 Section 17 of Famous Sea Fights by John R. Hale. Section 17, Chapter 10, Hampton Roads, Part 1. The Coming of Steam and Armored Navies, The Fight in Hampton Roads. March, 1862. Trafalgar was the greatest fight of the sailing ships. There were later engagements, which were fought under sail, but no battle of such decisive import. It was a fitting close to a heroic era in the history of naval war. A period of not much more than four centuries in thousands of years. Before it came the long ages in which the fighting ship depended more upon the ore than the sail, or on the ore exclusively. After it came our present epoch of machine-propelled warships, bringing with it wide sweeping changes in construction, armament, and naval tactics. Inventive pioneers were busy with projects for the coming revolution in naval war while Nelson was still living. The Irish-American engineer Fulton had tried to persuade Napoleon to adopt steam propulsion and had astonished the Parisians by showing them his little steamer making its way up the sign with clumsy paddles churning up the waters and much sooty smoke pouring from its tall, thin funnel. The emperor thought it was a scientific toy. Old admirals, most conservative of men, declared that a gunboat with a few long sweeps or ores would be a handier fighting ship in a calm. And if there was any kind of wind, a spread of sail was better than all the Americans' tea kettle devices. Fulton went back to America to run passenger steamers on the Hudson and tell unbelieving comedors and captains that the future of the sea power lay with the tea kettle ships. In the days of the long peace that followed Waterloo and the great industrial development that came with it, the steam engine and the paddle steamer made their way into the commercial fleets of the world slowly and timidly at first. For it was a long time before a steam ship could be provided with enough efficient engine power to enable her to show the way to a smart, clipper-built sailing ship, and the early marine engines were fearfully uneconomical. Steam had obtained a recognized position in small ships for short voyages, ferry boats, river steamers, and coasting craft, but on the open ocean the sailing ship still held its own. An eminent scientist proved the demonstration that no steam ship would ever be able to cross the Atlantic under steam alone. He showed that to do so, it would be necessary for her to carry a quantity of coal exceeding her entire tonnage capacity. And he expressed his readiness to eat the first steamer that made the voyage from Liverpool to New York. But he lived to regret his offer. In 1838 the Great Western and the Sirius inaugurated the steam passenger service across the Atlantic and the days of the liner began. By this time paddle wheel gun boats were finding their way into the British Navy and other powers were beginning to follow the example of England. Steam ships were first in action in 1840 when Sir Charles Napier employed them side by side with sailing ships that had shared the triumphs of Nelson. This was in the attack on Acre when England intervened to check the revolt of the Pasha of Egypt, Abraham, against his Souserain, the Sultan. But still the steam ship was regarded as an auxiliary. The great three-decker battleships, the smart sailing frigates, were the main strength of navies. The paddle steamer was a defective type of warship because her paddle boxes and paddle wheels and her high-placed engines presented a huge target singularly vulnerable. A couple of shots might disable in a minute her means of propulsion. True, she had masts and sails, but if she could not use her engines the paddles would prove a drag upon all her movements. It was the invention of the screw propeller that made steam propulsion for warships really practical. Brunel was one of the greatest advocates of the change. He was a man who was in many ways before his time and he had to encounter a more than unusual amount of official conservatist obstruction. For years the veteran officers who advised the Admiralty opposed and ridiculed the invention. When at last it was fitted to a gunboat, the Radler, it was obvious that it provided the best means of applying steam propulsion to the purposes of naval war. The propeller was safe underwater and the engines could be placed low down in the ship. By 1854, when the Crimean War began, both the British and French navies possessed a number of steam-propelled line of battleships, frigates and gunboats fitted with the screw. They had also some old paddle ships, but in the fleets dispatched to the Baltic and the Black Sea there were still a considerable number of sailing ships and a fleet still did most of its work under sail. Even the steam ships had only what we should now describe as auxiliary engines. The most powerful line of battleships in the British Navy had engines of only 400 to 600 horsepower. With such relatively small power they still had to depend chiefly on their sails. Tugboats were attached to the fleets to tow the sailing ships when the steam ships were using their engines. Another change was taking place in the armament of warships and coast defenses. The rifled cannon was still in the experimental stage, but explosive shells, which in Nelson's days were only fired from mortars at very short range, had now been adapted to guns mounted on the broad side and the coast battery. Solid shot were still largely used, but the coming of the shell meant that there would be terrible loss in action in the crowded gun decks, and inventors were already proposing that ships should be armored to keep these destructive missiles from penetrating their sides. The attack on the seafront of Sebastopol by the Allied fleets on 17 October 1854 was the event that brought home to the minds of even the most conservative the necessity of a great change in warship construction. It rang the knell of the old wooden walls and led to the introduction of armor-clad navies. The idea of protecting ships from the fire of artillery and musketry by iron plating was an old one, and the wonder is that it did not much earlier receive practical application. The Dutch claimed to have been the pioneers of iron-clad building more than 300 years ago. During the famous siege of Antwerp by the Spaniards in 1585, the people of the city built a huge, flat-bottomed warship. Armored with heavy iron plates, which they named the Finnace Belly, a boastful expression of the hope that she would end the war. An old print of the Finnace Belly shows a four-masted ship with a high poop and a four-castle, but with a low freeboard amid ships. On this lower deck, taking up half the length of the ship, is an armored citadel with portholes for four heavy guns on each side. The roof of the citadel has a high bulwark, loop-hold for musketry. On three of the masts, there were also crow's nests or round tops for musketeers. Heavily weighted with her armor, the ship had a deep draft of water and probably steered badly. In descending the shelt to attack the Spaniards, she ran aground in a hopeless position under their batteries and fell into the hands of the Spanish commander, the Duke of Parma. He kept the Finnace Belly as a curiosity till the end of the siege and then had her dismantled. If she had scored a success, armored navies would no doubt have made their appearance in the 17th century. Between the days of the Finnace Belly and the coming of the first ironclads, there were numerous projects of inventors. In 1805, a Scotchman named Gillespie proposed the mounting of guns and ponderous mortars in revolving armored turrets, both in fortifications on shore and on floating batteries. Two years later, Abraham Bloodgood of New York designed a floating battery with an armored turret. During the war between England and the United States in 1812, an American engineer, John Stevens, who was a man in advance of his time, proposed the construction of a steam-propelled warship with a ram bow and with her guns protected by shields. He prepared a design but failed to persuade the Navy Department that it was practical. His son, Robert L. Stevens, improved the design, made the experiments with guns, projectiles and armor plates and at last in 1842 obtained a vote of Congress for the building of the Stevens Battery. A low freeboard ram, steam propelled and armed with eight heavy guns mounted on her center line on turntables protected by armored breastworks. The methods of the American Navy were very dilatory. Professional opinion was opposed to Stevens, whose project was regarded as that of a crank and the ship was left unfinished for years. She was still on the stocks when the Civil War began. Then other types came into fashion and she was broken up on the ways. The man who introduced the armor-clad ship into the world's navies was the Emperor Napoleon III. The same who introduced rifled field artillery into the armies of the world. Like other great revolutions, this epoch making change in naval war began in a small way. What forced the question upon the Emperor's attention was the failure of the combined French and English fleets in the attack on the seaforts of Sebastopol on 17 October 1854. The most powerful ships in both navies had engaged the seaforts and suffered such loss and injury that it was obvious that if the attack had been continued the results would have been disastrous. Some means must be found of keeping explosive shells out of a ship's gun decks. If they were ever to engage land batteries on anything like equal terms. Under the Emperor's direction the French naval architects designed four ships of a new type which were rapidly constructed in the imperial dockyards. They were floating batteries not intended to take part in fleet actions but only to be used against fortifications. Their broad beam, heavy lines, rounded bows and engines of only 225 horsepower condemned them to slow speed just sufficient to place them in firing position. They were armored with four inch iron and armed with 1850 pounder guns. The portholes had heavy iron ports which were closed while the guns were reloading. Three of these floating batteries, the diva station, la veille and tonnande came into action against the shore batteries at Kinburn on 17 October 1855 the anniversary of the attack on the Sebastopol seaforts. There was some difficulty in getting into position as they could just crawl along and steered abominably. But when they opened fire at 800 yards at 9 a.m. they silenced and wrecked the Russian batteries in 85 minutes themselves suffering only trifling damage and not