These operations on the Tridentine frontier, though not without a real importance, passed almost unnoticed in the excitement which attended the first calamitous appearance of United Italy as a naval power.

When invited to assume the command of the Italian fleet, Admiral Persano twice refused; it was only when the King pressed upon him a third invitation that he weakly accepted a charge to which he felt himself unequal.  He had been living in retirement for some years, and neither knew nor was known by most of the officers and men whom he was now to command.  The fleet under his orders comprised thirty-three vessels, of which twelve were ironclads.  The Austrian fleet numbered twenty-seven ships, including seven ironclads.  When the war broke out, both fleets were far from ready for active service; but, while the Austrian Admiral Tegethoff said nothing, but worked night and day at Pola to make his ships and his men serviceable, Persano despatched hourly lamentable reports to the Minister of Marine, without finding the way to bring about a change for the better.  He wasted time in minutiae, and took into his head to paint all the Italian ships a light grey, which was of the greatest use to the Austrians in the battle of Lissa, as it enabled them to distinguish between them and their own dark-coloured ships.

After long delaying at Taranto, Persano brought his fleet to Ancona; and, two days later, Tegethoff appeared in front of that town—­not knowing, it seems, that the Italian squadrons had arrived.  Tegethoff was bound on a simple reconnaissance, and, after firing a few shots, he sailed away.  On this occasion, Persano issued orders so hesitating and confused that the Austrian admiral must have correctly gauged the capacity of the man opposed to him, while the superior officers of the Italian fleet were filled with little less than dismay.  A strong effort was made to induce Depretis to supersede Persano then and there; he promised to do so, but it is said that the fear of offending the King prevented him.  Instead, he set about showering instructions on the admiral, the worth of which may be easily imagined.  The mistrust felt by the fleet in its commander invaded all ranks; and if it did not break out in open insubordination, it deprived officers and men of all confidence in the issue of the campaign.

Left to himself, Persano would have stayed quietly at Ancona, but the imperative orders of a cabinet council, presided over by the King, forced him to take some action.  Against the advice of Admiral Albini, but in agreement with another admiral, Vacca, Persano decided to attack the fortified island of Lissa, on the Dalmatian coast.  Though Lissa is a strong position, the usual comparison of it with Gibraltar is exaggerated.  It ought to have been possible to land the Italian troops which Persano had with him under cover of his guns, and to take the island before Tegethoff came up.  The surf caused by the rough weather, to which he chiefly attributed his failure, would not have proved an insuperable obstacle had the ships’ crews been exercised in landing troops under similar circumstances.