. The Naval Policy
of Austria-Hungary, 1867-1918. United
States Naval Institute. Proceedings, January 1901.
<biographien.ac.at/oebl_8/14.pdf>
[1]
The situation was often reversed in the land battles with the Austrian army
having modern artillery and the Prussians older pieces.
