July 20, Adriatic Sea.

Lisa was the naval base of the Austrian Empire in the Adriatic Sea.

Italy was in a hurry to find a breakthrough point in the battlefield after declaring war on Austria, and the combat effectiveness of the Italian Army was notoriously indescribable.

However, the passage of Venicia to Austria was really not suitable for large-scale marches, and the Austrian front commander had previously taken the initiative to withdraw from Venetia, which was difficult to defend, so the main force was intact, and with the help of terrain, it repeatedly repelled the attacks of the Kingdom of Italy.

The terrain disadvantage could indeed excuse the army, and this time the Italian army escaped.

The Kingdom of Italy, which had difficulty breaking through the lines of the Austrian Empire on land, sought instead to attack Austria at sea.

At this time, the Italian navy was considered one of the strongest navies in the world, with 12 ironclad ships, including the new "Italy" and "Di Portogaro", as well as the new battleship "Plumb" with turrets, and 16 wooden-hulled steam engine warships.

In contrast, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had only 7 ironclads, and the rest were wooden warships.

12 ironclads against 7 ironclads, the advantage was in my Italian naval commander C· Admiral C. Persano decided to launch a direct attack on the Austrian naval base of Lisa.

On June 16, the Italian detachment consisting of 11 armored ships, 5 cruisers, and 3 gunboats, led by Admiral Persano, sailed from Ancona in an attempt to capture the fortified island of Lisa, which was used as a naval base for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by landing (there were 9 permanent fortifications, 11 artillery batteries with a total of 88 guns, and nearly 3,000 troops defending the island).

The attack on Lisa on 18 and 19 July failed, and the Italians resisted the Austrians, who did not have the necessary information about the troops defending the island.

The Austro-Hungarian troops defending the island were very tenacious and damaged the Italian ironclad ship "Mighty" with artillery.

While the Italian fleet was preparing to organize another attack, the Austro-Hungarian fleet arrived at dawn on July 20.

When the Italian fleet was dispatched, the Austro-Hungarian Tegethof led his fleet as far away as the port of Bora, 165 nautical miles away.

When he learned that Lisa had been attacked, he at first thought it was just a feint.

He could hardly believe that the Italians would take such a risky action, as an amphibious assault, neither the opportunity for a surprise attack nor the first to seize sea supremacy.

Soon, however, the Italian commander C· Admiral C. Persano would have shown him that reality is often bolder than imagined.

When the Italians attacked with all their might, Tegethof sailed towards Lissa, reaching the waters near Lisa, where he ordered the fleet to be ready for battle. Realizing that his firepower was inferior, he chose an easy-to-impact formation - three "V" shapes arranged longitudinally, the first of which consisted of seven ironclads led by him, led by the flagship "Ferdinand Maximilan".

The second "V" type was a wooden-hulled fast ship and a coastal defense ship, led by the "Caesar".

He put the rest of the small ships in the third "V" formation.

The ships of the Italian naval commander Persano on the opposite side bombarded the fortified batteries on the shore of Lisa for two days, but failed to stop the 88 small-caliber guns on the shore, causing heavy casualties to the Italian fleet.

One of the Italian ironclad ships lost their ability to attack, most of the ammunition was consumed, and the fuel was only enough for two days.

On the morning of July 20, however, Persano attacked again. While he was bombarding Lisa's batteries and preparing to send troops to land, the lookout post suddenly reported that the Austro-Hungarian fleet was approaching from the northwest.

A panicked Persano hastily formed his ironclad ships into columns and rushed in front of the Austro-Hungarian formation.

In this critical moment, Persano panicked and moved his flag from the "Italia" to the "Plumb", which was outside the battle formation.

As a result, a large gap appeared between the 3 Italian warships in front and the ones behind.

The Austrian commander Tergerthoff seized the plane and immediately led the vanguard formation of his ironclads through the gap, while his wooden ships rushed towards Persano's wooden ships and the rest of the ironclads.

The battle quickly turned into a scuffle, and the movement of the ships was partially obscured by smoke. "Plumb" twice tried unsuccessfully to ram the wooden "Caesar". The "Caesar" grazed the "Di Botogaro" with a shell, but it itself caught fire under the fire of the opponent and was eventually driven out of the battle by the "Plumb". At the same time, the artillery fire of the Austro-Hungarian Navy set an Italian ironclad ship on fire.

The ramming of the "Italy" by the flagship of Tegerthoff was the most spectacular in this battle.

While the "Ferdinand Maximilan" was searching in the smoke of the battle, it crashed into the side of the "Italia", and the Italian warship lost control of its direction.

