What did a naval battle look like during the period where fleets contained both sail-powered and steam-powered vessels?

by Helicase21

Pretty much as the title suggests: I know there was a relatively brief period of overlap, but I don't know anything about how tactics might have worked in any encounters that did take place.

davratta

The battle of Lissa, in 1866, was the only major naval battle where steam powered iron clad warships engaged ships that looked like traditional wooden sailing ships. Although the wooden ships also had steam engines and screw propellers, they were also fully rigged sailing vessels. There are quite a few paintings portraying this battle and a small number of photographs, showing the damage done to the ships that survived this battle.
This website illustrates the battle of Lissa. It also provides a full bibliography of the battle between the Italian and Austrian fleets. The most notable feature of this battle was, most of the ships that were sunk, only did so after they were rammed by an enemy ship. This distorted naval tactics for the next 34 years and caused many navies to build armored rams, in a futile attempt to replicate the battle of Lissa in a potential future naval engagement. By 1900, it was obvious that naval technology had improved to the point, that armored rams were more dangerous to the other ships in navies that owned them, than they would be to any opposing ships. Guns grew more powerful and ships became faster, making ramming attacks far less likely to work in any future battle.
http://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/lissab.htm