Friday - At dawn the weather is bad with the threat of a libeccio storm. At 07 the ships of Admiral Albini in front of Porto Carober with rafts, steamboats and lances at sea are awaiting the order of landing now imminent for the arrival of the 500 Navy Infantry men under the command of Colonel Francesco Magnasco from the steamer Piemonte.

At 07.50 the notice Explorer sent on reconnaissance signals the approach by the Austrian team from the NE (seven armored frigates, seven non-armored units, nine gunboats and four wheeled warnings) of Admiral Tegetthoff; the landing is canceled, the Piemonte with his 500 men he directs for Manfredonia and the admiral Persano's units scattered in the waters of the island try to place themselves on a front line perpendicular to the direction of travel of the enemy with Admiral Albini's team lingering in the rear. After telling his units to take action, Admiral Persano transfers to theAffondatore together with part of its general staff without any signal, creating for a time confusion in the Italian alignment that presents gaps that the units are struggling to fill. The Austrian admiral takes advantage of this and penetrates the Italian camp. From this moment the action becomes a series of individual mixtures at close distances in which the spur plays an important role canceling the greater firepower of Italian artillery. The King of Italy rammed byErzherzog Ferdinand Max sinks while thePalestro under fire it will sink shortly after; on the Austrian side the vessel Kaiser, reduced badly by the combined action of the King of Portugal and Affondatore, leaves the fight heading for Lissa. Around the 11.45 the action runs out and the two contenders try to rearrange their respective formations; at this juncture signals to the admiral Albini, who remained inactive during the fight, to hunt down the enemy have no effect, so the two sides face each other, keeping an eye out for shooting distance until in the afternoon they retreat without a stalemate. An unfinished battle; Persano is demoralized and Tegetthoff pays to have freed Lissa from the Italian siege and has no intention of resuming the fight.

The clash is the first armored ship in Europe. To the commander of the King of Italy, Captain of the vessel Emilio Faà di Bruno, and to that of the Palestro, frigate captain Alfredo Cappellini, who disappeared with their ships after bitter fighting, the gold medal will be awarded to military memory. The black handkerchief that the Italian sailors still wear today, is really to indicate the mourning for the battle of Lissa. In the morning the flotilla of commander Sandri, left without coal, is sent to Manfredonia in tow Guiscardo,Independence and Washington, the latter with a load of wounded who will have landed the Ancona 22.

At 15 the day after, the units of Admiral Persano return to Ancona, welcomed by the population with indignation and hostility so that the crews are forbidden to go ashore. And this between the disappointment and the irritation of the officers and crews for the unhappy outcome of the clash of the morning of the previous day and the failure to resume the fight in the afternoon.

For this affair on Tuesday 31, Minister Depretis requires the Attorney General at the Supreme War Tribunal, lawyer Camillo Trombetta, to open proceedings on the day of Lissa in order to prevent the uncontrolled spread of accusations to the Navy and himself subjecting only the admiral Persano to criminal proceedings.

Source: Military Navy