The Battle of Lissa - Special

[@ajvanmarle]

Admiral Tegethoff: "Get me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!"

[@SephirothRyu]

Rams are merely swords for ships.

[@jamesharding3459]

@@SephirothRyu More like Polearms

[@SephirothRyu]

​@@jamesharding3459 I mean, ships DO tend to have long shafts, so you may be onto something.

[@johnshelton1141]

If the Italians had been more successful during the war, could they have annexed the Trentino and Trieste areas?

[@vikkimcdonough6153]

"RAMMING SPEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!"

[@armchairwarlord]

The best summary I ever heard of this battle is that, "Wooden ships with iron men beat iron ships with wooden men."

[@subduedreader5627]

More like paper men.

[@Irobert1115HD]

this might be the only battle where an attack was greatet by the attacked ship with a nice salute.

[@spyrossidiropoylos8272]

From what i know of the battle, the italian crews fought valiantly to the level of heroic. It was the incompetance of their high command that lost this battle, which by the way smells very heavily of petty political backschrabbing...

[@prjndigo]

Actually my take-away is "Hahahahaha, you made me look awesome, here's the Island City State you couldn't take with your incompetence."

[@Diego-zz1df]

@@prjndigo The austrian empire was a land power and they lost the war on land to the germans. That's why the italians won that war: They weren't fighting the full force of the austrian military and they weren't the main concern of the austrian government.

[@Ealsante]

"I'm ready to fight." "Kaiser, you've got no bow." "'tis but a scratch. Come on, you pansy!"

[@snakes3425]

The only way Teghetthoff could have been more badass would've been if he was standing on the bow of the Max, laughing manically as he fired revolvers into the Italian fleet as he rammed the ships

[@jonathanhill4892]

I imagine a film of this battle with Brian Blessed as Admiral Tegetthoff!

[@KrillLiberator]

I;m starting to think that the TV version of Euron Greyjoy may have been based off of Teghetthoff and Prat.

[@nirfz]

Well, in one of the rammings Tegethoff shouted "who is going to get their flag?" Which caused a young "soon to be officer" to jump over, and get the flag under enemy small arms fire and get back with the flag. If i'm not mistaken the flag is still in the military history museum in Vienna.

[@joehayes9933]

@@nirfz How did the ship remain afloat with so many brass balls aboard

[@nirfz]

@@joehayes9933 by sheer will of the commander i guess ;-)

[@Wolfeson28]

Clearly, Persano had simply free-xp'd his way through the entire ironclad tech tree, and never bothered to play any of the ships he'd unlocked. Thanks for making this video. This battle is always hilarious to hear about.

[@TheHighwayhoss]

That's actually accurate. One account noted that he repeatedly tried to avoid battle with the Austrians because he claimed his ships were not ready. Not only that, his ships were not as strong as they appeared; the Affondatore for example, had rotted timber frames and her ram bow made her hard to steer. In addition, the Italian crews were poorly trained and motivated. Worse, Persano's Vice Admirals were not much help; Both Admirals were repeatedly insubordinate and Albini's ships did not engage at all. They were damn lucky they were not shot.

[@Leptospirosi]

@@TheHighwayhoss Persano knew the limits of the fleet far too well, and in the end, he was the scapegoat used to save his two vice admirals which actually were the only and true culprits for the debacle and deserved to be shot

[@TheHighwayhoss]

Leptospirosi ESPECIALLY Albini; he was repeatedly insubordinate and cowardly.

[@GeneralKenobiSIYE]

No No No. He simply bought his way into tier 8 with a premium ship purchase in the store and then let his entire fleet down with his shitlord skills.

[@TheHighwayhoss]

@@GeneralKenobiSIYE It was the Italian Government that bought the premiums (which turned out to be garbage ships) than bullied Persano into playing them; he had the bad luck to fight a player who had inferior ships but bought better upgrades and played more aggressively.

[@TGSSMC]

I originate from Croatia, My great great great grandfather from the mothers side and his older brother were sailors/gunners on Erzherzog Ferdinand Max, his older brother died due to injury obtained in the Battle of Lissa 1866. My great great grandfather was awarded a medal for his doing in the battle. We still have a medal at home.

[@Navarth]

Very impressive. An important memory of brave men. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@sewdo]

some other fun facts about the Battle of Lissa - The Austrians knew from Italian Newspapers that the Italians would attack Lissa. - The Italien Fleet wanted to destroy the K.u.K fortifications, but after a Day of bombardment they came to the conclusion that they cant aim high enough do destroy the coastal batteries. Also they spotet the Austrian Fleet so they stoped the preparations to land 2600 Marines to take the harbor, instead they declared victory. - Supposedly Persano said when he saw the enemy "Here are the Fishermen!" - After the Ferdinand Max ramed the Palestro, Tegetthoff shoutet "Who wants to have the Flag!". A croation cadet, Nikola Karkovic boardet under heavy gunfire the enemy vessel, and stole their flag. Thanks for making this video! As Austrian i would love to see a video about the sinking of the SMS Szent Istvan. Just one thing at the end.. "Bezeuge Mich!" makes no sense..

