On the 20th of July 1866, Austrian and Italian fleets fought the Battle of Lissa in the Adriatic Sea. Though the Italians had a larger force, the Austrians won a decisive victory largely due to the incompetence of the Italian fleet commander, Count Carlo di Persano, and the internal strife among the Italian commanders.

Though not an age-of-sail battle, I found this to be instructive on the destructive impact of poor leadership. Below are excerpts, from a wikipedia article on the battle, that highlight the poor decisions and lack of courage displayed, predominantly, by Persano.


The Italians, despite their numerical superiority, were not prepared for battle. They were busy preparing for landings on the island of Vis (Lissa) when the news that the Austrian fleet was at sea and seeking battle reached them. Persano cancelled the landings, ordered the fleet into line abreast but having second thoughts, cancelled that order (creating confusion among the Italian commanders) and ordered the fleet into 3 divisions in a line ahead formation, the same formation as at battles in the age of sail.

Before the battle Persano caused more confusion by deciding to transfer his flag to the Affondatore and the 2nd and 3rd Divisions slowed to allow Re d'Italia to lower her boats. However the signal to slow down never reached the 1st Division and they continued to steam on, allowing a gap to open in the Italian battle line. To compound the error Persano never signaled the change of flag, and throughout the action the Italians continued to look to the old flagship Re d'Italia for orders rather than Affondatore.

When the engagement began, the Italian division Vacca was on a long circuit of the north of Lissa, and so was at first away from the battle. And it is curious that the Albini ships with their 398 guns, though ordered by Persano to do so, did not fire a single shot all through the battle.

Having ignored warnings from his pickets of suspicious ships in sight, Persano had effectively allowed the Austrians to ambush his force while it was still forming. Tegetthoff, seeing a gap opening between the 1st and 2nd Divisions, forced his fleet into it and concentrated on raking the Italians and ramming. This meant that he allowed his T to be crossed. While the Austrians were approaching, Vacca's 1st Italian Division threw a heavy weight of fire at them. The Austrians could only reply with their chase guns. Because Persano was in the process of transferring his flag, no general order was given. The 2nd and 3rd Divisions did not join in and the Austrians crossed the killing area, suffering some serious damage but no ships were lost.

By 10:43 am the Austrians had brought the Italian van to close action. Habsburg, Salamander and Kaiser Max on the Austrian's left wing had engaged the Italian 1st Division, while the right wing of Don Juan d'Austria, Drache and Prinz Eugen engaged the Italian 2nd Division. Persano, now on the most powerful warship in either fleet, Affondatore, stayed clear of the engagement.

Seeing things going badly, Persano found the courage to throw himself into battle, deciding to ram the unarmoured screw battleship Kaiser rather than one of the armoured ships engaged with the Italian 2nd Division much nearer him. However, Kaiser managed to dodge Affondatore.

As the Erzherzog Ferdinand Max limped away, damaged after conducting three ramming attacks, the Ancona closed on her attempting to ram. The Italian gunners got a full broadside off at point blank range, but while they had remembered the gunpowder, in the excitement they had forgotten to load the shot.

After his encounter with Re di Portogallo earlier in the battle and having fought his way clear of Maria Pia, Kommodor von Petz's Kaiser found itself at close range with Affondatore. Despite being a perfect target for a ram, Kaiser survived when Persano ordered Affondatore to turn away.

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.


This is a unique Japanese 4-minute video on the battle - includes English subtitles:




For more on today's event:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lissa_(1866)