And it was blocked in front of it by another Austro-Hungarian warship, and when it retreated, the "Maximilian" rammed its side at full speed and tilted it badly to starboard.

As the "Maximilan" slowly retreated, the "Italia" returned to normal, and then leaned to the port side again under the force of its momentum and the tons of seawater pouring into the breach. When it capsized and sank, the ship's poorly trained but morale-groomed sailors shouted hooray for their king.

The sinking of the "Italy" ended the battle, and the Italian fleet retreated to the west. Since several warships of the Austro-Hungarian fleet were damaged and remained at a disadvantage, Tegethof did not pursue. In any case, he fulfilled his mission to free Lisa, and he returned to Austria as a national hero.

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

The Battle of Lissa was a great victory for the Austro-Hungarian navy, which completely relieved the siege of Lisa. In the naval battle, the Italian fleet suffered heavy losses, losing 3 ironclad ships and more than 1,000 officers and men.

For the first time, the battle between steam-powered ironclad ships was eye-catching. The navies of all countries around the world have studied the battle in depth and detail in terms of tactics, armament, and ship structure.

The role of ironclads attracted the attention of various countries in this naval battle, which marked the transition of naval battles from the age of sails to the age of steam ironclads.

After this battle, the Italian fleet went into retreat. The reasons for the defeat of Italy were poor reconnaissance, no battle plan, poor communication and the indecision of Admiral Persano.

The Italian sailors were not well trained, their officers lacked initiative, and their commander, C. C. Admiral C. Persano seems to know nothing about this fleet of his own.

Compared to Persano's dozen ironclads, Austria-Hungary had only 7 ironclads, all of which were steam fast ships and were relatively old.

Their wooden-hulled ships consisted mainly of 1 steam-powered ship "Caesar", 5 propeller fast ships and 1 coastal defense ship. Only a small part of the guns on each wooden-hulled ship were rifled guns, and in fact the Austro-Hungarian Empire had less than half the firepower of Italy.

But their incalculable superiority was in their fleet commander, Rear Admiral B. von Tergethoff, whose soldiers were well trained, both enterprising and proficient in their profession, which the Italian commanders lacked.

And the commander of the Italian side, Persano, not only did not pay attention to the role of intelligence, but also lacked professional knowledge and was stubbornly arrogant.

At first, Persano ignored the order to "clear the Adriatic of the enemy" and only made unnecessary moves of the warships at the Ancona base, during which he did not train the untrained gunners.

Eventually, the King of Italy issued a mandatory order to "attack the enemy's fortresses or fleets, and any action is considered likely to be victorious".

It was under the impetus of this order that Persano made the strategic decision to seize Lisa, a small island in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In this naval battle, Rear Admiral von Tergerthoff went to support the troops defending the island.

The Austro-Hungarian fleet launched a surprise attack, concentrating artillery fire on the Chinese ships of the Italian fleet. But the artillery battle between the armored ships did not work.

The Austro-Hungarian flagship, Archduke Ferdinand Max, rammed the Italian armoured ship "King of Italy", which was sunk along with 400 crew members, thus deciding the outcome of the naval battle.

Another Italian warship, the "Wrestling Field", caught fire after being hit by artillery fire, lost its combat effectiveness and finally exploded.

All in all, the different capable commanders of both sides led to a surprising result, with the seemingly formidable Italian Navy instead falling into a rout.

Wilhelm von Tergerthoff's "V" shape also became famous at the Battle of Lissa.

Later, the Beiyang Fleet copied the Austrian "V" shaped tactics, but the results were not satisfactory.

Of course, the Battle of the Yellow Sea was completely different from the Battle of Lisa, the Austrian Navy was well-trained, while the Italian Navy was not trained to keep up due to its rapid expansion, and the Battle of the Yellow Sea was the North Ocean Fleet, which lacked training and ammunition, to face the well-trained Japanese Navy.

In addition, the Austro-Hungarian fleet's ramming tactics were repeatedly used in the Battle of Lissa to resurrect this ancient tactic, and from then until the beginning of the 20th century, most warships were equipped with ramming horns.

The Battle of Lisa was the first naval battle of steam-armored ships. Naval warfare proved that artillery was no longer effective against armoured warships, and steam-powered ships were highly maneuverable, and they could quickly transform into a variety of combat formations.

And Wilhelm von Tergethoff, an Austro-Hungarian admiral, as the victor of the Battle of Lisa, became one of the greatest naval commanders of the XIX century.