Hearts of Iron
The Battle of Lissa, 1866 (Part Two)
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
July 2026

Italian gunners opened fire at very long range, with immediate and deadly effect. Capt. Heinrich Freiherr von Moll of the armored frigate Drache turned to his first officer, Lt. Karl Weyprecht, studied his eyeglasses and drawled in thick Austrian dialect, “Now I guess we'll see a little ramming.” Before Weyprecht could answer, a shell from the Italian ironclad Principe di Carignano carried away Moll’s head. Another round killed Capt. Eric of Klint of the screw frigate Novara soon afterwards.

Aboard the Italian flagship Re d’Italia, Persano turned to the ironclad’s captain, Emilio Faà di Bruno, and snorted “Here come the fishermen.” Persano then ordered Re d’Italia, in the center of the Italian ironclad line, to stop so he could transfer his flag to Affondatore, but did not tell his captains of the switch. When the flagship halted, a large gap opened up between her and the three ironclads ahead of her, and the Austrians shot into the opening.

The Austrians formed a large wedge, the traditional attack formation for Austrian cavalry. Ferdinand Max, one of the new ironclads equipped for ramming, took the point of the wedge, with the other ironclads arrayed behind her. A second wedge, of the larger wooden ships, formed up on the wooden ship-of-the-line Kaiser. Seven screw-powered gunboats formed a third wedge behind them.

The battle begins. Open in new tab to embiggen the image.

The Austrian ironclads passed through the Italian line and then peeled off to attack. The second wedge headed directly for the second division of Italian ironclads, which concentrated their fire on Kaiser. The big Italian ironclad Re di Portogallo focused on the much smaller Austrian screw corvette Erzherzog Friedrich. Erzherzog Friedrich took a hit below the waterline from a heavy Italian shell, reported her captain, Fregattenkapitän Marcus Florio. The shell blew a hole almost three feet across in the corvette's hull, smashed her iron scantlings and demolished an oaken frame. The ship began to take on more water than her pumps could handle, and as Florio headed for Lissa and safety, the Italian ironclad pursued.

To protect the stricken corvette, Capt. Anton Petz’s Kaiser intercepted the Italian ship. Kaiser rammed the ironclad, and the Austrian ship’s foremast and figurehead of Kaiser Franz Josef came crashing down on Re di Portogallo’s deck. Kaiser backed away from the Italian ship as the ironclad unloaded a devastating point-blank broadside into her. The wooden emperor became an Italian war trophy, still displayed in the Admiralty in Rome.

With fires raging aboard Kaiser, Affondatore moved through the smoke and mist to finish off the crippled ship. Petz ordered his volunteer marine boarding parties aloft into the ship's rigging as the ram approached. Each marine carried a large sack of gunpowder to throw into the Italian ironclad’s funnel as she came alongside. Several times the ram missed the ship of the line, while the five Austrian screw frigates blazed away at Affondatore.

Kaiser turned for San Giorgio harbor, and Affondatore made one last attempt. The tiny Austrian screw gunboat Reka darted in front of the ram, firing her full broadside of two small guns at the Italian bridge. The Italian ship veered off, and the Austrian frigates shepherded the wounded Kaiser into port before returning to the fray, which now became a disorganized brawl.

Kaiser is bearing down on Re di Portogallo.

Amid the confusion, Tegetthoff's flagship rammed the Italian armored gunboat Palestro to little effect, though the Italian warship's colors fell on the flagship's deck. “Who’s going to get that flag?” Tegetthoff shouted. A Croat helmsman named Karcovich sprang onto the deck, where dozens of Italian rifle bullets struck around him. He brought the flag back to Tegetthoff, who wrapped it around a belaying clamp. Soon afterwards Ferdinand Max struck the Italian flagship Re d’Italia, carrying away the Italian ironclad’s unarmored rudder.

A few minutes later, Ferdinand Max’s captain, Max von Sterneck, climbed his ship’s foremast to obtain a better view over the clouds of cannon smoke. Directly ahead he saw Re d’Italia. Sterneck ordered up full speed. At about the same time, Re d’Italia's captain Faà di Bruno spotted the Austrian ship bearing down on him. He tried to evade, but with his rudder smashed could not turn. Instead Faá di Bruno ordered full reverse, which brought his ship to a dead stop. Just then, Ferdinand Max struck her squarely amidships.

The Italian ship’s green timber sprang inward for much of her port side and a wall of water poured into her hull. At a range of mere yards the two crews emptied rifles and pistols at each other. Pier Carlo Boggio, the journalist/deputy who had penned the mocking editorial in the Giornale a few days earlier, ran to fire his pistol at the Austrians, only to fall dead from an Austrian marine sniper’s bullet.

