Unification left Italy with an unready fleet

The Austrian fleet was multilingual, but its officers and crews had served together longer. Because the navy ranked below the army in prestige, capable middle-class officers had more room to advance, even though patronage still mattered. The newly unified Italian navy inherited ships, officers, and command habits from states whose fleets had expected to fight one another. Political pressure to represent and balance those former states complicated leadership appointments. Persano had spent recent years in administration and politics, including service as minister of marine, before returning to sea during the Third Italian War of Independence. He then described a fleet that was poorly repaired, barely trained, and badly organised.