losing a dozen men. It was the first and last fight of the floating batteries but while in England men were still discussing the problem of the sea-going iron clad the French constructors were solving it. They had to look not to parliamentary and departmental committees but to the initiative and support of an intelligent autocrat. So events went quicker in France. In 1858 the keels of the first three French sea-going armor clads were laid down at Toulon and next year the armored frigate Gloyer the first of the European iron clads was launched and every dockyard in France was busy constructing armor clads or rebuilding and armoring existing ships. France had gained a start in the building of the new type of warship. When the dreadnought was launched it was said somewhat boastfully that single-handed she could destroy the whole North Sea fleet of Germany. It might be more truly said of the Gloyer that she could have met single-handed and destroyed the British Channel or Mediterranean fleet of the day. It was the moment when the tension with France over the Orsini conspiracy had caused a widespread anticipation of war between that country and England and had called the volunteer force into existence to repel invasion. But the true defense must be in the command of the sea and the first English iron clad, the old warrior, was laid down at the Thames ironworks. Work was begun in June 1859 and the ship was launched in December 1860. She was modeled on the old steam frigates where the special types of modern battleships and armored cruisers were still in the future. She was built of iron with unarmored ends and four and a quarter inch iron plating on a backing of 18 inches of teak over 200 feet amid ships of her total length of 380 feet. There was a race of iron clad building between France and England in which the latter won easily. And it was only for a very short time that our sea supremacy was endangered by the French Emperor's naval enterprise. But when the English and French fleets entered the Gulf of Mexico in 1861 our ships were all wooden walls while the French Admiral's flag flew on the iron clad Normandy the first armored ship that ever crossed the Atlantic. Notwithstanding this fact, American writers are fond of saying and many Englishmen believe that the introduction of armored navies was the outcome of the American Civil War of the early 60s. All that is true is that the War of Secession gave the world the spectacle of the first fight between armored clad ships and the experiences of that war greatly influenced the direction taken in the general policy of designers of iron clad warships. Towards the close of the Crimean War a Swedish engineer settled in the United States John Ericsson had sent to the Emperor Napoleon a design for a small armored turret ship of what was afterwards known as the Monitor Type. He wrote to the Emperor that he asked for no reward or profit for he was only anxious to help France in her warfare with Russia the hereditary foe of Sweden. The war was drawing to a close and for his future projects the Emperor wanted large sea-going ships not light draft vessels for work in the shallows of the Baltic. So Ericsson received a complimentary letter of thanks and a medal and kept his design for later use. His opportunity came in the first months of the Civil War. In the 50 years between the War of 1812 and the outbreak of the struggle between North and South the American Navy had been greatly neglected. It was a favorite theory in the United States that a Navy could be improvised and that the great thing would be, in case of war, to send out swarms of privateers to prey upon the enemy's commerce. Very little money was spent on the Navy or the dockyards. On the Navy list there were a number of old ships some of which had fought against England in 1812. There were a number of small craft for revenue purposes a lot of sailing ships and a few fairly modern steam frigates and smaller steam vessels depending largely on sail power and known as sloops of war. Really small frigates. While the dockyards of Europe had long been busy with the construction of the new armored navies the United States had not a single iron clad. Both parties to the quarrel had to improvise up to date ships. Sea power was destined to play a great part in the conflict. As soon as the Washington government realized that it was going to be a serious and prolonged war not an affair of a few weeks a general plan of operations was devised of which the essential feature was the isolation of the Southern Confederacy. When the crisis came in 1861 the United States had done little to open and occupy the vast territories between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi Valley. The population of the states was chiefly to be found between the Mississippi and the Atlantic and in that region lay the states of the Confederacy. They were mainly agricultural communities with hardly any factories. For arms, munitions of war and supplies of many kinds they would have to depend on importation from beyond their frontiers. It was therefore decided that while the United States armies operated on the northern or land frontier of the Confederacy its sea frontiers on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico should be closely blockaded and its river frontier the line of the Mississippi should be seized and held by a mixed naval and military force. For these last operations troops on the banks and gunboats on the river had to combine. It was said at the time that on the Mississippi and Navy were like the two blades of a pair of shears useless apart but very effective when working together. Strange to say it was not the industrial north but the agricultural south that put the first iron clad into commission as a weapon against the coast blockade. When the secessionist forces seized the navy yard at Norfolk in Virginia a fine steam frigate the Merrimack built in 1855 was under repair there. The guard of the dockyard set her on fire before surrendering but the flames were extinguished and the Merrimack with her upper works badly damaged was in possession of the Southerners. A northern squadron of frigates and gunboats steam and sailing ships anchored in Hampton roads the landlocked sheet of water into which runs not only the Elizabeth River which gives access to Norfolk but also the James River the waterway to Richmond then the Confederate capital. The northern shores of Hampton roads were held by federal troops the southern by the Confederates. Presently spies brought to Washington the news that the rebels were preparing a terrible new kind of warship at Norfolk to destroy the squadron in Hampton roads and raise the blockade. The news was true the Confederates had cut down the Merrimack nearly to the water's edge and built a solid deck over her at this level. Then on the deck they erected a huge deck house with sloping sides pierced with portholes for ten heavy smoothbore guns. The funnel passed up through the roof of the deck house. There were no masts only a flagstaff. The flat deck space, four and aft and the sloping sides of the deck house were to be armored with four inches of iron but there were no armor plates available. Railway iron was collected and rolled into long narrow strips and these were bolted on the structure in two layers laid crosswise in different directions. An armored conning tower low and three sided was built on the front of the deck house roof. The bow was armed with a mass of iron in order to revive the ancient methods of attack by ramming. Thus equipped the Merrimack was commissioned under the command of Commodore Buchanan and renamed the Confederate States Ironclad Steam Ram Virginia but the ship was always generally known by her former name. At noon on Saturday, 8 March 1862 the Merrimack started on her voyage down the Elizabeth River. It was to be at once her trial trip and her first fighting expedition. She was to attack and destroy the Federal Blockading Fleet in Hampton Roads. Up to the last moment the ship was crowded with working men. They were cleared out of her as she cast off from the quay. As the Merrimack went down the river the officers were telling off the men to their stations. Not one of her guns had ever been fired. There had been a few hurry drills everything was improvised. The first disappointment was to find that the engines doing their best she could only make five knots. She steered badly answering her helm slowly and turning on a wide circle. As one of her officers put it she was as unmanageable as a waterlogged vessel. She drew 22 feet of water so that she had to keep the narrow channel in the middle of the river and the risk of getting hopelessly aground was serious. The Confederate troops crowded the batteries on either bank and cheered the Merrimack as she went slowly down. It was a fine day with bright sunshine and absolutely no wind and the broad stretch of water in Hampton Roads was like a pond. At the same time a small squadron of Confederate gunboats came down the James River to cooperate in the attack. These ships were the Yorktown with 12 guns the Jamestown with two guns and the Teaser with one gun. Two other gunboats the Bufort and the Raleigh followed the Merrimack but the chief hope of the attack was placed upon the ironclad. The nine vessels of the blockading fleet lay along the north side of Hampton Roads from the point at Newport News to Old Point Comfort where the roads open on Chesapeake Bay. They were strung out over a distance of about eight miles. The shore on that side was held by the Federals and the point at Newport News bristled with batteries. Near the point were anchored the sailing frigate Congress of 50 guns and the sloop Cumberland a full rigged three master armed with 30 guns. On board the Federal ships there was not the remotest expectation of attack. Clothes were drying in the rigging a crowd of boats lay alongside. It was known that the Confederates had been busy converting the old Merrimack into an armored ram at Norfolk Navy Yard but it was not believed that she was yet ready for action. The men had just eaten their dinners and were having a pipe when the first alarm was raised. By the wharf at Newport News lay a tugboat the Zawav which had been armed with a 30 pounder gun and was raided as a gunboat and tendered to the fleet. Her captain noticed the smoke of steamers coming down the Elizabeth River and cast off from the wharf and went alongside the Cumberland. The officer of the watch told him to run across to the river mouth and find out what was coming down