Duilio was laid down at the
Regio Cantieri di Castellammare di Stabia on 24 February 1912. She was launched on 24 April 1913, and completed on 10 May 1916. Instead, Revel decided to implement blockade at the relatively safer southern end of the Adriatic with the battle fleet, while smaller vessels, such as the
MAS boats, conducted raids on Austro-Hungarian ships and installations. Meanwhile, Revel's battleships would be preserved to confront the Austro-Hungarian battle fleet in the event that it sought a decisive engagement. As a result,
Duilio only went on four patrols during the war, and was operational for a total of 70 hours. She was based at
Taranto starting in November 1918 to April 1919, but during that time, she deployed to
Corfu, from 10 November 1918 to 26 January 1919. On 26 April 1919,
Duilio was sent to
Smyrna to help mediate a dispute over ownership of the area. While there, she had a confrontation with the Greek
armored cruiser , but this was defused when the Greeks
landed troops to occupy Smyrna. On 9 June, she was relieved by the old
pre-dreadnought battleship , allowing her to move to
Constantinople. During her deployment to Turkey,
Duilio entered the
Black Sea to support the
White Russians in the
Russian Civil War, from 23 June to 13 July. During this period, she was transferred to the Levant Squadron of the Italian Navy. She returned to Smyrna after completing her deployment to the Black Sea, and remained there until 9 September, when she was relieved by the battleship . She returned to Taranto on 12 September, and was placed in reserve. Placed back into service in 1920,
Duilio went to
Albania on 30 June to support the Italian Army contingent occupying the country, and participated in their withdrawal on 5 September. The following year, she was assigned to the Dodecanese Squadron and cruised in the eastern Mediterranean. She returned to Constantinople as part of an Allied fleet from 27 July to 10 November 1921. During the 1923
Corfu incident with Greece, the Italian Navy, including
Duilio, was deployed to occupy the island of
Corfu following the murder of
Enrico Tellini and four others. Later that year, she escorted the battleship on a state visit to Spain. A magazine explosion on 8 April 1925 wrecked the No. 3 turret's barbette hoist. The ship went into reserve while repairs were effected in
La Spezia, which lasted until April 1928. She underwent refitting at Taranto from 18 March to 15 June 1930. She again went into reserve on 11 August 1932 until 11 August 1933, when she was made the
flagship of the Commanding Officer, Reserve Fleet. Starting on 19 March 1937, she was taken to Genoa where an extensive reconstruction began at the
Cantieri del Tirreno shipyard. The work was completed on 15 July 1940, at which point she was recommissioned into the 5th Division of the 1st Squadron, based in Taranto. The torpedo hit
Duilio on her starboard side; it tore an hole in the hull and flooded the forward main battery magazines. A water tanker and several smaller craft pushed the battleship aground in shallow water to prevent her from sinking in the harbor. Temporary repairs were effected, and in January 1941, she was refloated and sent to Genoa for permanent repairs, which began on 26 January. During the attack,
Duilios anti-aircraft battery fired some 8,000 rounds at the British spotter aircraft. Repair work was completed by May, and on 16 May she was back in Taranto in the 1st Squadron. On the 21st, she escorted the convoy K7 from Messina and Corfu to Taranto. By this point in 1942, the Italian fleet began to suffer a severe shortage of fuel, which curtailed its operations. The situation was so bad that
Duilio had to be placed in reserve and drained of fuel, in order to keep the escort craft operational. She was at Taranto when Italy surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, and on 9 September she was taken to Malta, where she was interned with the rest of the Italian fleet. ==Notes==