Ramming sometimes worked under conditions that were hard to reproduce. Civil War rivers and estuaries, along with the Adriatic setting of the Battle of Lissa, restricted maneuver and made avoidance more difficult. In open water, the attacker had to close through gunfire and often needed some degree of surprise. A target with room and control to turn could make the ram glance off or strike at a poor angle. Steam rams therefore belonged among schemes occasionally made successful by luck, not among dependable primary weapons.
Notable Point · 9:36-11:15
Confined waters and luck at Lissa
Successful ramming depended on confined waters, limited maneuvering control, and luck, conditions that offered no sound basis for open-water doctrine.