Re d’Italia, c quickly as Ferdinand Max backs away.

As the Italian ironclad sank, an Italian marine named Razzetto leapt to the flagstaff to strike her colors and attempt to save the crew. Faá di Bruno knocked Razzetto away, refusing to allow the flag to fall. When his bridge crew had safely left the ship, Faá di Bruno supposedly saluted Ferdinand Max’s bridge and his own colors, then calmly shot himself in the temple. While the ironclad’s chief gunner and several officers supported the story, Persano’s chief of staff Andrea Carlo Agostino del Santo, another officer and a marine all claimed Faá di Bruno remained on the bridge to the last moment, when he was pulled under the waves by the suction action of the sinking ironclad.

The stricken Re de’Italia became the focal point of the battle as the other Italian ships rushed to the scene to try to save her. The Italian ironclad Ancona tried to ram Ferdinand Max, and loosed a broadside at the Austrian flagship. The shots had no effect; in the excitement of the moment Ancona's chief gunner gave the order to fire before shot had been rammed into her cannon. For a brief moment the gunfire ceased as awe-struck crews from both sides watched the big ship disappear. Lt. Tobias Österreicher steered his paddle steamer Kaiserin Elisabeth into the thick of the fight to rescue survivors, but as his crewmen plucked swimmers from the water the Italian ironclads Palestro and San Martino opened fire. Four large shells struck the paddle steamer and wrecked much of her upperworks, killing a number of the just-rescued Re d’Italia crew.

Veering away from the crippled Austrian steamer, Palestro found herself caught between three Austrian ironclads, which mercilessly pounded the small ship. The Italian gunboat came alongside the Austrian armored frigate Drache. The battle's first shot had killed Drache’s captain, a popular officer well-known to most of his crew: Drache had been the only Austrian ironclad with a full complement before mobilization and most of her sailors were long-service Venetian professionals. When an Italian officer tried to lead Palestro’s crew in a cheer of “Evviva il Re!” as the two ironclads closed, Drache’s men took up a mocking chant of “Evviva Imperatore!” and worked their guns at top speed.

The two ships traded broadsides for several rounds, but the Austrian ship carried 14 guns on her broadside against only two on Palestro. Drache’s gunners kept up a tremendous rate of fire, and though they achieved few penetrations of Palestro’s armor, the barrage devastated her unarmored areas. The Italian ship began burning fiercely and dropped out of the fight. Drache turned to pursue her, but Affondatore interposed herself and attempted to ram the Austrian ironclad.

Affondatore mills about as Re d’Italia sinks.

By noon, Persano had finally convinced his captains that he had not gone down with Re d’Italia and they followed Affondatore away from the battle zone. Palestro signaled that she could not follow, and at about 2:30 p.m. she disappeared in a tremendous explosion. The two fleets, their crews and ammunition exhausted, now drew apart. The Italians headed for Ancona and the Austrians joined Kaiser in San Giorgio harbor. Two Austrian gunboats remained on the scene, checking the flotsam for survivors. Except for the crippled Kaiser, all Austrian ships reported themselves ready for action. Two Italian ironclads had gone down and several more were damaged. Affondatore had not suffered any penetrations, but her plates had taken so many hits that two weeks later they separated and she sank in shallow water at Ancona. Thirty-two Austrian sailors died, most of them aboard Kaiser, and 612 Italian seamen perished, most of them lost with Re d’Italia and Palestro.

On his return to Ancona, Persano claimed victory. The lie soon became apparent, and Persano was convicted of incompetence, negligence and disobedience, but acquitted on charges of cowardice and treason. He and Albini were dismissed from the service in disgrace. Albini claimed that he could not be expected to obey signals from Affondatore, which was not the flagship, but Persano’s signal to engage came from Re d’Italia and this lie only made things worse for Albini.

Tegetthoff became a national hero, promoted to vice-admiral and showered with awards. A year later, he successfully retrieved the remains of his old patron Maximilian from the Mexican nationalists who had murdered him, and a grateful Franz Josef then named him commander of the Austrian navy. Five years after his victory Tegetthoff, untouchable by enemy bullets and shells at Helgoland or Lissa, could not find a cab to take him home in a driving rain and walked instead. He contracted pneumonia and died at the age of 43.

Join the Gold Club Here.
See your Gold Club Insider newsletter to order Hearts of Iron.

Sign up for our newsletter right here. Your info will never be sold or transferred; we'll just use it to update you on new games and new offers.

Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife and three children.

Daily Content includes no AI-generated content or third-party ads. We work hard to keep it that way, and that’s a lot of work. You can help us keep things that way with your gift through this link right here.