[@Drachinifel]

It was the closest I could get to Mad Max's "Witness me!" :)

[@sewdo]

Somehow i didn´t get the Mad Max reference.. even if it sounds a bit theatrical in German it would be "Sei mein Zeuge!" If you are in Vienna someday you should visit the HGM (Millitary Museum) its very interesting .. They also have a virtual 360 tour www.panaustria.at/vt/110106/index.html (visit top left corner of the map "Seemacht Österreich")

[@EnRandomSten]

Pfft "kuk" means Dick in Swedish Also that is intresting

[@andreaspedersen3952]

@@EnRandomSten ...and in Norwegian! ...Scandinavians... here to fu.k up this thread ;)

[@GaldirEonai]

@CipiRipi00 It was _two_ monarchies :P.

[@vespelian5274]

'Ram anything in grey!' The Battle of Heligoland 1864 between Austria, Prussia and Denmark would be a good follow up topic.

[@wolftamer5463]

That sounds confusing

[@alessandrorizzuti7857]

"The battle of Lissa is one of the most hilarious in history" Me, an Italian: :,(

[@branimir1982]

Italy the comedy nation of eureopean wars:D?? Just kiding m8, you will always have brave men to be proud of, just sometimes the higher ups are a bit... dodgy? But remember sinking two battleships of the K.u.K. in WW1! Big love from a Croat! ;) Love my neighbours across the Adriatic:)

[@alfredttarski4521]

@@branimir1982 Funnily enough, the battleship Viribus Unitis was sunk by the Italians after the Austrians had handed it over to the newly founded State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs,_ which was not at war with Italy, killing more than 300 of its complement and Croatian Admiral Janko Vuković.

[@hrodwulf8093]

It was a battle where Italians (venetian sailors) fought against other italians (Reign of Italy). The official exact name of the austrian Navy was austrian-venetian Navy at those time.

[@alfredttarski4521]

​@@hrodwulf8093 It was a battle where Venetians (mostly from the coastal regions of what today is Croatia) fought against Italians. I never heard of or read about any Austrian-Venetian Navy.

[@croat_crusader]

What people consiider hilarious i think of it as heroic victory of Croatian sailors...

[@Diego-zz1df]

MELEE COMBAT IS THE MOST HONOURABLE FORM OF COMBAT.

[@connormclernon26]

Diego Salvati If the Emperor had a Text to Speech Device

[@chiconian49]

Send in the berserkers!

[@janchovanec8624]

Until you see people collecting their body parts not knowing if what you see is real, or just a terrible dream.

[@connormclernon26]

Ján Chovanec you don’t get the joke. This is from If The Emperor Had a Text Speech device, a parody of Warhammer 40k. The character who says this has been alive for 50,000 years and has seen humanity rise, fall, rise, and fall again.

[@nightlightabcd]

Most anyone that has actually been in real battle, not just a game, could tell you that there is no honourable form of battle and war is not glorious! There are no winners, only the dead remain and they re the only that have peace!

[@novat9731]

Ahhh yes. The age old rivalry between the enlisted Italian and the officers.

[@MichaelLlaneza]

That's everybody to some degree or another.

[@mikearmstrong8483]

As the 2 fleets collided, a young Russian child awoke suddenly from his nap crying out "Japanese torpedo boats!".

[@SephirothRyu]

Did this occur when they collided metaphorically, or literally?

[@mikearmstrong8483]

@@SephirothRyu Whichever came first. We aim to please.

[@nathandecrom2409]

"ramming speed"

[@pickeljarsforhillary102]

Today is a good day to die!

[@Diego-zz1df]

"Okay, ramming speed again!" [later] "RAMMING SPEE-" "Yeah, we get it!"

[@Grimmwoldds]

Historical account of an early alpha build for the game "World of Warships". Thanks Drach, my HD crashed in the 1930s and I lost all my archived footage.

[@comunistubula4424]

Quintus Arrius intensifies...

[@Peoples_Republic_of_Devonshire]

SPEEEEEEED AND POWER

[@DonFatherTrump]

"You're tearing me apart Lissa!"

