Monday, from the 00.00 was a war between Italy and Austria Hungary.

• The gunboat Archimedes (commander, 1 ° vessel lieutenant Domenico Cavagnari) stationary in Constantinople, to escape capture leaves the port, enters the Black Sea and moves to Odessa where it will remain until the armistice of Russia with the Central Empires (3 March 1918)
• The Austrian Fleet, coming out in force (three battleships, eight battleships, two explorers, nine destroyers and six torpedo boats) from Pula and Kotor on the night of 23, starts bombarding long stretches and localities from the early morning hours of the Adriatic national coast:
• the explorer Novara and two destroyers are acting against Porto Corsini,
• the battleship Sankt Georg and two torpedoes operate against Rimini where they hit the railway line and damage a train;
• the battleship Zrinyi and two torpedoes taking action against Senigallia. During the return navigation from the action Zrinyi is signaled to bombs from the airship City of Ferrara that do not produce effects;
• the three battleships Viribus Unitis, Prinz Eugen e Tegetthoffthe destroyer Valebit and the torpedo boat 65 T they operate against Ancona where they cause the sinking of the steamers Barbara,Concettina, City of Tripoli and the tugboat Filippo, and damage to shipyards, the city and the railway yard. Losses between civilians and military: 68 dead and about 150 injured;
• the battleship Radetzky and two torpedoes act against Potenza Picena inflicting damage to the station and the railway line;
• the explorer Admiral Spaun it operates against Termoli and Campomarino demolishing a railway bridge over the Sinarca river and damaging railway buildings;
• the destroyer Streiter acts against the Torre Mileto signal station, damaging it;
• two destroyers act against the traffic lights of the Tremiti islands, damaging it;
• the destroyer Lika reconnaissance between the island of Pelagosa and the Gargano bombs the traffic light of Vieste;
• two destroyers operate against Manfredonia damaging the railway station;
• the explorer Heligoland and the destroyers Tatras, Lika, Orjen e It drips they bomb Barletta

Air bombardment actions are carried out on Venice with two seaplanes that drop 11 bombs with minor damage and on Jesi where the airfield is targeted

Italian naval predispositions and first actions:

• The destroyers of the 3rd Squadron of Venice - Bersagliere (squad leader and commander, frigate captain Roberto Lubelli), Corazziere e Zephyr they reach Grado and Porto Buso at dawn, with the task of sinking enemy ships, cannoning military installations and cutting the telegraph cable between Grado and Cittanova d'Istria. The first two units cannonade a barracks in Grado but are unable to trace the telegraphic cable and therefore return to Venice; the Zephyr (commander, captain of corvette Arturo Ciano) goes up the access channel to Porto Buso, cannonades a barracks and an observation tower destroying some boats and making prisoners 48. He returned unharmed in the evening in Venice
• The Submarine Jantina (commander, lieutenant Colombo Tarò) of the 1st Squadron of Venice reaches the ambush area south of Rovinj (Istria) where it remains in ambush for the whole day, then returning without having sighted the enemy ship;
• The explorer Bedroom (commander, frigate captain Ugo Nicastro) and the destroyers of the 1st Squadron - animoso (commander and chief squadron, frigate captain Augusto Genoese Zerbi), Ardito (commander, corvette captain Gustavo Caccia) e Boldness (commander, corvette captain Giuseppe Cantù) - having left Brindisi, after having made an incursion into the Gulf of Drin, they carry out a surveillance cruise off the coast of Cattaro;
• The destroyers Boreas (commander, corvette captain Paolo Pontremoli) ed I hope(commander, corvette captain Spiridione Bellavita) of the 5th Squadron, after having towed the submarines to the staging areas in front of the base in Cattaro Nereide (commander, corvette captain Carlo del Greco) e Velella (commander, Lieutenant Vincenzo de Feo) of the 3rd Squadron, return to Brindisi. Here, at the end of the mission on the morning of the 26th, the two boats will also return which, despite having sighted several enemy units, were not able to move to launch position due to their reduced speed;
• In the Lower Adriatic, off the Gargano, the destroyer Impeller (commander, captain of corvette Luigi Bianchi) on a surveillance cruise engages in combat against destroyersTatras e It drips, which with the Lika andOrjen they were escort to the explorer Heligoland, all destined to bomb Barletta. In the clash the Impeller has the worst and sinks (at the end of the fight the commander, seriously injured, and a part of the crew are taken prisoner; the fallen are 15. Commander Bianchi and his second, vessel lieutenant Mario Ferrari, with decree of 10 August 1919 will be awarded the silver medal for military value, the first medals to value decreed) fighting for about two hours, until the ammunition is exhausted
• The cruiser Libya (commander, frigate captain Roberto Andrioli Stagno) and auxiliary cruiser City of Syracuse (commander, frigate captain Roberto Petrelluzzi) of the Explorers Division perform an incursion from Brindisi to the island of Pelagosa (Palagruza), with the aim of capturing any garrison that may be present. At 05 a department of 42 men is landed, including some engineer-miners, who scour the island without finding any enemy soldiers. Before re-embarking the personnel, in the late morning the two units leave the island to bring relief to the crew of the destroyer Turbine. The Italian intervention leads to the removal of enemy units and, while the City of Syracuse collects the castaways, the Libya returns to Pelagosa to recover the landing department
• The auxiliary cruisers City of Palermo (commander, frigate captain Enrico Cuturi) e City of Messina (commander, captain of frigate Salvatore Manzillo) of the Explorers Division, in the early hours of the morning they leave Brindisi for a surveillance cruise in the waters of Cattaro;
• The armored cruisers of the 5th Naval Division (commander, Rear Admiral Eugenio Trifari)Giuseppe Garibaldi (commander, captain of the vessel Franco Nunes), flagship, Varese(commander, Captain of vessel Pasquale Salinardi), Francesco Ferruccio (commander, vessel captain Diego Simonetti) e Vettor Pisani (commander, vessel captain Ruggero Ruggiero) leave Brindisi for an offensive cruise in the Lower Adriatic but soon after the mission is canceled
• First Italian offensive air action. At the 23.30 of the 23 the dirigible had risen from the aeroscalo of Ferrara City of Jesi (commander, Lieutenant Bruno Brivonesi.) and from the Iesi aeroscaloCity of Ferrara (commander, lieutenant of Castruccio Castracane) for an action respectively against Cattaro and Pola. The first airship due to mechanical failures is forced to interrupt the mission and return to the base. The City of Ferrara after midnight it is sighted and made the object of reaction by enemy cruise ships (cruisers) Saida e Szigetvar) with other minor units along the joining Isola Grossa - Pedaso and signaled a large anti-aircraft fire that forces him to change course and altitude, leading to the cancellation of the mission. The airship then heads towards the Italian coast, where it then has the opportunity to intercept some enemy units on its return from the bombardment of Rimini and Senigallia and drops some bombs on the largest of them, the battleship Zrinyi, which avoids them with the maneuver.

Source: Military Navy