 The Austrians believed their ships to have less effective guns than their enemy , so decided to engage the Italians at close range and ram them . The Austrian fleet formed into an <unk> formation with the ironclads in the first line , charging at the Italian ironclad squadron . In the <unk> which followed both sides were frustrated by the lack of damage inflicted by guns , and by the difficulty of <unk> — nonetheless , the effective <unk> attack being made by the Austrian flagship against the Italian attracted great attention in following years . 