[@1Korlash]

This explains why Mahan, in his intro of "The Influence of Sea Power on History", makes an argument that lessons for modern naval tactics can be drawn from sailing ships as well as ancient triremes and galleys. When I first read that I thought, "Wait: Why the heck would navies in the 1880s look to ancient warfare for tactical lessons? Why not the Age of Sail, since those ships at least had guns?" You've given me an answer. I suppose it makes sense that, in the absence of large naval engagements between the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Sino-Japanese War or 1894 (as far as I know), navies were stuck looking at the most recent examples of battles to try and figure out what the best way to fight was going to be in the next big naval war. And since the last big battle significantly involved ramming and it had been demonstrated that armor was superior to firepower at the moment, I can see why lots of people would jump to the conclusion that ramming would play a major part in warfare between iron-hulled ships. This also explains why so many other ships built in these years, such as China's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, had hulls that tapered into jutting, pointy bows. I never realized they were mainly intended for ramming enemy ships, and figured it was the just latest and greatest hull design before designers inevitably came up with better ones. The more you know. Thanks for making history fun! (Actually, would you even do a video on Dingyuan and Zhenyuan? They've got a pretty fun history, and Dingyuan even has a 1:1 replica built in China to use as a museum.)

[@Charliecomet82]

Back when I was a little nerd, one of the battleship books I checked out from the local library showed builder's photos of an 1890's ironclad with a ram bow that was captioned something like, "Ram bows remained popular into the ironclad era, thanks to the Battle of Lissa." Now I know why!

[@ErichZornerzfun]

You skipped a nice bit at the start, Persano took is flagship Affandatore and tried to sink the Austrian Paddle steamer Kaiserin Elisabeth, 2x300 lb vs just 4x12 lbs it should be no surprise that Elisabeth wiped the floor with Affandatore scoring numerous hits and forcing Persano to retreat. Drache's captain actually was an old Austrian officer who could only speak Venetian with a very thick accent but was widely liked by his mostly Venetian crew, after he was killed the crew was angry and were spurred on to fight to avenge him.After Palestro was damage by Kaiser Max Drache pulled behind the damaged ship and unleashed several broadsides disabling her guns and starting serious fires that would later destroy the ship. When they first came along side Palestro's crew shouted "Evviva il Re!" or "long live the king" while Drache's crew responded with "Evviva Imperatore!" or "long live the emperor". After Kaiser rammed Re di Portogallo Kaiser turned and fired two broadsides at point blank range, because Re di Portogallo had healed over from the ram the first volley passed under her armored belt while the second passed over, stripping off all her broadside guns and armor. The rest of the frigates and corvettes following Kaiser poured additional broadsides into Re di Portogallo in passing.

[@NeuKrofta]

The part where the Captain von Pettz(?) Of the Kaiser decided to ram the guy trying to ram him had me in stitches. Glorious. Those Austrians had some balls

[@andro7862]

*Croatian sailors

[@chrismath149]

@@andro7862 Such a division wasn't made. I remember reading during that time Hungarians would most often serve as gunners while Austrians often found themselves in communication. There were more distinctions made but you would find several nationalities on Austrian-Hungarian ships. Sadly I couldn't find the article on the get-go.

[@andro7862]

@@chrismath149 That is true, but the rank and file was never Austrian. They were mostly Croatians, specialists tended to be Czechs and Hungarians. I felt the need to point out this was a victory of Croats for Croatia because they were, unlike Austrians, defending their homes from Italian imperialism.

[@chrismath149]

@@andro7862 Is it remembered like that in Croatia? Interesting. Sadly, the Habsburgs forgot about the differente ethnicities that already lived in their empire. If they had done so (and hadn't started an unreasonable war) useless suffering might have been avoided.

[@andro7862]

@@chrismath149 Popular memory in Croatia is very short. Many people don't even know Croatians fought in WW1. But among people from Dalmatia, this battle is somewhat remembered. Every year I go to the Naval cemetery in Pula to pay respects on the 1st of November, when Jugoslavija (Viribus Unitis) was sunk.

[@zahrimperium9007]

The K.u.K. Kriegsmarine really was filled with badass lunatics.

[@michaeljudex2436]

not only the maritime arm of the Austrian imperial forces. Genius and madnes were always close brothers in Austrian history and are still in Austria (speaking as an austrian)

[@branimir1982]

@@michaeljudex2436 yes it was just austria... riight... makes you wonder why it all came crashing down?

[@alfredttarski4521]

That may very well be. But it was the k.k. Kriegsmarine that fought in the naval battle of Lissa. The k.u.k. Kriegsmarine didn't even exist at the time.

[@zahrimperium9007]

@@alfredttarski4521 I'm aware the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy was established after the Austro-Prussian war, I just used the term K.u.K. since it's more widely known nowadays

[@chrismath149]

@@branimir1982 Mainly...because of the Magyars (refusing other ethnicities the same advantages they had). Secondly because of world war 1. Before that the country was quite stable despite what post world war 1 propaganda wants people to believe.

