Adriatic Campaign of World War I

Battle of the Adriatic
Part of World War I, Battle of the Mediterranean
The Adriatic Sea (upper right) during World War I, in an Austro-Hungarian map.
Date 1914–1918 Location Adriatic Sea Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Allies:  Regia Marina  Royal Navy  French Navy  Royal Australian Navy United States Navy	Central Powers:  Austro-Hungarian Navy  Kaiserliche Marine

The Adriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought between the Central Powers and the Mediterranean squadrons of Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Italy, Australia and the United States.

First World War naval action in the Adriatic consisted mainly of Austro-Hungarian bombardments of Italy′s eastern coast, and wider-ranging German and Austro-Hungarian submarine forays into the Mediterranean.

Allied forces mainly limited themselves to blockading the Central Powers' navies in the Adriatic, which was successful in regards to surface units, but failed for the U-boats, which found safe harbours and easy passage into and out of the area for the whole of the war. Considered a relatively secondary part of the naval warfare of World War I, it nonetheless tied down significant forces.

The Adriatic campaign was also important because for the first time two new weapons were used successfully in warfare, viz. the human torpedo of Raffaele Rossetti and the MAS torpedo boat of Luigi Rizzo. These small navy vessels sank two Austrian battleships in 1918, SMS Viribus Unitis and Szent István.

On 6 August 1914 an naval agreement was signed, giving France leadership of naval operations in the Mediterranean. The remaining British Mediterranean forces - one armored cruiser, four light cruisers, and 16 destroyers - were placed under the control of the French Mediterranean Fleet, and bases at both Gibraltar and Malta were opened to the French.

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