Why early warships retained ram bows

Why did early ironclads retain ram bows after sailing ships had stopped relying on ramming?

Lissa made ramming appear tactically decisive, so designers preserved rams and forward weapons as a contingency if gunnery failed.

The ram bow survived because the Battle of Lissa strongly influenced late-nineteenth-century naval thinking. Its steam-ramming episode made a rare tactical event look like a dependable fallback. Designers consequently retained projecting bows and arranged some weapons for forward fire. Officers wanted an additional option if ordinary gunnery failed, even though ramming had not become consistently effective.