[@GeneralKenobiSIYE]

An entire broadside made of dry fire shots.... Though I'm sure it made for some wicked noise and likely the only damage it caused the Austrians was a slight ringing in their ears.

[@klobiforpresident2254]

Yes, a "slight" ringing after a point blank broadside, presumably with added powder to be just that much more devastating.

[@alias3334]

Italians seemed to fire on the up roll. There many reports in previous battles of such a technique causing the shots to fly high. A more propable reason and historically quite common, especially with inexperienced crew.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

How does an entire crew forget to load the munitions?

[@nirfz]

@@Edax_Royeaux Pretty sure they were doing their loading on command like earlier the line infantery: So the commander would name each step. And when the guy screams "fire" wihtout a certain step beforehand, it isn't the whole crew who messed up, just one...Remember this were times when officers did the thinking (or at least they considered it their business and often didn't even listen to lowest ranks or punish them for "talking back")

[@gokbay3057]

Tegethoff must have felt like they were saluting his badassery.

[@alias3334]

Just a few comments: Eye witness accounts of the battle indicate the smoke from the guns was so bad that ships appeared and disappeared in it. There would appear to be little chance of communication while within it. Tegetthof planned for it, his opponent did not. The Italian navy was not homogenius and as such the command dysfunctional at best anyway. Although much has been made of the Italian advantages, Tegetthof manage to negate pretty much all of them. The lead Italian division only circled back slowly and appears to have made a half hearted contribution. Petz took on at least 3 (eye witness account mentions 4) Italian ironclads. This left Tegetthof with 7 against 4 or 3 in the center in the early stages of the combat. 2 of those 4 were sunk and Affondatore foundered later. So Affondatore certainly was seriously involved in the battle. The battle itself was a confused melee, with most guns relying on structural damage or fires to be effective. The Italian fleet only had 14 guns that could theoretically penetrate the Austrian armor, 8 of those on the 2 Palestro class corvettes. Some people confuse the SB 20 cm 72 pounder with the Rifled 20 cm. Thus, in the confusion, giving the Italians far more rifled 20 cm then they had. Tegetthof saw his chance and took it. Persano obligingly helped him. The Italian ships being painted light gray reduced the confusion as to who to attack. Thank you for the video.

[@mayorgeneralramirez1997]

How do you know this?

[@pickeljarsforhillary102]

Benny Hill music is needed.

[@knutdergroe9757]

Truth, That would be, AWESOME.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

So this was basically Trafalgar 2.0 except with more insane people.

[@sparviero142]

Funny how after a millennia the ramming technique came back. Also according to some legend the admiral Tegetthoff that had studied in Venice as ramming order said "daghe dentro, Nino, che i butemo a fondi!" that is Venetian dialect and basically mean "go on Nino that we will sink them"

[@21owlgirl72]

*Ancient sailors souls watching the battle, nodding proudly as all the ships ram eachother*

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

@7:30 Helmsman: " But sir! Our ship is wooden and theirs is iron!" Captain: "I don't give a F*********************CK!!!!!!"

[@matthewmoser1284]

This battle is probably the closest to sounding like a tavern brawl I've ever heard...

[@nektulosnewbie]

No, it's the closest to Battlefleet Gothic.

[@reynardus1359]

Tegetthoff - total commitment to the cause, balls to the wall admiral.

[@virusguy5611]

... you know, you may have started with machine voice, but listening to your voice narrating naval battles is quite relaxing. You should totally do more.

[@ropersf]

Glad to see you are making videos on this period. There seems to be very little media on naval warfare between Trafalgar and Jutland.

[@JAAGen01]

Tegetthoff: *Rams Re d'Italia* Tegetthoff : Wanna see me do it again?

[@claypidgeon4807]

This is like one of those WoWs random matches where all the scrubs managed to get lumped together on one team.

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

The WoWs with ironclads would be kinda badass. No hugging map border or sending waves upon waves of aircraft at the enemy, you have to come close and fight like a man.

[@seanbruce8294]

Italy’s WW2 surface fleet: We have the most embarrassing defeats! Italy’s fleet at the Battle of Lissa: Hold my pasta!

[@triumphbobberbiker]

Singapore 1942, THAT was embarassing

[@Halinspark]

I lost all hope for the Italians when it was decided "Im going to move my flag at the most inconvenient time, after already causing confusion, and not tell you all that I'm doing it."

[@99IronDuke]

Excellent. I hope you do more of this kind of thing.

[@benlaskowski357]

"Perhaps today IS a good day to die!" . . .said Tegetthof.

