The approach to the Italian line appeared to demonstrate the value of guns firing forward, and later designers drew that conclusion from one of the few peer-fleet actions available to them. That reading discounted how Italian command failure spared Tegetthoff's approaching wedge from the fire it should have faced. Exercises with Dreadnought and later ships soon showed that a head-on rush was not the normal tactical expectation, reducing the attraction of extra forward guns and wing turrets. Nelson and Rodney later returned to a concentrated forward battery, with six guns able to fire directly ahead.
Notable Point · 43:52-50:05
How Lissa encouraged forward-firing gun layouts
Lissa was interpreted as proof that fleets needed heavy fire directly ahead, even though its decisive failures were command and training failures.