Hi!
I confess that this is a copy of LordBest's idea to share
his beautiful medals.
Most of us don't even know that
Austria formerly was a naval power too. But Triest was it's big war harbour.
During the war between the
German Confederation (Prussia, several
German states and
Austria) and Danmark 1864 a naval battle was fight at Heligoland in the Northsea. The armada of the confederates stood under the command of von Tegetthoff. The result was a tactical
victory for Danmark because von Tegetthoff
had to retire with
his burning ship to Heligoland which belonged to the neutral
England. But both sides celebrated this battle as own
victory, which hadn't any effect because 3 days later the war was lost for Danmark. This naval battle was the last one with only wooden
ships and the last one of Danmark at all.
The naval battle of Lissa (in the Adria) was fought 1866 during the Third War of
Italian Independence (Risorgimento) between the
Italian and the Austrian armada under von Tegetthoff. It was a big
success for von Tegetthoff against the much bigger
Italian armada because he
had directed
his ships much more effectively and courageously than
his counterpart. He used rammming and has armed some of
his ships provisorily as ironclads. It was the last naval battle using ramming and the first with ironclads. But like the battle above this
victory had no effect to the outcome of the war. Because Prussia - in war with the
German Confederation under the leadership of
Austria - has defeated
Austria at Königgrätz the war ended with a
victory of Prussia over the
German Confederation and
Italy was united.
The
medal is cut in the usually bombastic
style of the 19th century. It shows on the
rev. Victory riding l. on a seahorse over the waves, holding
wreath and
palm.
Best regards