[@richardscales9560]

how on earth does a 'professionallly ' crewed ship neglect to load shot into any of their guns! bizarre

[@kreol1q1q]

By not being professionally crewed. A lot of the Italian fleet's personnel was conscripted, and the Navy itself had an almost non-existen naval tradition, to the extent that the Austrians had more of a naval background, thanks to the Battle of Helgoland and the ownership of Venice.

[@ErichZornerzfun]

Italy had only unified a few years earlier and at the time only had two small coastal ironclads, a few frigates, and gunboats most of which weren't manned in peace time. They then rapidly expanded the navy over a few years while trying to merge 4 different naval traditions and academies together. Honestly I am surprised they performed as well as they did.

[@calvingreene90]

Bad training. They either only did saluting fire or to save money they didn't load shot when training.

[@spikespa5208]

Can understand one or even several soldiers forgetting to load a round, but a whole f_____g crew?!?

[@elemperadordemexico]

"professional"

[@dflatt1783]

Legend has it that the modern Austrian Navy still have ramming prows attached to their capital ships.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

Mountaingoing capital ships no less.

[@Melneepies]

It's astonishing that Gilbert & Sullivan never made an operetta out of this farcical tragedy. I own that the best part is the crew of the Ancona forgetting to put ammunition in their cannons before firing. One can just imagine the aftermath with mass furrowed foreheads, quizzical raising of eyebrows before someone facepalmed exclaiming "Err! Don't there things need shells?"

[@Diego-zz1df]

"Guns loaded, captain!" "Excellent, prepare to fire!" "And what do we do with the big metal balls?" "Wait, wha-"

[@jonskowitz]

Train as you fight, fight as you train. Anyone else think all these poor bastards were allowed to do is fire signal shots in training to save money?

[@PatMzongo]

I read that to order the first ramming, Teghetthoff yelled in the Venetian dialect at his helmsman: « Daghe dentro, Nino ! Che i buttimo a fondi ! » While being really cool it also highlights that the Austrian sailors were very multicultural and counted many northeastern Italians

[@maxart3392]

Bear in mind that most of the sailors on the Austrian ships were Istrians or Dalmatians (mainly Croatians) with some folks from Trieste and surroundings (Slovenians and Italians), but no matter what their nationality was, most of them were familiar with Italian language, or more exactly, Venetian dialect. The enviroment itself was multicultural at the time.

[@ssejr01]

I wonder if the British Captain of HMS Dreadnought was thinking of this battle when a rammed an enemy submarine lol

[@Diego-zz1df]

"Captain, submarine ahead! What shall we do?" "Let's pull a Tegetthoff!"

[@josynaemikohler6572]

At first maybe. A few seconds later he was probably "Oh shit, we gonna hit Temeraire, and I get court martialed" (Luckily, they narrowly avoided hitting each other... which would have been the most embarrasing wartime incident for the royal navy, and only losing TWO battleships trying to sink a submarine).

[@robruss62]

Avenging Aboukir, Hogue and Cressey

[@craighagenbruch3800]

*insert oprah einfrys vice here* You get a ram, you get a ram AND You Get a ram EVERY BODY GETS RAMMED!!!!

[@attilarischt2851]

Huh, youtube recommended this video almost a year later than it was made. That said, while I most definitely can't say anyithing about the naval stuff, I can tell you that It was not yet Austria-Hungary until a year later if I recall, it was merely Austria.

[@markhonerbaum3920]

Listening twice I understand it's value and learned a great deal, and I thank you.

[@hajoos.8360]

Battle of Svensksund in 1790 would be worth a video. It was the biggest sea-battle ever in the Baltics. The most talented englishman at sea in the Nelson era, Sidney Smith, was an adviser to the Swedish king and was knighted by him. This caused him a lot of trouble, because many british officers on half pay served in the Russian navy, which was heavily superiour in comparison to the Swedes. On the Russian side 6 British officers were killed in action. This shows effectively the ability of Sidney Smith, who commanded the Swedish light division, to win a battle against a clear superiourity with many British officers on the opponents side. This is performance and was not Nelson's shooting against French clay pigeons.

[@novatopaz9880]

It’s the 7:38 hard knock life, for us. It’s the 8:25 hard knock life, for us Insteada treated 4:47 we get tricked(RIP Poor Italia) Insteada kisses 5:35 we get kicked It’s the 9:05 hard knock life! (RIP Poor Italia V.2) I would continue this, but I don’t want to be writing for half an hour, and I think I did enough memeing for today with this, lol.