from Norfolk. It did not take us long to find out, he says, for he had not gone over two miles when we saw what to all appearances looked like the roof of a very big barn belching forth smoke as from a chimney. We were all divided in opinion as to what was coming. The boatswains mate was the first to make out the Confederate flag and then we all guessed it was the Merrimack come at last. The little Zawav fired half a dozen shots which fell short. The Merrimack took no notice of this demonstration but steadily held her way. Then the Cumberland signaled to the Zawav to come back and she ran past the anchored warships and under shelter of the batteries. These were now opening fire on the Confederate gun boats issuing from the James River. The Congress and Cumberland had cleared for action and weighed anchor. Other ships of the fleet had taken the alarm and were coming up into the roads to help their consorts. The Confederate batteries at Sewell's Point opened fire at long range against these ships and they stood into the roads. The Merrimack was steering straight for the Cumberland. In grim silence her unarmored consorts keeping well asterned. When the range was about three-quarters of a mile the two Federal ships opened fire with the heavy guns mounted on pivots on their upper decks and the shore batteries also brought some guns to bear. A heavy cannonade from sea and shore was now echoing over the landlocked waters but the Merrimack fired not a gun in reply. A few cannon shot struck her sloping armor sides and rebounded with a ringing clang. The rest ricocheted harmlessly over the water throwing up sparkling geysers of foam in the bright sunlight. At last when the range was only some 500 yards the bow gun of the Merrimack was fired at the Cumberland with an aim so true that it killed or wounded most of the men at one of her big pivot guns. A moment after the ram was a beam of the Congress and fired her starboard battery of four guns into her at deadly close range. With the projectiles from the 25 guns of the Congress and 15 of the Cumberland rattling on her armor riddling her funnel and destroying davits, rails and deck fittings the Merrimack steamed straight for the Cumberland which made an ineffectual attempt to avoid the coming collision. At the last moment some men were killed and wounded in the gun deck of the ram by shots entering a port hole. Then came grinding crash as the iron ram of the Merrimack struck the Cumberland almost at right angles on the starboard side under her fore-rigging. On board the Confederate ship the shock was hardly felt but the Cumberland healed over with the blow and righted herself again as the Merrimack reversed her engines and cleared her leaving a huge breach in the side of her enemy. The ram had crushed in several of her frames and made a hole in her side big enough to drive a coach and horses through. The water was pouring into her like a mill race. From the Merrimack lying close alongside with silent guns came a hail and a summons to surrender. From the deck of the Cumberland her commander Morris replied with a curt refusal. The firing began again. The Cumberland's men, driven from the gun deck by the inrush of rising water took refuge on the upper deck. Some jumped overboard and began swimming ashore. Others kept her two pivot guns in action for a few minutes. Then, with a lurch, she went down. Boats from the shore saved a few of her people. Those who watched from the batteries could hardly believe their eyes as they saw the masts of the warship sticking out of the water where a few minutes ago the Cumberland had waited in confidence for the attack of the improvised rebel ironclad. End of section 17 Recording by Brian Von Dedenroth www.bran.dedenroth.com Chapter 10, Part 2 of Famous Sea Fights by John R. Hale This is the Library of Oaks recording. All Library of Oaks recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit libraryvox.org Chapter 10, Part 2 As her adversary went down the Merrimack turned slowly to menace the Congress with the same swift destruction. She took no notice of the harmless candidate from the shore. Lieutenant Smith, who commanded the Congress had realized that collusion with the enemy meant destruction, rapid and inevitable and decided that his best chance was to get into shoal water under the batteries. He had slipped his cable, shaken out some of his sails and signaled to the tugboat Zouave to come to his help. The Zouave made fast to the Congress on the land side, but she had not moved far when the ship grounded within easy range of the Merrimack's guns. These were already in action against her. The leadership of the C-word Federal Squadron, the frigate Minnesota, had come in within long range and opened on the Merrimack and the gunboats. But she had only fired a few shots when she also ran aground on the edge of the main channel, but in such a position that some of her guns could still be brought to bear. Taking no notice of this more distant foe, the Merrimack devoted all her attention to the Congress. She sent a broadside into the stranded frigate and then passing under her stern, raked her fore and aft and set her on fire. Lieutenant Smith of the Congress was badly wounded. Lieutenant Prendergast, who succeeded to the command, decided that with his ship aground and the enemy able quietly to cannonade her without coming under fire of most of his guns to prolong the fight would be to waste life uselessly. After consulting his wounded chief, he dipped his colors and displayed a white flag. The little zoo off cast off from the frigate and as she cleared her, fired a single shot from her one gun at the Merrimack and then ran down to the Minnesota. This shot led afterwards to a false report that the Congress had reopened fire treacherously after surrendering. Civil war has often been described as fat recital and this action between the Congress and the Merrimack two brothers were opposed to each other. Commodore Buchanan who commanded the Merrimack knew when he attacked the Congress that a younger brother of his was a junior officer of the frigate. The younger man escaped unscathed but the Commodore was slightly wounded during the fight. When the Congress struck her colors Buchanan ordered two of the gun boats to take off her crew. Her flag was secured to be sent to Richmond as a trophy. While the gun boats Raleigh and Buford were taking off the Federal wounded, there came from the batteries on shore a heavy fire of guns and rifles. Several of the wounded and two officers of the Raleigh were killed and the gun boats were taken off leaving most of the crew of the Congress still on board. They escaped to the shore in boats and by swimming. Meanwhile the Merrimack fired a number of red hot shot into her and she was soon ablaze foreign aft. Then the iron clad turned and fired at the Minnesota. The sun was going down and the tide was running out rapidly. The deep draft of the Merrimack made the risk of being a serious matter if she closely engaged the Minnesota so Buchanan signaled to the gun boats to cease fire and accompanied by them steamed over to the south side of the roads where he anchored for the night under the Confederate batteries intending to complete the destruction of the Federal fleet next morning. The first days fight was over. It had been a battle between the old and the new between the steam-propelled armored ram and wooden sailing ships. The Cumberland had been sunk, the Congress forced to surrender and set on fire and the Minnesota was hopelessly aground and marked down as the first victim for next day. The Federals had lost some 200 men the Confederates only 21. Buchanan was wounded not severely but seriously enough for the command of the Merrimack to be transferred to Lieutenant Jones. As night came on the moon rose but the wide expanse of water was lighted up not by her beams only but also by the red glare from the burning Congress. The flames ran up her tarred rigging like rocket trails. Masks and spars were defined in flickers of flame. At last with a deafening roar that was heard for many a mile she blew up strewing the roads with scattered wreckage. At ten o'clock that evening while the Congress was still burning a strange craft had steamed into the roads from the sea all unnoticed by the Confederates. She anchored in the shallow water between the Minnesota and the shore. Her light draft enabled her to go into waters where less powerful fighting ships would have grounded. To use the words of one who first saw her as the sun rose next day she looked like a plank of float with a can on top of it. She was Erickson's Ironclad turret ship the Monitor. In the first weeks of the war inventors had besieged the United States Navy Department with proposals for the construction of Ironclad warships. The department was still leisurely debating as to what policy should be adopted and the news came that the Merrimack half burnt at Norfolk Yard was being reconstructed as an armored ram and it became urgent to provide an adversary to meet her on something like equal terms. It was at this moment that John Erickson came forward with his offer to construct an armored light draft turret ship which could be very rapidly built and put in commission. This last point was of cardinal importance for reports said that work on the Merrimack was far advanced and no ship could be built on ordinary lines of sufficient power to meet her and the time available. The vessel must be of light draft to work in the shallow coast waters, creeks, and river mouths of the southern states. She might have to fight in narrow channels for there would not be room for maneuvering to bring broadside guns to bear. Erickson, therefore, proposed that her armament should be a pair of heavy guns mounted in a turret which could be revolved so as to point them in any direction independently of the position of the ship itself. The hull was to be formed of two portions, a kind of barge-like structure or a lower hull built of iron and mostly underwater when the ship was afloat and fixed over this, the upper hull a raft-like structure, wider and longer and with overhanging armored sides and lighter deck armor. The dimensions were upper part of the hull length 172 feet beam 41 feet lower hull length 122 feet beam 34 feet depth underside of deck to keel plate 11 feet 2 inches draft of water 10 feet engines and boilers were aft and the long overhang of the armored deck stern protected the underwater rudder and screw propeller and the overhang at the bow there was a well in which the anchor hung underwater forward