The Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912 is often treated as a curtain-raiser for the Balkan Wars and World War I — a conflict in which Italy seized Ottoman Tripolitania (modern Libya) while the great powers of Europe watched anxiously and calculated what it meant for the balance of power. Italy had watched France take Algeria and Morocco and wanted its own piece of North Africa. The Ottoman government rejected the Italian ultimatum on 28 September. The following afternoon, war began.

In the Adriatic and Ionian seas, the Ottoman Navy maintained a small anti-smuggling force of torpedo boats dispersed along the Albanian coast, patrolling between Preveza, Gomenitza, and Durazzo. The Preveza detachment included the torpedo boats Tokad and Antalya, an armed yacht called Trablus, and two small gunboats. Their orders to seek refuge in neutral Austro-Hungarian ports arrived too late. Italy's Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, commanding the Division of the Torpedo Boat Inspector with the rank of rear admiral, had planned exactly for this.

Commander Guido Biscaretti di Ruffia led five Italian destroyers north up the coast. About an hour after the declaration of war, they spotted Tokad and Antalya steaming northwest between Preveza and Corfu, apparently unaware that hostilities had begun. The Italians opened fire. Heavily outnumbered, the Ottoman vessels split: Tokad ran north, Antalya turned south toward the safety of Preveza harbor.

Three Italian destroyers chased Tokad. They forced her aground near Nicopolis — directly onto the ancient ruins — after scoring fifteen hits. Nine men were killed aboard Tokad, including her captain. They were the war's first naval casualties. Antalya made the harbor, and the Ottoman 210 mm shore batteries fired 76 shells to cover her withdrawal without hitting a single Italian vessel. The first day's action ended with Tokad beached, Antalya in port, and the Italians offshore considering their next move.

Amedeo then issued an ultimatum: surrender Antalya within twenty-four hours or face bombardment. Before the deadline expired, however, Austro-Hungarian diplomatic protests had forced the Italian government to forbid further operations in the region, and Amedeo was recalled.

Unwilling to attempt a forced entry into the defended harbor at Preveza, the Italian destroyers turned north the following morning to Gomenitza, where two more Ottoman torpedo boats — Alpagot and Hamidiye — lay at anchor, along with the armed yacht Trablus, which was undergoing boiler repairs. An Italian officer went ashore the previous evening to reconnoiter.

Early on 30 September, three destroyers entered the harbor and opened fire on the anchored torpedo boats. The Ottoman crews had no time to respond. Alpino came alongside Trablus, whose crew had tried to scuttle her by opening the seacocks. The Italians boarded, closed the seacocks, cut her moorings, and prepared to tow her out as a prize. While the boarding party worked, Ottoman civilians in the town opened fire on them. Corazziere responded by shelling the town, which ended the shooting. The engagement lasted approximately forty-five minutes. Both Ottoman torpedo boats were sunk; Trablus was taken.

The Italian actions set off a diplomatic crisis that dwarfed the military engagement. Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal summoned the Italian ambassador to object, characterizing the raids as a "flagrant breach" of Italian promises to keep the war confined to the Mediterranean. He threatened "serious consequences." Austria-Hungary believed Italy was exploiting the conflict to gain influence in Ottoman Albania, which had been in revolt for over a year.

Italy's Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti ordered Amedeo to stand down. The Italian government feared that further provocations might trigger an Austro-Hungarian occupation of Durazzo, or worse, a general European crisis among the great powers. Despite pressure from Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria — all of whom wanted to join the war against the Ottomans — Italy pulled back. The Balkan League declared war on the Ottomans on 18 October 1912, the same day the Treaty of Ouchy ended the Italo-Turkish War.

A follow-up incident on 5 October, when an Italian boarding party came under Ottoman fire near an Austro-Hungarian vessel, further strained relations. Italy formally apologized on 7 October. That apology, and the Austro-Hungarian interference that prompted it, were cited by Antonio Salandra's government when Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in 1915.

The three vessels that started everything had different ends. Tokad, beached near Nicopolis, was salvaged by the Greek Navy after the First Balkan War brought Preveza under Greek control in 1912. Repaired and recommissioned, she served as Totoi. Antalya, which had made it to harbor and survived the war in Preveza, was also seized by Greece and commissioned under the name Nikopolis — a small irony, the ship named for the ancient city that bore witness to so much of this region's layered history. Trablus, the captured yacht, was later commissioned into the Italian fleet as Capitano Verri, serving in that capacity until 1926.