[@nerowulfee9210]

*Battlefleet Gothic Armada.mp4*

[@larsrons7937]

This is the funniest video of naval history I've seen since your video on the voyage of the Russian Baltic fleet (before battle of Tsushima). Sometimes I wonder "why didn't they just sink their own ships back in port and stayed safely at home?"

[@slavkovalsky1671]

A great video, with one nitpick (and apologies for voicing it here): It's Teghett-hoff - with a "hard" "g" (as in "guess") and a "t-h" (as in "get help")... The way it is pronounced (which could be spelled "Teggezzoff" in Italian), it made me wonder "who's that Italian guy?" nearly every time :-)

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

Presumably he said so because automatic vocalizers pronounce ut as succh.

[@electricdreams8237]

Frankly his pronunciation sounded russian to me... Really, a historian should be mindful of things like pronunciation. It gives a... tardy impression, almost disrespectful. And it's not like so hard to figure out. It's a german name from a german-speaking country. Just pronounce it with german pronunciation rules which are really really simple. I really don't know why the english have so much trouble with pronouncing foreign names - most of the world uses logical rules for spelling and pronunciation. Perhaps the reason is the completely illogical and rule-less english spelling? English native speakers simply break out in cold sweat when encountering a written word they haven't seen yet and learned to pronounce by rote, and it never ever even occurs to them they can just simply pronounce it the way it is written according to just a few simple and logical rules? I'm not german-speaking and I can pronounce Tegetthoff perfectly just by reading it aloud. Really, what is wrong with english native speakers? Tegett-hoff, exactly as it is written.

[@georgschenkfilm]

Slav Kovalsky made me cringe... Just like "meshersmitt" 😖

[@hannesbaumann8509]

Te-get-hoff

[@seno5530]

As in „get help“ ;-)

[@21owlgirl72]

What a cool era and battle. I think this is my new favorite.

[@donfelipe7510]

Two nations which had little to no naval tradition or experienced officer class having at each other. You are also right though, the scene in War of the Worlds with HMS Thunderchild is awesome, its a great shame that no movies of this sci-fi classic that are set in the same time as the book intended have been made. On a side note though there was a ship in Star Trek called USS Thunderchild as a homage...got to love a bit trivia.

[@donfelipe7510]

Interesting to note that gunfire at this point was ineffective against the armour on some ships so more basic tactics like ramming were employed. I wonder if the study of ancient Greek and Roman texts in public schools amongst the upper classes had something to do with this as ramming was a well known tactic in classical naval battles. Just a random musing.

[@Drachinifel]

Naval designers had already started thinking about it as a number of ironclads already had ran bows. Affondatore was even specifically designed for the purpose, although ironically ended up not actually ramming anyone.

[@ErichZornerzfun]

It was actually the Imperial-royal Austro-Venetian navy and was really just a continuation of the old Venetian navy. Venetian was still the command language of the navy for that matter.

[@marinusvonzilio9628]

Not to mention that a large portion of the crews on the Austrian side were Dalmatian Croats, who had centuries of service in both the Venetian and Ragusian navies, the very reason Venice took Dalmatia in the first place was to neutralise the threat its skilled pirates posed to Venetian shipping.

[@ErichZornerzfun]

@Harry Lagom KuK Donnerkind?

[@Weesel71]

Very interesting photo at 11:40. Looks like dual bow rudders for added maneuverability. I never knew about that feature.

[@Drachinifel]

Yep, torpedo rams needed all the agility they could get

[@rockyblacksmith]

@@Drachinifel Could it be that those rudders are explicitly there for the ship going backwards? I can't think of any other ship that has this feature, even though other ships could use agility. But a ram has to go backwards in the middle of a fight, so as to not get stuck in it's (hopefully sinking) enemy. And those rudders would allow them to remain maneuverable while driving in reverse.

[@dcorbin5779]

Thank you again sir for making a mundane work day into a naval history lesson.:)

[@dyak0]

Fun fact: a grandson of Captain von Petz (of SMS Kaiser) was stepfather of Freddy Quinn (a famous German singer), whose surname would become Nidl-Petz. No wonder Freddy Quinn is so much into sea songs!

[@anonymusum]

I expected the Kamschatka to enter the scene any moment.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Changing your flag in the face of the enemy is rarely a good idea.

[@collins.4380]

All right, since no one else has said it... YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISSA!!!!!!

[@nessuno1948]

He said: Daghe dentro Nane! which means : Ram it Nane! (the name of the venetian helmsman)

[@craigkdillon]

Actually, we may have to build ships in the US Navy with rams. This is because in challenging China in the South China Sea, the Chinese often try to ram our ships. We don't want to respond with weaponry, because that could lead to a real war. By ramming them, we can always say, "Oops, you zigged, while I zagged, so sorry."