near the bow there was a small armored pilot house or as we now call it conning tower. A midship and an armored turret were amounted to heavy smoothbore guns of large caliber and throwing a round solid shot the conning tower was built of solid iron blocks 9 inches thick. The side holes were narrow elongated slits this was the helmsman station the committee to which Erickson's plans were referred was at first hostile some of the members declared that the ship would not float, that her deck would be underwater and that she would be swamped at once further objections were that no crew could live in the underwater part of the hull but at length all objections were met and the Swedish engineer was told that his plans were accepted and that a regular contract would be drawn up for his signature Erickson knew the value of time and before the contract was ready the keel plates of a turret ship had been rolled 1000 firms had started work on her various parts while the ship was being built he proposed she should be named the monitor and the name became a general term for low free board turret ships the keel of the ship was laid at Greenpoint Yard Brooklyn in October 1861 she was launched on 30 January 1862 the work of completing and fitting was carried on day and night and she was commissioned for service on 25 February 1862 but even when her crew were on board there were a number of details to be completed workmen were busy on her almost up to the moment of her departure from New York Harbor 9 days later so there was no chance of drilling them in and testing the guns and turrets Lieutenant Worden the United States Navy was promoted to the rank of captain and given command he formed a crew of volunteers for what was considered a novel and exceptionally dangerous service officers and men numbered 58 in all on the morning of Thursday 6 March two days before the Merrimax attack on the Cumberland the monitor left New York on the Cumberland the two days voyage southward along the coast was anxious and trying time and though the weather was not really bad the monitor nearly escaped foundering at sea at 4 p.m. on the Saturday she was off Cape Henry and the sound of a far off cannonade was heard in the direction of Hampton Roads the officers rightly guessed the attack was in action it was after dark that the turret ships teamed up the still water of the landlocked bay amid the red glare from the burning congress she anchored beside the United States warship Roanoke on board the fleet which eagerly watched her arrival there was general disappointment and depression at seeing how small she was Worden shifted his anchorage in the night the advantage of the monitor's light draft steamed up the roads and anchored his ship in the shallow water to landward of the stranded Minnesota there was not much sleep on board the monitor that night tired as the men were at 2 a.m. the congress blew up in a series of explosions after that the men tried to settle down to rest but before dawn all hands were roused to prepare for the coming fight a little after 7 a.m. the Merrimack was seen steaming slowly across the bay escorted by her flotilla of gunboats she was coming to complete the destruction of the United States squadron and then marked down the Minnesota as her first victim in blissful ignorance of the arrival of the monitor Worden realized that if he allowed the fight to take place near the stranded ship the Merrimack might engage him with one of her broad sides and use the other to destroy the Minnesota he therefore seemed boldly out into open water challenging the Confederate ram to a duel as he approached the wooden gunboats prudently turned back and ran under the shoulder of the Confederate batteries on the south shore leaving the Merrimack to meet the monitor in single combat that Sunday morning 9 March 1862 saw the first battle between ironclad ships with north and south soldiers sailors and civilians anxiously watching the combat from the ships and the roads and the batteries on either shore Worden was in the pilot house with a quarter master at the wheel and a local pilot to assist him his first lieutenant handed the two 11 inch guns in the turret the Merrimack was the first to open fire Worden waited to reply till he was at close quarters then stopped his engines led his ship drift and sent the order by speaking tube to the turret commence firing the monitor's turret swung round and her two guns roared out enveloping both ships in a fog of powder smoke and crashed on the slipping armor of the Merrimack they did not penetrate it but the theory of the northern artillery was that the hammering of heavy round shot on an enemy's armor would start the plates share bolts and rivet heads and crush in the wooden backheath and so gradually succeed in making a breach in the armor somewhere but throughout this fight at close quarters crew wrasse remained intact the southern ship was replying with a much more rapid fire from her broadside guns hit after hit, thundered on the monitor's turret but its flightings held good though the sensation of being thus pummeled was anything but pleasant to the men inside at an early stage of the fight a quarter master was disabled in startling way he was leaning against the inside of the turret when the shot struck it just outside the momentary yielding of the plating to the blow passed on the shock to the men's body and he fell stunned and collapsed and had to be carried below although the speaking tube from the conning tower to turret was inside the armored deck a similar action of a shot that did not penetrate smashed it up and after this the orders had to be passed to the Coltie by a chain of men and this was not the only trouble the crew of the monitor had to contend with but the monitor with all her defects had the great advantage over the Muramak of a slightly greater speed and of a much greater handiness her turning circle was much smaller than that of the larger ship and she could choose her position and invade with comparative ease any attempt of her clumsy adversary to ram and run her down the Muramak with her damaged funnel and diminished draft on her furnaces found it even more difficult than on the previous day to get up speed at times she was barely moving her depth was also a drawback in the narrow channel while the light draft monitor could go anywhere the Muramak, drawing 22 feet of water was more than once aground and she got afloat again after many anxious efforts the monitor had a good supply of solid shot the Muramak very few for she had been sent out not to fight an armor clad but to destroy a wooden fleet finding that a shell fire was making no impression on the monitor's turret and recognizing the difficulty of ramming his enemy Commander Jones made up his mind to attempt to complete the destruction of the Minnesota he therefore ordered his pilot to steer across the roads and take up a position near the stranded frigate the pilot afterwards confessed that he was more anxious about facing the rapid fire of the Minnesota's numerous guns than standing the more deliberate attack to the monitor's slow fire he could have brought the Muramak within half a mile of the Minnesota but he made a wide detour and ran aground two miles from the Federal ship when, after great effort the iron clad was floated again the pilot declared he could not take her any nearer the Minnesota without grounding again and Commander Jones reluctantly turned to renew the duel with the monitor which had been steaming slowly after him the monitor's officers thought the Muramak was running away from them and were surprised when she closed with their ship again once more there was a fight at close quarters those who watched the battle could make out very little of what was happening for the two ships were wrapped in clouds of powder smoke and blacker smoke from their furnaces the Muramak's funnel was down and the smoke from her furnace room was pouring low over her casement in the midst of the semi-darkness Jones tried to ram the turret ship and nearly succeeded Warden, using the superior handiness of his little vessel converted the direct attack into a glancing blow but the Confederates thought that if they had not lost the iron wedge of their ram the day before in sinking the Cumberland they could have sunk the monitor the turret ship now kept a more respectful distance for more than a quarter of an hour she did not fire a shot the Confederates hoped they had permanently disabled her but what had happened was that the monitor had ceased fire in order to pass a supply of ammunition up into the turret which could not be revolved while this was being done presently the monitor began firing again Jones and the Muramak now changed his target despairing of seriously damaging the monitor's turret he concentrated his fire on her conning tower and before along this plan had an important result Dana Green gives a vivid description of the incident a shell struck the forward side of the pilot house directly in the sight hole or sled and exploded cracking the second iron log and partially lifting the top leaving an opening Warden was standing immediately behind a shot and received in his face the force of the blow which partially stunned him and filling his eyes with powder utterly blinded him the injury was known only to those in the pilot house and its immediate vicinity the flood of light rushing through the top of the pilot house now partly open caused Warden, blind as he was to believe that the pilot house was seriously injured he therefore gave orders to put the helm to starboard and shear off thus the monitor retired temporarily from the action in order to ascertain the extent of the injuries she had received at the same time Warden sent for me and I went forward at once and found him standing at the foot of the ladder leading to the pilot house he was a ghastly sight with his eyes closed and the blood oozing from every pore in the upper part of his face he told me that he was seriously wounded and directed me to take command I assisted in leading him to a sofa in his cabin where he was tenderly cared for by Dr. Log and then I assumed command blind and suffering as he was Warden's fortitude never foresook him he frequently asked from his bed of pain of the progress of affairs and when told that the Minnesota was saved he said then I can die happy and the confusion that followed the disablement of her commander the monitor had drifted away from the Merrimack but still in a position between her and the Minnesota the confederate ship fired at the