He took part in the Italo-Turkish War as commanding officer of a landing party which participated in the occupation of Tripoli; for this action, he was awarded a Silver Medal of Military Valor.

[2] Cattaneo's force did not manage to reach Iachino's squadron in time for joining the first engagement against the light cruisers of British Admiral Henry Pridham-Wippell, which took place off Gavdos in the morning of 27 March.

[2] After the Vittorio Veneto was torpedoed and damaged at 15.09, Cattaneo was ordered to form with his ships (the heavy cruisers Zara, Pola and Fiume and the destroyer Vittorio Alfieri, Alfredo Oriani, Vincenzo Gioberti and Giosuè Carducci of the 9th Destroyer Squadron) a line to the port of the damaged battleships, to protect her from further air strikes.

[2] Later research however revealed that this tactical fault was not due to a mistake made by Cattaneo, but to the Italian Navy rules on night navigation which were in force at the time.

[2] In the ensuing fire action, which lasted five minutes, all of Cattaneo's ships, with the exception of Gioberti, were hit; only Alfieri was able to fight back before being disabled.

[2] Finally, Cattaneo decided to scuttle the ship, fearing that it would otherwise fall into enemy hands; he gathered the surviving crew on the stern and he announced his decision.

[5] As the crew abandoned the ship by jumping into the sea or lowering themselves down to the rafts, a small party of volunteers opened the seacocks and ignited the demolition charges placed in the cruiser's magazines.

Admiral Cattaneo, who according to survivors had abandoned the ship without a lifejacket as he had given it to a wounded sailor, disappeared in the sea during the night, like most of Zara's crew.