On 7 January 1912, the Italian protected cruiser Piemonte and the Soldato-class destroyers Artigliere and Garibaldino, cruising the Red Sea, discovered six Ottoman gunboats, a tugboat, and a yacht in the harbor at Kunfuda.

In late 1911, Italian warships attacked Ottoman ports along the Red Sea to destroy any vessels that might be used to ferry an army to Eritrea.

[2] To answer the Italians, the only major Ottoman naval unit in the region was the torpedo cruiser Peyk-i Şevket; after briefly engaging the Italian torpedo cruiser Aretusa and the gunboat Volturno off Al Hudaydah, she fled into the port,[2] and was later interned in British-controlled Suez.

[4] Six gunboats that had been stationed in the Persian Gulf were recalled to the Mediterranean, but after their arrival in the Red Sea, they had run low on coal.

[7] The Italians opened fire at a range of 4,500 meters (4,900 yd), and in a bombardment that lasted for three hours, sank three of the gunboats and forced the other three to run themselves aground to avoid sinking.