temporarily disabled turret ship a few shots to which there was no reply Commander Jones and his officers believed they had put their opponent out of action but the Merrimack was not in a position to profit by her advantage it was near 2 p.m. the tide was running out rapidly and the risk of grounding was serious ammunition was beginning to be scarce the crew was exhausted and the ship's pumps had to be kept going for under the strain of the heavy firing and the repeated groundings during the two days the hull was leaking badly Jones judged the time had come to break off the action and the Merrimack turned slowly and began to steam into the Elizabeth River on her way back to Norfolk the monitor, seeing her retiring fired a few long-range shots after her they splashed harmlessly into the water so the famous fight ended on board both ships no life had been lost and many men were wounded Captain Worden's case being the most serious in fact there were fewer casualties than on the first day when the loss of life in the wooden ships had been serious and the Merrimack, despite her armor had had 21 men killed and wounded by the lighter projectiles of the Cumberland and Congress finding her way into her casement through the portholes neither ship had suffered severe injury though if the battle had continued the damage done to the conning tower of the monitor might have had serious results when the Merrimack was docked at Gasport Yard, Norfolk to be overhauled and repaired it was found that she had 97 indentations in her armor 20 of these were judged to be the marks of the monitor's 11 inch balls and these places the outer layer of armor plating was cracked and badly damaged the underlayer and the wooden backing were uninjured the other 77 marks were mere surface dents made by the lighter artillery of the wooden ships the monitor had used reduced charges of 15 pounds of gunpowder and it was believed that if the full charge of 30 pounds had been used the results might have been more serious but the Navy Department had ordered reduced charge as it was feared that with full charges the strain on the gun mountings and turret gear might be too severe the Merrimack's funnel was riddled and all outside fittings shot away two of her guns had been made unserviceable on the first day by shot striking her muzzles both sides claimed the victory in Sunday's battle the Confederates claimed to have driven off the monitor that Jones had waited for some time for her to renew the fight before he turned back to Norfolk the Federals argued that the object of the Merrimack was to destroy the Minnesota and the monitor prevented this and was there for the victor the frigate was successfully floated next tide sometimes the fight is described as a drawn battle but most writers on the subject accept the Federal contention and give the honors of the day to the little turret ship the battle of Hampton Roads was notable, however not so much for its immediate results as for its effect on naval opinion and policy it finally closed the era of unarmored ships it led to a perhaps exaggerated importance being attached to the ram as a weapon of attack and it led to a very general adoption of the armored turret and for a while to the building of low freeboard turret ships in various navies it was not till long after that the story of the monitor's perilous voyage from New York was told even in America it was not realized that the monitor type was fit only for smooth waters and was ill adapted for seagoing ships on the Federal side there was a kind of enthusiasm for the monitor because of low freeboard turret ships of somewhat larger size and with improved details were built for the United States and even the failure of Admiral Dupont's monitor fleet in the attack on the Charleston's batteries did not convince the Navy Department that the type was defective Erickson's building of the monitor to meet the emergency of 1862 was a stroke of genius but its success had for a long time a misleading effect on the development of naval construction in the United States the Merrimack was abandoned and burned by the Confederates a few weeks later when they evacuated Norfolk in the neighborhood at the end of the year the monitor was ordered to Charleston she started in tow of a powerful tug but the fate she had so narrowly escaped on her first voyage overtook her she was caught in the gale off Cape Hatteras on the evening of 31 December 1862 the tow ropes had to be cut and shortly after midnight the monitor sank 10 miles off the Cape several of her officers and men went down with her the rest were rescued by the tug with great difficulty had the wind blown a little harder during the monitor's first voyage from New York or had the tow rope to which she hung parted there was no doubt she would have gone down in the same way in that case the course of history would have been different for the Merrimack would have been undisputed master of the Atlantic coast and have driven off or destroyed every ship of the blockading squadrons the fate of nations sometimes depend on trifles that of the American Union depended for some hours the soundness of the Hauser by which their monitor hung on to the tugboat Sathlow of New York end of chapter 10 part 2 chapter 11 of famous sea fights by John R. Hale this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Morgan Scorpion Famous Sea Fights by John R. Hale Chapter 11 Lissa. 1866 In the American Civil War there had been no battle between iron-clad fleets monitors had engaged batteries the Merrimack had her dual with the first of the little turret ships but experts were still wondering what would happen when fleets of armored ships built in first-class dockyards met in battle on the sea the war between Austria and Italy in 1866 gave the first answer the experiment was not a completely satisfactory one and some of its lessons were misread others were soon made obsolete by new developments in naval armaments still Lissa will always count among the famous sea fights of the world for it was the first conflict in which the armored sea-going ship took a leading part but there is another reason it proved in the most startling way though neither for the first time nor the last that men count for more than machines that courage and enterprise can reverse in the actual fight the conditions that beforehand would seem to make defeat inevitable give me plenty of iron in the men and I don't mind so much about iron in the ships was a pithy saying of the American Admiral Farragut there was enough iron in the Austrian sailors Tegertopf and Petz to outweigh all the iron in the guns and armor of the Italian admirals Pestano and Albini and the iron in the men gave victory to the fleet that on paper was doomed to destruction at the present time when in our morning papers and in the monthly reviews we find such frequent comparisons between the fleets of the powers comparisons almost invariably based only on questions of ships, armor, guns and horsepower and leaving the all-important human factor out of the account it will be interesting to compare the relative strength on paper of the Austrian and Italian fleets in 1866 before telling the story of Lissa Austria had only seven iron clads all were of the earlier type of armor-clad ships modelled on the lines of the old steam frigates and plated with thin armor the two largest ships of 5,000 tonnes and 800 horsepower mounted a battery of 1848 pounder smooth bores they had not a single rifled gun in their weak broadsides these were the Ferdinand Max and the Habsburg the Kaiser Max the Prans-Eugen and the Donwander Austria were smaller ships of 3,500 tonnes and 650 horsepower but they had a slightly better armament 16 smoothbore muzzle loading 48 pounders and 14 rifled guns light breech loading 24 pounders the Salamander and the Drach were ships of 3,000 tonnes and 500 horsepower they mounted 16 rifled 24 pounders and 10 smoothbore 48 pounders these five smaller iron clads were the only ships under the Austrian flag to date there were an old wooden screw line of battleship and four wooden frigates but these had neither rifled guns nor armor and the naval critics of the day would doubtless refuse to take them into account then there were some wooden unarmoured gun boats and dispatch vessels now turning to the Italian navy list we find that these six iron clads two of them without a single rifled gun would have to face no less than 12 armoured ships every one of them carrying rifled guns one of them was a thoroughly up-to-date vessel just commissioned from Armstrong's yard at Ellswick the armoured turret ram a fondatore i.e. the sinker a correspondent of the Times saw her when she put into Cherbourg on the way down the channel he reported that she looked formidable enough to sink the whole Austrian iron cloud fleet single-handed she was a ship of 4,000 tonnes 20 horsepower iron-built, heavily armoured and with a spur bow for ramming she carried in her turret two 10-inch rifled Armstrong guns throwing an armor-piercing shell of 295 pounds say 300 pounders and let us remember the heaviest rifled gun in the Austrian fleet was a little 24 pounder then there were two wooden iron clads of 5,700 tonnes and 800 horsepower the Raider Italia and the Raider Portogallo the Raider Portogallo carried 28 rifled guns two 300 pounders 12 100 pounders and 14 74 pounders the Raider Italia mounted 32 rifled guns 250 pounders 1600 pounders 14 74 pounders and besides these 4 smoothbore 50 pounders the two ships the two kings and the Affondatore ought to have blown the Austrian iron clads out of the sea or sent them to the bottom let us compare the number of rifled guns and the weight of metal there is no need to count the smoothbores for the Merrimack monitor fight had proved how little they could do even against weak armour here is the balance sheet Austrians ship none Habsburg rifled guns none Kaiser Max rifled guns 14 projectile pounds 24 Franz Eugen rifled guns 14 projectile pounds 24 rifled guns 16 projectile pounds 24 Salamander rifled guns 16 projectile pounds 24 Italians ships Affondatore rifled guns 2 projectile pounds 300 rifled guns 2 projectile pounds 150 Raider Italia rifled guns 16 projectile pounds 100 rifled guns 14 projectile pounds 74 Ray de Porto Gallo rifled guns 2 projectile pounds 300 rifled guns 12 projectile pounds 100 rifled guns 14 projectile pounds 74 Austrian Total Austrian Total 74 guns throwing 1,776 pounds of metal Italian Total 62 guns throwing 6,372 pounds of metal even the Affondatore was supposed to be what the dreadnought is to older