In 1911, the Ottoman Navy maintained a small anti-smuggling force of six torpedo boats dispersed along the Albanian coast, patrolling between Preveza, Gomenítza, and Durazzo.

[1] At that time, the Preveza detachment consisted of the torpedo boats Tokad, Antalya, Hamidiye, and Alpagot, the armed yacht Trablus, and the small gunboats No.

It was supported by St George's castle and Fort Pantokrator [el], of a similar age, and a modern coastal artillery battery of two 210 mm (8.3 in) guns.

[3] Over the course of the year, tensions between the Ottoman Empire and Italy rose as the latter sought a pretext under which it could participate in the colonization of North Africa, following French moves into Algeria and Morocco.

The Italian Prince Luigi Amedeo planned to carry out a raid with a small force of destroyers to sink the torpedo boats in the first hours of the conflict.

[4] The Italians opened fire and the badly outnumbered Ottomans split up, Tokad heading north and Antalya fleeing south back to Preveza.

[7] Amedeo was at that time sailing aboard the armored cruiser Vettor Pisani and was accompanied by pre-dreadnought battleship Ammiraglio di Saint Bon.

Early on 30 September, Artigliere, Corazziere, and Alpino entered Gomenítza; the first two vessels opened fire on the anchored Ottoman torpedo boats.

[9] Ottoman troops in the coastal fortification protecting the port were completely surprised by the attack and offered no help, though the Italians fired seventy-six rounds into the structure and heavily damaged its sea wall.

Aehrenthal characterized them as a "flagrant breach of [the Italian] promises to localize the war in the Mediterranean", and threatened "serious consequences" for failing to adhere to their assurances to avoid conflict in the Balkans.

[8] Giovanni Giolitti, then the Prime Minister of Italy, ordered Amedeo to abandon further operations in the Adriatic, as he believed further provocations might lead to an Austro-Hungarian occupation of Durazzo.

[12] Despite the prohibition on further attacks in the Adriatic, on 5 October 1911, Artigliere, Corraziere, and the armored cruiser Marco Polo inspected Singin, where they found an Austro-Hungarian flagged vessel.

[13] The Ottomans, for their part, were unconvinced by Italian assurances the war would be localized to East and North Africa, and set about reinforcing the defenses of its European and Anatolian cities, particularly Selanik and İzmir.