Mr. Clay to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose, in a separate envelope, three numbers of Garretta Ufficial, containing two reports of General La Marmora of the battle of Custorra, and one report of the battle of Lissa, published by the minister of the marine, from official documents in his possession.
The comparative strength of the combatants in the naval engagement—as far as I have been able to gather from the accounts published on both sides—may be estimated as follows: The Austrian squadron—7 iron-clads, 6 frigates 1 corvette, and 9 gunboats, with 3 paddle-steamers for signals; heaviest guns on board were 48-pounders, smooth-bore, and carrying a solid shot under 70 pounds; the only rifled guns were 24-pounders, carrying elongated shot of 56 pounds. The Italians had 12 iron-clads, (among which the Affondaton, a turret-ship,) 8 frigates, 4 gunboats, and 4 paddle-steamers; some of the guns on board were Armstrong 300-pounders.
The Italian fleet was much superior in numbers, size, and build of ships, and calibre of guns; but superior intelligence and seamanship secured victory to the Austrians.
The Italian admiral has been much censured for leaving the Ré d’ltalia on the eve of the fight and going on board the Affondaton, thereby diminishing the efficiency of the latter vessel, from which so much was expected. The official report only gives the following reason for this act: “It was the first time the new means of naval warfare were to be brought into action; the admiral thought it better he should be out of the line (fuor la lina) on an iron-clad of great velocity, in order to be ready for any emergency in the heat of the battle, to carry the necessary orders to the different points, and manœuvre the forces as the moment demanded. The Affondaton was selected by the admiral for this purpose.
The ship that did most execution of the Austrian squadron was the admiral ship Archduke Ferdinand Max, which is thus described by an English officer who visited the fleet after the battle:
“The Max. 4,500 tons, 800 horse power, crew 512, was originally intended for 32 guns, but was afterwards prepared for 16 guns. Its ram is not solid, but formed by joining together the plates which cover her bows and meet in front. So when she struck, perhaps the first or second time, the plates began to separate, and were after the battle found to be torn away from the prow and their edges curled up away from the wood. The bolts were of course torn out and [Page 117] occasioned the leak, which was easily stopped. This vessel rammed four times and fired 156 shots, all forty-eight-pounders.”
The following extracts are from the same account:
“Though the wind had gone down before the engagement, there was a rolling sea, which was in favor of the Austrians, for it prevented the enemy from shooting straight at distances when their heavy guns might have done much damage. But with regard to the bad shooting of the Italians, there is a great mystery. Numbers of witnesses declare that the guns were frequently fired with powder but no shot, and all assert that the practice was strangely bad.
“The Austrian squadron advanced in three divisions, each shaped like an arrow-head, the ships being in echelon from the centre. Each division had its paddle steamer for repeating the signals, and the admiral’s orders were faithfully reported and answered during the battle, in spite of smoke and excitement; for though the weather was no longer squally, there was breeze enough to carry the smoke away. The divisions were two cables’ length apart from each other, and the whole column went straight forward against the Italian line, till Persano’s manœuvre brought his iron-clads into a new position no longer supported by the frigates.
“The Austrian first division passed through the Italian line of iron-clads between the third and fourth, dividing them into sections which, steering in behind the ships which had broken through, set upon the Kaiser. Tegethoff wheeled around to the left and returned to the succor of the frigates; then came the melée in the midst of which the Ré d’Italia was sunk, the gray color of the Italian ships being the only means of distinguishing friend from foe.
“There has been much speculation among the officers of the fleet at Pola on the subject of the Affondaton’s failure to take or destroy the Kaiser. The general belief seems to be that the turrets were shaken and would not work, and she feared that a successful charge would carry her to the bottom as well as her antagonist. Every one appears to have been astonished at the rapidity with which the Re d’Italia went down, and they say that the ram of a ship must not be too long, as there will not be time enough to extricate it, so that conqueror and conquered must die together like two stags with their antlers locked. And not only so, but a stricken ship rolls over from the blow (even breaking loose her guns, which thus rush across her decks) and swings back again with enormous force, sufficient to break a ram. Now the Affondaton’s ram is thirty feet long, and would be difficult of withdrawal in time to save itself from being broken, or the ship from being sunk; so there may have been reasons for her leaving the crippled Kaiser, who was showing her teeth and claws in a most decided manner, and always ready with a concentrated broadside.
“The general opinion of the officers seemed to be that there should be a fair proportion of rifled guns and smooth-bores on board ship; that their only chance of winning this battle was to push in close and avoid distant engagement; that if one side perseveres in forcing a close battle it is very difficult for the enemy to avoid it, and that if they had possessed breech-loading cannon they could have fired many more rounds, for they were often too close to the enemy to load. But, above all things, ‘concentrate your broadsides and ram when you can’ seems to be the great result of their experience. The smooth-bore guns had some steel projectiles, and the officers say that these must have penetrated or broken into the Italian plates in a mass, and so given rise to the idea that the Austrians carried enormous guns.”
The general conclusion from the results of the engagement is, that fighting between iron-clad ships will undoubtedly be done at close range, as it is in the power of either party to thus defeat the calculations of the artillerists of the enemy. And, hence, experience is in favor of the principles of naval architecture and ordnance as applied in the monitor-build of ships and the Dahlgren gun of large calibre. The main end being to come to close quarters with the enemy [Page 118] and destroy him by mass of metal, or bear down on him and sink him, high velocity and rifled ordnance must yield to weight of metal and invulnerability of ship.
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.