ships in these paper estimates what would she be with the two kings helping her but this was not all Italians could place in line 9 more ironclads what could the 7 Austrian ironclads with their 74 little guns throwing 1,776 pounds of metal do against these 9 ships with double the number of guns and nearly 10 times the weight of metal in their broad sides but add in the 3 capital ships before noted on the Italian side and we have 12 ironclads against 7 208 rifled guns against 74 20,392 pounds of metal in the broad sides against only 1,776 clearly it would be mad folly for the Austrian fleet to challenge a conflict it would be swept from the Adriatic at the first encounter here then are our calculations as to the command of the Adriatic at the outset of the war of 1866 they leave out of account only one element the men let us see how the grim realities of war can give the lie to paper estimates Vilhelm von Tegertow who commanded the Austrian fleet with the rank of rear admiral was one of the world's great sailors and the man for the emergency he had as a young officer taken part in the blockade of Venice during the revolution of 1848 and 1849 he had seen something of the naval operations in the Black Sea during the Crimean war as the commander of a small Austrian steamer and during the war of 1864 he had commanded the wooden steam frigate Schwotzenberg in the fight with the Danes of Heliga land besides these war services he had taken part in an exploring expedition in the Red Sea and Somali land and had made more than one voyage as staff captain to the Archduke Maximilian whose favourite officer and close friend he had been for years when the Archduke Alexander the Sailor resigned his command of the Austrian fleet to embark from Mexico where a short-lived Rainer's Emperor and a tragic death awaited him he told his brother, the Emperor Francis Joseph that Tegertow was the hope of the Austrian navy the young admiral he was not yet 40 years of age had concentrated his fleet at Polar, the Austrian naval port near Trieste he had got together every available ship not only the seven ironclads but the old line of battleship and the wooden frigates and gunboats the admiralty at Vienna had suggested that he should take only the ironclads to sea but he had replied give me every ship you have you may depend on my finding some good use for them he believed in his officers and men and relied on them to make a good fight on board anything that would float whether the naval experts considered it was out of date or not among his officers he had plenty of men who were worthy of their chief and inspired him with his own dauntless spirit and the crews were largely composed of excellent material men from the wilderness of Creek and Ireland that extends along the Illyrian and Dalmatian shores fishermen and coasting sailors many of them so lately joined that instead of uniform they still wore their picturesque native costume the crew looked a motley lot but to use Farragut's phrase there was iron in the men 27 ships in all small and large were moored in the four lines in the roadstead of Hasana near Polar but they did not remain idly at their anchors every day some of them ran out to sea to fire at moving targets or to practice rapid turning and ramming floating rafts the bows were strengthened by cross-timbers in all the larger ships and in the target work the crews were taught to concentrate the fire of several guns on one spot but Teghatov knew he had not a single gun in his fleet that could pierce the armour of the Italian vessels he told his officers that for decisive results they must trust to the ram he had painted his ships a dead black the Italian colour was grey when we get into the fight said Teghatov you must ram at way at anything you see painted grey war was declared on 20th of June Teghatov had been training his fleet since the 9th of May and was ready for action yet once set out the Stadeon a passenger steamer of the Austrian Lloyd line employed as a scout and armed with 212 pounders to reconnoitre the Italian coast of the Adriatic the Stadeon returned on the 23rd with news that though war had been expected for weeks the Italian fleet was not yet concentrated a few of the ships were at Ancona but the greater part of it was reported to be at Toranto with Admiral Count Fersano the commander in chief who from the first displayed the strangest a resolution Teghatov was anxious to attempt to engage the division at Ancona before it was joined by the main body from Toranto but he was held back by orders from his government directing him to remain in the northern Adriatic covering Venice it was not until the 26th of June that he obtained a free hand within limits defined by an order not to go further south than the fortified island of Lissa he left Polo that evening with six ironclads the wooden frigate Schwartzenburg five gunboats and the scouting steamer Stadeon he hoisted his rear admiral's flag on the Erzahog Ferdinand Max he made for Ancona and was off the port at dawn next day the first shots of the naval war were fired in the grey of the morning when three of the Austrian gunboats chased the Italian dispatch battle Torre into the port outside of which she had been on the lookout the Austrians were able clearly to see and count the warships under the batteries in the harbour besides other craft there were eleven of Pesano's twelve ironclads the squadron from Toranto having reached Ancona the day before only the much-wanted Afondatore had not yet joined Teghatov cleared for action and steamed up and down for some hours just beyond the range of the coast batteries it was a challenge to the Italians to come out and fight but Pesano did not accept it he afterwards made excuses to his governments saying he had not yet completed the final fitting out of his ships the moral effect on both fleets was important the Austrians felt an increased confidence in their daring leader and a growing contempt for the adversaries on the 24th Austrian army under the Archduke Albert had beaten the Italians at Kostotsa and the Austrian navy looked forward to the same good fortune the Italians were depressed both by the news of Kostotsa and the hesitation of their admiral to risk anything early in the day Teghatov started on his return voyage to Pesano where he arrived in the evening and found the ironclad Habsburg waiting to join his flag after having been refitted in the dockyard as there were now persistent rumors that the Italians were going to attempt an attack on Venice Teghatov remained in the Pesano roadstead continuing the training of his fleet on the 6th of July he again took it to sea practiced fleet manoeuvres under steam and showed himself in the sight of Ancona but the Italian fleet was still lying idly in the harbour and Teghatov once more returned to Pesano in the hope that Pesano would attempt some enterprise during which he would be able to fall upon him in the open the Italian admiral was meanwhile wasting time in lengthy correspondence with his government and sending in letters which revealed his irresolution and incompetence so plainly that they ought to have led to his immediate supercession he complained he had not definite orders though he had been directed to destroy the Austrian fleet if it put to sea or blockade it if it remained in harbour he explained now that he was mounting better guns in some of his ships now that he was waiting for the Affondatore to join once he actually wrote saying that some new ironclads ought to be purchased from other powers to reinforce him at last he was plainly told that if he did not at once do something for the honour of the Italian navy he would be relieved of his command with the Austrians victorious in northern Italy a raid on Venice would have been too serious an operation but he proposed as an alternative that a small land force should be embarked for a descent on the fortified island of Lissa on the Dalmatian coast his fleet would escort it and cooperate by bombarding the island batteries the plan was accepted and he proceeded to execute it it was about as bad a scheme as could be imagined it is a recognised principle of war that oversea expeditions should only be undertaken when the enemy's fleet has been either rendered helpless by a crushing defeat or blockaded in its ports before sending the transports to Lissa Persono should have steamed across the polar and blockaded Teghatov fighting him if he came out but Persono had a delusive hope that he could perhaps score a victory without encountering the Austrian fleet by swooping down on Lissa crushing the batteries with a heavy bombardment landing the troops hoisting the Italian flag and getting back to his safe anchorage at Ancona before Teghatov could receive news of what was happening and come out and force on a battle Lissa was defended by a garrison of 1,800 men under Colonel Ernst de Marguina this small body of troops held a number of forts and batteries mounting 88 guns none of them of large calibre the works were old and had been horribly repaired most of them dated from the time of the English occupation of the island during the Napoleonic wars Persono expected that Lissa would be a very easy nut to crack on 16th of July when the Italian fleet sailed from Ancona even now Persono carried out his operations with leisurely deliberation on the 17th he reconnoitered Lissa approaching in his flagship under French colours early on the 18th the fleet closed in upon the island flying French colours till it was in position before the batteries the commandant had cable communication with Polo by a line running by Lissina to the mainland he reported to Teghatov the appearance of the disguised fleet and then the opening of the attack on his batteries at first the Austrian admiral could hardly believe that the Italians had committed themselves to such an ill judged enterprise and thought that the attack on Lissa might be only a faint meant to draw his fleet away from the northern Adriatic and leave an opening for a dash at Polo Trieste or Venice itself but cablegrams describing the progress of the attack convinced him it was meant to be pressed home by Colonel DiMargina telling him to hold out to the last extremity and proposing to come to his relief with all the fleet this message did not reach the Colonel but just before it was dispatched an Italian ship had cut the cable between Lissa and Lissina and seized the telegraph office of the latter island Teghatov's message thus fell into persona's hands he persuaded himself that it was mere bluff intended to