The battle of Lissa
Austria's Naval victory impacts naval design and an Alien invasion.
When you think of nations who have had a major impact on naval history and design I am 100% certain that Austria would not be on the list but here we are, Austria almost single handedly changed Naval planning with one battle.
The battle of Lissa, possibly Austria’s greatest naval victory, is probably one that has slipped past many people and was fought as part of the third Italian War of Independence on the 20th July 1866 of the island of Lissa. Both fleets boasted ironclads and armoured frigates but the Italians had more of the former and so had the technological edge - or at least on paper.
Italy was aiming to take Venice and its hinterland but first they have dispatched a force to take the island of Lissa back from Austria. The Italian fleet consisted of twelve ironclads and seventeen unarmoured vessels and this would be faced by an Austrian force consisting of seven ironclads and eleven unarmoured. The fleet battle would really be a battle of technological transition between sail and steam as well as iron and wood. The most modern vessel involved was the Italian turret ship Affondatoro which had been built in London in 1863-5 and armed with two 300 pounder gun turrets over the traditional broadside mounted guns. The Royal Navy only commissioned the construction of their first, HMS Prince Albert in 1862 whilst the Royal Sovereign (1857) had been converted in 1865.
If an engagement was to be had between the two navies then any battle would be watched with great interest by the Naval planners and Admiralties of the other European powers to see what did and didn’t work.
The Italian force under Count Carlo di Persano, was in three divisions with Giovan Battista Albini commanding the support division and Giovanni Vacca commanding the optimistically named Reserve division of miscellaneous wooden vessels that would be used to take the fort on the island.
Konteradmiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff’s fleet, preceeded by the armed merchant Stadion, was similarly sub divided into three divisions with the Austrian ironclads in the First Division, the Second (under Komodor Petz) was led by the Ship of the line SMS Kaiser consisted of five wooden frigates whilst the reserve squadron was made up of ar ed merchant ships and screw driven gunboats. All three divisions were in consecutive arrow heads led by the iron clads followed by Kaiser and the frigates and the reserves in the rear.
Knowing that they were out classed, out numbered and out gunned von Tegetthoff wanted to close with the Italians as quickly as possible and engage in a melee where they could engage with guns and rams.
With Persano’s force preoccupied with landings on the island and oblivious to the fact the Austrian fleet was at sea until 20th July. Persano quickly cancelled the landings and redeployed his force into line astern. This was quickly cancelled in favour of organising the three divisions into line ahead which caused confusion for his subordinates. The Ironclads were organised into a long line (see map) with the Affondatore set behind the line and the wooden ships dispersed amongst the ironclads.
Persano then decided to move flagship from the Re d’Italia to the Affondatore before the Austrians arrived which not only caused the second and third divisions to slow down so boats could be lowered but also many of the fleet didn’t know he had moved ship so were looking to the wrong vessel for signals. Picket ships reported the approach of unknown ships but this was also ignored and when Tegetthoff arrived he caught the Italians in mid set up with a gap forming between Re d’Italia and Ancona.
As the Austrians approached the Italian 1st division ( Principe di Carignano, Castelfidaro and Ancona.) began firing on the approaching Austirans with their broadsides and the Austrians only able to reply with their fore “chaser” guns but the rest of the Italian fleet did not fire. That said the Austrians were hit seventeen time with the ironclad Drache taking heavy fire, her main mast was shot away, Captain Heinrich von Moll was killed and the vessel began to lose propulsion.
The Austrians pressed on.
The Austrian left, SMS Kaiser Max, Salamander and Habsburg engage the Italian 1st Division whilst their right wing, SMS Don Juan d’Austria, Drache and Prinz Eugen attack the Italian second division.
The Affondatore is not yet engaged and clear of the battle.
Komodor von Petz takes his Second division of frigates and the Kaiser to attack the Italian third division in the rear hoping to dominate the smaller unarmoured wooden ships but it meant going through the Ironclads first. Heavy fire was poured on them, Novara was hit forty seven times and her captain, Erik af Klint was killed, the Erzherzog Friedrich was hit below the water line and the Schwarzenberg disabled and adrift.
Pesano saw the unarmoured Kaiser and decided to ram her even though there were nearer ships. As the Italian flagship approached the Kaiser managed to evade her but was raked by fire from the Re di Portogallo whose rifled guns but von Petz did something very unexpected. The wooden ship of the line rammed the ironclad with such force that the Kaiser’s figurehead was left embedded in the ironclad whilst the stem and bowsprit are ripped away and the Italian ship rakes their decks with fire taking the Kaiser’s mainmast and funnel sending up large billowing black smoke and as the two ships backed off from each other they lost sight of each other.
The Erzherzog Ferdinand Max, the Austrian flagship, attacks the Re d’Italia before passing on to the Palestro but only scored glancing hits on the two ironclads though Palestro was left aflame and dismasted. As Palastro’s Captain pulled out of line and his men refused to leave without him the fire reached the magazine and the vessel exploded with 211 of 230 men killed.
Erzherzog Ferdinand Max then moves on to the Re d’Italia and engages with heavy fire before ramming and causing an eighteen foot gash below the waterline. Striking her colours the Italian vessel went down within two minutes. The Ancona then attacked von Tegetthoff’s flagship and gave the Austrian a full broadside however they had forgotten to load the guns with shells (only the gunpowder) much to the Austrian’s relief.
The Kaiser found itself the target of Affondatore but survived only by the Italian turning away. Persano ordered his subordinates to engage the Austrians but Admirals Vacca and Albini ignored him.
