Tegetthoff's wedge exploits Italian disunity

Tegetthoff arranged the Austrian force as nested wedges, with armoured ships leading and less capable vessels following. The formation struck an Italian line that was divided physically and institutionally; Albini's division did not fire, while other commanders lacked a consistent signal to act. Austria's victory led to Tegetthoff's promotion, while Persano was condemned for incompetence and stripped of rank. This makes Lissa difficult to treat as a clean test of weapons, yet contemporaries still treated it as the only apparent peer-on-peer ironclad battle available, unlike a Warrior-versus-Gloire encounter they expected to be unequal.