encourage the commandant of Lissa to hold out as long as possible he thought Teghatov would remain in the northern Adriatic to protect or to over all Venice the attempt to reduce the batteries of Lissa by bombardment during the 18th proved a failure in the evening persona was in a very anxious state of mind he had made no arrangements for Colliers to supply his fleet and his coal was getting low it was just possible that Teghatov might come out and force him to fight and he thought of returning to Ancona but if he did he would be dismissed from his command at last he made up his mind to land the troops next morning and to carry the forts by an assault combined with an attack from the sea his second in command Admiral Albini with a squadron of wooden ships and gun boats that accompanied the ironclads was directed to superintend and assist in the landing of the troops they were to be embarked in all available boats and to land at 9am during the night the ram a fondatore joined the fleet and persona had all his 12 ironclads before Lissa on the morning of the 18th the sea was smooth and covered with a hot haze that limited the view the soldiers were being got into the boats and the ships were steaming to their stations for the attack when about 8 o'clock the exploratory which had been sent off to scout to the north westward appeared steaming fast out of a bank of haze with a signal flying which was presently red looking ships in sight Teghatov was coming he had left the sauna in the late afternoon of the 18th with every available ship large and small new and old wooden wall and ironclad he would find work for all of them at night he had steamed for Lissa anxious at the sudden cessation of the cable messages but still hoping that he would see the Austrian flag flying on its forts or if not the enemy's fleet still in its waters he had organized his fleet in three divisions the first under his own personal command was formed of the seven ironclads the second division under Commodore Ron Petz was composed of wooden unarmored ships the Commodore's flag flew on the old steam line of battleship Kaiser a three decker with 92 guns on her broadsides all smoothbores except for a couple of rifled 24 pounders with the Kaiser were five old wooden ships Novara Schwarzenberg Donal Adria and Wadetsky and a screw corvette the Erzahog Friedrich the third division under commandant Eberle was composed of ten gunboats a dispatch boat was attached to each of the leading divisions and the scout Stadeon the swiftest vessel in the fleet was at the immediate disposal of the admiral and were sent on in advance the fleet steamed during the night in the order of battle that Tegatop had chosen the divisions followed each other in succession each in a wedge formation the flagship of the division in the centre with the rest of the ships to port and starboard not in line of rest but each a little behind the other the formation will be understood from the annexed diagram it was an anxious sight for the Austrian admiral for some hours there was bad weather driving showers of fine rain from a cloudy sky made it difficult at times to see the lights of the ships and it was no easy matter for them to keep their stations the sea was for a while so rough that the ironclads had to close their ports and there was a danger that if the weather did not improve and the sea became smoother they would not be able to fight most of their guns but Tegatop held steadily on his course for Lissa on sea, as on land there are times in the crisis of a war when the highest prudence is to throw all ordinary rules of prudence aside and take all risks the admiral had resolved from the outset that whatever might be the result the Austrian fleet should not lie in safety under the protection of shore batteries leaving the Italian command of the Adriatic unchallenged he felt that it would be better to sink in the open sea in a hopeless fight against desperate odds rather than ingloriously to survive the war without making an effort to carry his flag to victory. So he steamed through the night followed by his strange array of ships that another leader might well have considered as little better than useless encumbrances and in front of the handful of inferior ironclads that might well be regarded as equally doomed to destruction when they met the more numerous and more heavily armed ships of the enemy but he had put away all thoughts of safety he was staking every ship and every man and his own life against the faint choice of success the coming day might see his fleet destroyed but such a failure would be no disgrace on the contrary it would only be less honourable than a well won victory and would be an inspiration to the men of a future fleet that would carry the banner of the Habsburgs in later days so he rejoiced greatly when as the day came the weather began to clear and the study on signalled back that Lissa was still holding out and the enemy's fleet lay under its shores as soon as he read the explorer Tore's signal Persono had no doubt that Tegatop was upon him he countermanded the attack on Lissa ordered Albini to re-embark the troops and proceeded to form his ironclads in line of battle intending to engage the enemy with these only the ironclads were standing in to attack the batteries of San Giorgio in the northeast of the island Persono formed nine of them in three divisions which were to follow each other in line ahead the ram affonded Tore being out of the line and to starboard of the second division the formation was as follows first division under rare admiral Vaca the Principate Carignano the Castel Pidardo the Ancona second division rare admiral Fárdi Bruno ships Ray D'Italia, Palestro, San Martino with the affondatore to starboard of the line third division rare admiral Ribotti ships Ray de Portogallo Maria Pia and Varese the two other Italian ironclads the Formidabile and the Varese were not in the line and took no part in the coming battle the Formidabile had suffered heavily in the attack on the shore batteries numerous shells entering her portholes and making a slaughterhouse of her gun deck she had been ordered to Ancona and had left Lissa in the early morning the Varese had been detached to assistant operations on the other side of the island and joined Albini's squadron of wooden ships while the fight was in progress Persona's battle line first steered west along the north side of Lissa about 10 o'clock the driving mist on the sea cleared and the Austrian fleet was then seen approaching on a south south easterly course Persona altered his own course and, led by Vaca in the Principae de Carignano the Italian ironclads turned in succession on a north north easterly course thus as the Austrians closed on them the fleet in a sinuous line was steering across the boughs of the attacking ships it was at this moment that Persona changed his flag from the raid Italia to the Affondatore the former ships slowing down to enable the Admiral to leave her and thus producing a wide gap between Vaca and Fire de Bruno's divisions the result of this sudden change of flagship was confusing as most of the Italian ships were unaware of it and still looked to the raid Italia for guidance and did not notice signals made by the Affondatore Tegatope had given the successive signals as the mist dispersed clear for action close order look out ships returned to their stations full speed ahead the blast of the fog disappeared and the sun shone out he sought his delight the Austrian flag still flying on the hillside batteries of Lissa and close in front between him and the island shores the enemy's fleet crossing his boughs out fluttered his battle signal ironclads will ram and sink the enemy a final signal was being prepared must seek Von Lissa Burden there must be a victory of Lissa but the close encounter had begun and the ships were wrapped in clouds of powder smoke before it could be hoisted while persona was passing from the raid Italia to the ram Affondatore Vaca had begun the fight by firing his broadside at the advancing Austrians the Castel Fidardo and the Ancona followed his example but Tegatope held his fire waiting for close quarters one of these first shots killed Captain Moll of the truck on the bridge of his ship young Lieutenant took command of her he was viprect who in later years became famous as the commander of the Austrian exploring ship Tegatope in the Arctic regions as the fleets closed the Austrians opened fire aiming not at the armoured sides of the enemy which no gun of theirs could penetrate but at their portholes and bridges Tegatope in his flagship the Ferdinand Max was looking for something to ram but in the dense mass of smoke lost through the wide gap between Vaca's division and the raid Italia then finding no enemy in his front he turned and went back into the battle fog of the Italian centre the three ironclads on his left Habsburg, Salamander and Kaiser Max were engaged with Vaca's division the van of the Italian fleet the three others Don Juan, Drach and Prince Eugene had flung themselves on Ferdinand's ships in the centre Ron Petz coming up with the wooden ships gallantly attacked Ribotti's rearward division any one of which should in theory have been able to dispose of his entire force the gun boats hung on the margin of the fight which had now become a confused melee and while the Austrian wooden ships were thus risking themselves in close action Albini's Italian division of wooden ships looked on from a safe distance one can only tell some of the striking incidents of the battle without being able even to fix the precise order of time in which they occurred when the Merrimack sank the Cumberland with one blow of her ram in Hampton roads the Federal ship was at anchor but even in the confusion and semi-darkness of the melee at Lissa it was found that it was not such an easy matter to ram a ship under way the blow was generally eluded by a turn of the helm Ron Petz's flagship the old three-decker Kaiser towering amid the battle smoke attracted the attention of Pesano in the Affondatore and seemed an easy victim for his ram but the big ironclad was unhandy and took eight minutes to turn a full circle and twice Petz eluded her attack the two three hundred pounders of the Affondatore did much damage on board the Kaiser but the wooden ships broadside swept the upper works of the ram as the two vessels passed each other and strewed her deck with wreckage the fire of the heavy rifled guns on the Italian ironclads a severe execution on the Austrian wooden ships the captain of the