The Italians were spent.
Morale was gone, fuel and ammunition was low and Persano withdrew whilst the Austrian fleet moved into the harbour at Lissa.
Persano claimed victory but after a short lived celebration this became obvious to be too optimistic and he was removed from command and judged “incompetent” by the Italian senate whilst his subordinates Albini and Vacca were removed from command and retired respectively. Tegetthoff was hailed a hero (he later had a class of dreadnoughts named after him) and it stopped Italy’s dream of gaining the old Venetian dalmatian islands but it was not enough to help Austria in the War as Prussia defeated the army at Koniggratz and the war ended with Italy regaining Venetia.
So how does this battle go on to affect the world of naval design?
The battle had involved eight ramming incidents and the idea of the ram bow was now so much more prominent.
It is true that the French had already been looking into this twenty years before hand and that similar ramming took place during the Civil war with the Confederate CSS Virginia ramming the Cumberland in 1862. This was mainly done because gunnery during the period was lacking behind the armour of the vessels so new ways were needed to sink an enemy vessel and the USN ramships that fought against the Confederacy during the First Battle of Memphis on 6th June 1862 which saw several vessels rammed and sunk including the CSS General Beauregard.
Lissa was the main European example though.
Designing a warship to have a ram did not necessarily effect the cost or handling qualities and it provided an edge during battles which were often fought in close quarters anyway. Moreover it was impossible to armour a warship below the waterline easily so a solid hit below that point meant the vessel would be doomed. Further to that it was cheaper to build a force of small fast ships with rams than great hulking battleships.
What was the design alternative to the ram bow?
The turret mounted guns were the natural evolution of Naval gunnery. The move towards guns in casemates on the deck rather than broadside mounted guns meant you could have fewer but heavier guns able to fire on either side as well as forward (or back depending on position) but there are draw backs. It is noted during the Crimean War that the ship’s guns can be quite vulnerable to incoming fire and Captain Cowper Coles comes up with two suggestions; a lower freeboard making ships harder to hit and armoured turrets. This latter dea starts to gain traction especially when a mock up is put in on the armoured battery Trusty.
New ships are being built by the Royal Navy
like Prince Albert with two 12.5 ton turrets with the heaviest guns available, four 9” rifled muzzle loaded guns. The turrets were hand turned and it would take eighteen men a minute to turn it full circle. There were handling issues due to her low free board and weight of guns and extended ocean travel and rough waters were not great at this stage in ship evolution but as a coastal defence ship she was perfect.
Though she was vulnerable to fast moving ram ships…
So to keep a long story short, through the nineteenth century you get the evolution of gunnery (and turrets) as well as maintaining ram bows because they have been seen to work and gunnery still needs proving.
Gunnery did get better and soon British guns were a match for armour but that and the sad fate of HMS Captain is a tale for another day.
Ram bows did, however cause the sinking of another battleship, HMS Victoria with the loss of some 358 men. The accident occurred during manoeuvres in the Mediterranean in 1893 when HMS Camperdown collided with Admiral Tyron’s flagship. The ram bow cut a sizable hole in Victoria and she quickly sank. This proved the effectiveness of the bow yet again but…
Another tragedy was that of SS Utopia which was sunk after accidentally colliding with the battleship Anson in 1898 killing 562. I’ve spoke about it before but the damage to the Olympic caused by the Hawke was also due to the ram bow.
By the First World War though gunnery had won out and ramming was seen as a last ditch rather than primary attack method. The bows were mostly removed by this time but there are examples of British ships ramming U-boats including the Dreadnought and Olympic.
Then of course there is the Martian invasion.
No, I haven’t gone mad and there is a tenuous link.
The Admiralty’s Torpedo Committee, which had been set up to try and figure out the best way to implement the new Whitehead torpedo suggested several vessels for the purpose. The first was the Pembroke built HMS Vesuvius which was a slow moving vessel designed for stealthy night attacks on the enemy in port.
A new design was put forward which evolved from a small cigar shaped vessel which was capable of carrying five torpedo tubes with minimal armour to being bigger with no armour but a ram and then finally a 73 metre long lightly armoured vessel capable of doing 17 knots.
This vessel became HMS Polyphemus which was laid down at Chatham on 21st September 1878 and completed in September 1882.
The Polyphemus was armed with five 14” torpedo tubes and carried 18 Mk II torpedoes which had a top speed of 18 knots with one firing through the ram. To make the vessel more manoeuvrable the torpedo ram had two rudders which could be retracted into the hull but made her incredibly able to turn quickly. But she is not all torpedoes and rams and was also fitted with six hotchkiss 3 pounder guns
In trials the navy wanted to see how effective the torpedo ram could be in an attack on an enemy fleet at anchor in such places like Kronstadt. She broke into the port dodging torpedo boat attacks and cut through the defensive booms as if they weren't there. The advent of the quick firing and quick traversing gun made the whole idea obsolete though and her career was very brief.
So what does this have to do with Martians?
H G Wells’ “War of the Worlds” features a chapter where the protagonists brother escapes to the coast where vessels are evacuating refugees from London and the Home counties when one of the Alien fighting machines attacks the boats. The Royal Navy Torpedo Ram Thunderchild attacks and despite being sunk by the alien heatray also destroyed one of the martian machines.
.So that is how the Austrian Navy influenced naval design through the nineteenth century, the one off torpedo ram ship and the use of a similar ship in fiction.