Through the 1880s and 1890s, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) had built a series of torpedo cruisers in a brief experiment with the doctrine of the Jeune École under the direction of Benedetto Brin.

The Jeune École theory argued that small, cheap torpedo-armed vessels would replace the large and expensive ironclad warships that had dominated naval doctrine since the 1860s.

By the time of their construction, the Jeune École was no longer in vogue, and so they were intended to serve as scouts for Italy's fleet of pre-dreadnought battleships.

On 15 October, Agordat and her sister joined the battleship Napoli, the armored cruisers Pisa, Amalfi, and San Marco, three destroyers, and several troop transports for an attack on the port of Derna.

[9] Agordat and San Marco supported a raid against Ottoman positions at the oases at Al-Kuwayfiya on 28 November, which resulted in an inconclusive action and a withdrawal to Benghazi.

Two days later, Agordat stopped the French steamer SS Manouba, which had Ottoman citizens aboard and was likewise escorted to Cagliari.

The seizures caused a minor diplomatic incident between Italy and France, but the dispute was resolved after the Ottomans were disembarked from Manouba and Duval was permitted to remain aboard Carthage with his aircraft, which was delivered to Tunis, French Tunisia.

[12] In early April, Agordat, the torpedo cruiser Iride, and several other vessels rendezvoused with a troop convoy carrying 10,000 men to Zuwarah near the border with Tunisia.

Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, the Italian naval chief of staff, believed that Austro-Hungarian submarines could operate too effectively in the narrow waters of the Adriatic, which could also be easily seeded with minefields.

Instead, Revel decided to implement blockade at the relatively safer southern end of the Adriatic with the main fleet, while smaller vessels, such as the MAS boats, conducted raids on Austro-Hungarian ships and installations.

She and the battleship Roma joined a fleet of British, French, and Greek warships that entered the Dardanelles and landed troops to occupy the city.