Battle of Lissa (1866) - Aftermath

Aftermath

Location of island Lissa on the map of Croatia.

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 Venetian Commonwealth.

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.