[@tedbaxter5234]

Winners and losers - sometimes can’t tell which is which until the smoke clears and time passes. Fascinating!

[@brianspendelow840]

Yes that was well worth waiting for. Thank you for explaining that if you have a choice between a stupid Admiral and one that is crazy, it's better to take crazy. From the same era could you please do something on the cruise of the CSS Alabama. She escaped from Britain to become the greatest commerce raider the world has ever known, at a time when nobody knew what to call such ships. In other ways it is an old fashioned story. It ws the last example of one captain challenging another to single ship combat.

[@markdavis2475]

Great vid thanks! Almost surreal to see Nelson era wooden warships in the company of steam-powered ironclads!

[@burgundian777]

Admiral Persano, the guy that makes Marshal Cadorna look good.

[@sarjim4381]

Captain von Tegetthoff to his chief gunner's mate. "You had one job..."

[@malcolmtaylor518]

Joking aside, we need to be more understanding about this battle. By the time it took place there had been nearly a decade of massive technological progress in naval ships and equipment. It was probably out running any idea about how to use them decisively in battle. Fleets of samples were becoming the norm after the initial broadside ironclad. Armoured ships were seen as invulnerable to canon fire at that stage, so ramming was seen as the decisive factor. This battle demonstrated how warships free to manoeuvre, could be difficult targets for ramming. The Austrians just adopted the old slug-it out tactic of head on attack followed by close melee. The Italians were probably expecting to be a bit more creative and modern. The battle was inconclusive and afterwards fleets of samples were still the norm. We should respect the men on either side, they were pioneers, inventing modern naval tactics and strategy by trial and error. We still stand in their shoes today, mightier men of old. Thanks for the video.

[@RadioactiveSherbet]

I think Persano deserved to be taken outside and unceremoniously shot more rather than court martialed for incompetence. Hilarious video. By the way, after one of your Drydock episodes, I decided to give World of Warships a try.

[@s.31.l50]

Kurtis Boyer You should really try Atlantic Fleet, great turn-based game to simulate ww2 naval battles in the Atlantic.

[@murderouskitten2577]

have you ever heard of competrnt italian naval comander in combat ? i sure have not 😀😁😂

[@murderouskitten2577]

@Harry Lagom naval speciql operwtions is npt really tha same thing :)

[@elcastorgrande]

@@murderouskitten2577 Costanzo Ciano, Bakar raid, 1918. Although his torpedoes never got through, the Austrians were humiliated.

[@Rob.DB.]

It's 2020,2 years since the WOWS comment....do u still play & if so then, how do u like how OP CV's are? WG , "We make great games & then destroy them with our greed!"

[@nigeldeforrest-pearce8084]

Excellent and Outstanding!!! Thank You!

[@nessuno1948]

The irony is that the Venetian people fought against Italy at Lissa.

[@StarTrekLives]

Awesome coverage.

[@davidpartridge2675]

Brilliant summary of a mad sea action l loved it more please regards from David a huge fan of yours

[@fernandomarques5166]

"RAMMING SPEED!" battle. Lol

[@hajoos.8360]

Good short vid. The Lissa battle is a synonym for the entire history of the british navy. Countries which depend on a good leadership at sea send the best guys into the naval forces, and not any Coffee-house heroes.

[@hafizfirliansyah7784]

Early Ironclads(Broadside Ironclads):Mid-1830s To Early 1860s(Particurlary 1862) Late-Advanced Ironclads(Turret Ironclads):Early 1860s(Particurlary 1862)-Mid/Late 1890s.

[@andro7862]

My ancestros fought there. I only feel pride when people mention it because it was the beginning of our fight for our coastline against Italy. Greetings from Croatia.

[@elisabettamacghille4623]

Yes but we have to consider that the Italian "fleet" was actually a new creation formed by the old Borbonic navy and by the Sardinian navy which was very small even though modern, and we have even to think that a lot of the officers of the newborn nation were still a mix of two naval traditions which less than ten years before were still mortal enemies. If we don't consider that after just 10 years after the unification Italy was barely a nation and for sure its army and navy weren't ready for an international conflict, we will never understand what happened at Lissa, but since a lot of people prefer comics rather than history I don'add any further comment and say thanks for the interesting video about a very interesting battle anf a class of ships often forgotten.

[@irohaboat]

"That's it for this video. But that's not my line, is it?"

[@Yak9741]

A clever, well researched, and humorous analysis. Well done! Would you consider doing a battle analysis thing on a regular basis?

[@Drachinifel]

It will definitely be a recurring feature in the special videos on Wednesdays, not every week though as there are other topics that need covering in that format.

