The battle of Lissa took place on July 20th 1866 between the Austrian and Italian fleets as part of the Austro-Prussian War. The battle occurred when Italy, Prussian ally, decided to conquer the island of Lissa to ensure a better negotiating position in that war. Austria could not remain indifferent to the Italian pretensions towards their territory, which resulted in the battle of Lissa. At the helm of the Italian fleet was Carlo Pellion di Persano while the Austrian fleet was led by Wilhelm von Tegetthoff. Although at the beginning of the battle, Italy looked to be the likely winner, with more manpower and modern fleet, they were defeated after only 6h of battle. Battle of Lissa did not have crucial impact on the final outcome of the Austro-Prussian War, but in history it has been recorded by some of its other specifics. It’s most important peculiarity first of all is that it was the first battle of armoured ships in history. For the national history it is important because it prevented the success of Italian pretensions towards our coast and in particular contributed to the awakening of national consciousness of Croats in Dalmatia which in large numbers participated in the battle.