Navarro was killed the Erzahog Friedrich and the Schrotzenberg were badly hulled and leaked so that they were only kept afloat by their steam pumps the Adriel was three times on fire but Petz and the wooden division did good service by keeping the rearward Italian ships fully occupied meanwhile Teghatov standing on the bridge of the Ferdinand Max all reckless of the storm of fire had dashed into the Italian centre he rammed first the raid Italia then the Palestro but both ships evaded the full force of the blow and the Austrian flagship scraped along their sides bringing down a lot of gear the mizzen top mast and gaffed of the Palestro came down with the shock and the gaff fell across the Austrian's deck with the Italian and Tricola flying from it before the ships could clear an Austrian sailor secured the flag it would seem that the glancing blow given to the raid Italia had disorganised her steering gear and for a while she was not under control two other ships joined the flagship in attacking her all believing she was still Persona's flagship the Palestro, fighting beside her was set on fire by shells passing through her unarmoured stone the fire made such rapid progress that she drew out of the fight her crew trying to save their ship von Sternek the captain of the Ferdinand Max had gone half way up the mizzen rigging to look out over the smoke he reported that the raid Italia was not under full control and Teghatov once more dashed at his enemy the bow of the Ferdinand Max this time struck the raid Italia full of midships and simply forced in her side making an enormous gap crushing and smashing plates and frames as the Ferdinand Max reversed her engine and drew her bows out of her adversary's side the raid Italia healed over and sank instantly carrying hundreds to the bottom and stirring the surface with wreckage and struggling men the Austrians after a moment of astonished horror at their own success chilled wildly the Ferdinand Max tried to save some of the drowning men and was lowering her only boat that remained unshattered by the fire when the Italian ironclad Ancona tried to ram her and the Ancona as she slid past her almost touching her gun-mazzles fired a broadside into her the powder smoke from the Italian guns poured into the portholes of the Ferdinand Max and for a few moments smothered her gun-deck in fog but it was a harmless broadside in their undisciplined haste to fire the Italians had loaded only with cartridge there was not a shot in the guns this tells something of the confusion on board another Austrian ironclad and two of the gun-boats made plucky efforts to save some of the survivors of the raid-Italia but they too were driven off by the fierce attacks of the Italian ships meanwhile Pets with his wooden ships had fought his way through the Italian rear with his old three-decker he boldly rammed the raid at Porto Gallo the Italian ship evaded the full force of the blow but the tall wooden vessel scraped across her side starting several of her armour plates carrying away porthole covers and dragging two anchors from her bows smashing gun-muzzles and jerking four-light guns into the sea but the Kaiser herself suffered from the close fire of the raid of Porto Gallo's heavy guns and the shock of collision her stem and bows Brit were carried away the gilded crown of her figure-head falling on her enemy's deck her foremast came crashing down on her funnel and wrecked it and the mass of fallen spars, sails and rigging were set on fire by sparks and flames from the damaged funnel the collapse of which nearly stopped the draught of the furnaces and dangerously reduced the pressure on the boilers and the speed of the engines the raid of Porto Gallo sheared off but her consult, the Maria Pia came rushing down on the disabled Kaiser Pets avoided her ram and engaged her at close quarters but the shells of the Maria Pia burst one of the Kaiser's steam-pipes temporarily disabled her steering gear and did terrible execution in her stern battery Pets himself was slightly wounded with great difficulty he extricated his ship from the melee and cutting away the wreckage and fighting the fire that was raging forward he steered for San Giorgio the port of Lissar to seek shelter under its batteries his wooden frigates gallantly protected his retreat and escorted him to safety then turned back to join once more in the fight this was the moment when Albini and the Italian wooden squadron might easily have destroyed Pets's division but during the day all he did was to fire a few shots at a range so distant that they were harmless Persono in the Apondatore had for a moment threatened to attack the Kaiser as she struggled out of the melee he steamed towards her and then suddenly turned away he afterwards explained that seeing the plight of Pets's flagship he thought she was already doomed to destruction and looked upon it as useless cruelty to sink her with her crew the fleets were now separated and the fire was slackening in this last stage of the melee the Maria Pia and the San Martino collided amid the smoke and the latter received serious injuries as the fleets worked away from each other there was still a desultory fire kept up but after having lasted for about an hour and a half the battle was nearly over Teghatov, having got between the Italians and Lissar reformed his fleet in three lines of divisions each in line ahead the ironclads to seaward nearest the enemy the wooden frigates next and the gunboats nearest the land every ship except the Kaiser which lay in the entrance of the port was still ready for action some of them were leaking badly including his flagship which had started several plates in the bow when she rammed and sank the raid Italia the fleet steamed slowly out from the land on a northeasterly course the ironclads firing a few long-ranging shots at the Italians Persono was also reforming his fleet in line and was flying a signal to continue the action but he showed no determined wish to close with Teghatov again on the contrary while reforming the line he kept it on a northeasterly course and thus the distance between the fleets was increasing every minute as they were moving on divergent lines gradually the firing died away and the battle was over Albini with the wooden squadron and the ironclad Terribile which had remained with him and taken no part in the fight ran out and joined the main fleet Persono afterwards explained that he was waiting for Teghatov to come out and attack him but the Austrian admiral had attained his object by forcing his way through the Italian line and placing himself in a position to co-operate with the batteries of Lissa in repelling any further attempt upon the island there was no reason why with his numerically inferior fleet he should come out again to fight a second battle but though the action was ended there was yet another disaster for the Italians the palesto had been for two hours fighting the fire lighted on board of her by the Austrian shells smoke was rising from the hatchways and portholes but as she rejoined the fleet she signalled that the fire was being got under and the magazines had been drowned two of the smaller ships the Govanolo and the Independenza came to her help and took off the wounded the suggestion that he should abandon his ship her commander, Cappellini, replied those who wish may go but I shall stay and his officers and men remained with him and continued working to put out the fire but the attempt to drown the magazines had been a failure for suddenly a deafening explosion thundered over the sea the spars of the palestro were seen flying skyward in a volcano of flame as the smoke of the explosion cleared the heaving water the heaving water strewn with debris showed where the ship had been the Austrian fleet were steaming into San Giorgio amid the cheers of the garrison and the people when the explosion of the palestro took place Persono drew off with his fleet into the channel between Lissa and the island of Buzzi and when the sun went down the Italian ships were still in sight from the lookout stations on the hills of Lissa the Austrians worked all night repairing damages and preparing for a possible renewal of the fight in the morning but at sunrise the lookouts reported that there was not an Italian ship in sight Persono had steered for Ancona after dark and arrived there on the 21st he was so unwise as to report that he had won a great naval victory in a general engagement with the Austrians in the waters of Lissa Italy, already smarting under the defeat of Castotsa, went wild with rejoicing cities were illuminated salutes were fired there was a call for high honours for the victorious Admiral but within 48 hours the truth was known it was impossible to conceal the fact that Lissa had been unsuccessfully attacked for two days and that on the 3rd it had been relieved by Teghatov dashing through the Italian fleet and destroying the raid Italia and the palestro without himself losing a single ship there were riots in Florence and the cry was now that Admiral Persono was a coward and a traitor to add to the gloom of the moment the ram Affondatore, which had been injured in the battle, sank at her anchors when the sudden gale swept the roadstead of Ancona three of the twelve Italian ironclads had thus been lost three more were unavailable while their damages were being slowly repaired peace was concluded shortly after and the Italian navy had no opportunity of showing what it could do under a better commander in the sinking of the raid Italia some 450 men had been drowned more than 200 lost their lives in the explosion of the palestra but the other losses of the Italians in the battle of Lissa were slight only 5 killed and 39 wounded the Austrians lost 38 killed including two captains and 138 wounded these losses were not severe considering that several wooden ships had been exposed to heavy shell fire at close quarters and one must conclude that the gunnery was wretched the heaviest loss fell on Pets' flagship the Kaiser which had 99 killed and wounded some of the gunboats amongst which were some old paddle ships though they took part in the fighting had not a single casualty Persona was tried by Court Marshall and deprived of his rank and dismissed from the navy Teghatov became the hero of Austria his successful attack on a fleet that in theory should have been able to destroy every one of his ships in an hour will remain for all time and honour to the Austrian navy and a proof that skill and courage can hope to reverse the most desperate disadvantages