[@madijeis4320]

It is also said that Teggethoff was yelling orders in german but hurling blasphemies (bestemmie) in Venetian dialect because the Austro-Hungarian naval academy was in Venice.

[@willcaputo1]

"PERHAPS TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!" Admiral Teghettoff. Probably.

[@JAAGen01]

You should cover the 1811 battle of Lissa eventually. Something in the water there just makes people win against massive odds.

[@jazeroth322]

Brilliant work! Loved the video.

[@tomhutchins7495]

Tegetthof's order of the day was "rush on the enemy and sink him". Appropriate and effective.

[@stevelalley6194]

Thank you so much for that.

[@sjTHEfirst]

Q&A You should do an episode about the thunderchild.

[@Martin071982]

the most hillarious battle in the history - my first thought: where is the kamchatka?

[@SephirothRyu]

It was there in spirit. All that smoke cluttering up the vision makes for a great place for a time traveling ghost of a ship to hide.

[@klobiforpresident2254]

I was listening to this when playing the low tier War Thunder ships. Man, they are hilarious, and I wonder if ramming speed would make for a decent tactic - better than just drifting about, putting on a laser show with tracers.

[@ronaldthompson4989]

Sadly, ramming does almost nothing in WarThunder except to planes :(

[@savytraveler790]

When heard about Italian presence in Lissa ( Vis ) vicinity, admiral Von Tegetthoff personally urged locals, even fisherman to join to defenders. From 8000 Austrian sailors, some 5000 were Croatians. Nikola Karkovic was the sailor that captured Italian flag as a trophy, from the Italian commanding ship.

[@zali13]

"WITNESS MEEEEEE!!!"

[@stevebarrett9357]

I vividly remember that 'scene' in Well's book with the HMS Thundercloud more so than any other scene he painted with words.

[@martinantell5286]

Intresting as always, what about the Finnish 10" coastal defenders Wainamoinen and Ilmarinen?

[@TheXeldrak]

Tegethof FTW!

[@darkhorse13golfgaming]

So basically, as the description of this battle unfolded I heard, faintly at first but growing ever louder, the distinctive sound of the Benny Hill song..

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

At this point it was just the Austrian Empire. The Ausgliech was negotiated in 1869.

[@alfredttarski4521]

You beat me to it! But the Ausgleich was actually in 1867.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

@@alfredttarski4521 I stand corrected.

[@bryanfields5563]

Interesting video, thanks! The close-up picture of the ram at the 11:37 mark is interesting - it looks like there are two small "rudders" just behind the ram structure - is that what they are meant to be?

[@rockyblacksmith]

I think those are actual rudders. Remember, after a ramming attack, the ship has to go backwards to disingage (so as to not be dragged under by the sinking enemy). And as there's probably still a fight going on around the ship, it might need some maneuverability while going in reverse. And since the stern rudders are behind the screws (meaning ahead of them while going backwards), they won't be much use for that. So they just put additional rudders at the bow explicitly for going backwards.

[@TheAsakararen]

i bet there was a lot of "how do you fuck that up" coming form the Italian public

[@michalpavlat3943]

Good to know that most the sailors and most the lower-rank officers in the Austrian fleet were in fact Venetians. And Venetian was the language in which all the commands were given on Austrian ships of that time. Anyway: Gott erhalte Franz, den Kaiser, Unsern guten Kaiser Franz!

[@Yamato980]

More than 50% of sailors where Croats. Venetian influence in the navy ended with 1848 Venetian uprising against Austria. In 1849 uprising ended by complete submission to Austrian rule after which the navy was subject to extensive reorganization. Duch admiral Hans Birch von Dahlerup was appointed for Commander in Chief and officers where drawn from German and Nordic countries. Italian (Venetian) language as commanding language is replaced with German language, ship names are Germanized and main fleet base was transferred from Venice to Pula. All those structural changes effectively removed Venetian of any significant influence in Austrian navy. Obviously personnel still knew and used Venetian but not in same level as before.

[@daloxar1263]

First I wanna mention that, Ferdinand Max wasn't even fully operational(finished in 1867). Second to make is sound a little less crazy the ships of that time had bows made for ramming since cannons where lacking power Third I dont know if true or not acording to some Austriansources Krupp deliverd the Guns but they where sent back because the didn't pass quality control anyway thanks for the ton of stuff I learnd in all your vids

[@Bufoferrata]

12:03 sinking of HMS Victoria after colliding with HMS Camperdown in 1893. OOPS!

[@chrisheyn3689]

Excellent review as ever could you review my Dad's frigate when you can on which I was cristianed HMS Salisbury

[@larsrons7937]

Also funny is the later uploaded video of Drachinifel - _'The Adriatic Campaign in WW1 - Battles a Lissa bit smaller'_