Here orderly formation ended, and only the more striking episodes stand out in a desperate close combat, during which the black ships of Austria and the gray of Italy rammed or fired into each other amid a smother of smoke and spray. The Austrian left flank and rear held up the Italian van; the Austrian ironclads engaged the Italian center; and the wooden ships of the Austrian middle division, led by the 92-gun _Kaiser_, smashed into the Italian rear. Of all the Austrian ships, the big _Kaiser_, a relic of other days, saw the hardest fighting. Twice she avoided the _Affondatore's_ ram, and she was struck by one of her 300-pound projectiles. Then the _Re di Portogallo_ bore down, but Petz, the _Kaiser's_ captain, rang for full speed ahead and steered for the ironclad, striking a glancing blow and scraping past her, while both ships poured in a heavy fire. The _Kaiser_ soon afterward drew out of the action, her foremast and funnel down, and a bad blaze burning amidships. Altogether she fired 850 rounds in the action, or about one-fifth of the total fired by the Austrians, and she received 80 hits, again one-fifth of the total. Of the 38 Austrians killed and 138 wounded in the battle, she lost respectively 24 and 75. The _Kaiser's_ combat, though more severe, was typical of what was going on elsewhere. The Italian gunboat _Palestro_ was forced to withdraw to fight a fire that threatened her magazines. The _Re d'Italia_, which was at first supposed by the Austrians to be Persano's flagship, was a center of attack and had her steering gear disabled. As she could go only straight ahead or astern, the Austrian flagship seized the chance and rammed her squarely amidships at full speed, crashing through her armor and opening an immense hole. The Italian gunboat heeled over to starboard, then back again, and in a few seconds went down, with a loss of 381 men. This spectacular incident practically decided the battle. After an hour's fighting the two squadrons drew apart about noon, the Austrians finally entering St. Giorgio harbor and the Italians withdrawing to westward. During the retreat the fire on the _Palestro_ reached her ammunition and she blew up with a loss of 231 of her crew. Except in the two vessels destroyed, the Italian losses were slight--8 killed and 40 wounded. But the armored ships were badly battered, and less than a month later the _Affondatore_ sank in a squall in Ancona harbor, partly, it was thought, owing to injuries received at Lissa.