[3][4] Animoso was laid down at the Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando ("Orlandi Brothers Shipyard") in Leghorn (Livorno) in May 1912, and was launched on 4 May 1913.

At the time, Animoso, under the command of Capitano di corvetta (Corvette Captain) Cantu, and the destroyers Ardente, Ardito, Audace, and Francesco Nullo made up the 1st Destroyer Squadron, based at Brindisi, with the squadron under the command of Capitano di corvetta (Corvette Captain) Caccia.

[5] On 24 May Audace, Animoso, and Ardito carried out an anti-submarine patrol in the Gulf of Drin off the coast of the Principality of Albania and subsequently off Cattaro, a major base of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

[5] On 11 July 1915 Animoso, Ardente, Ardito, and Audace escorted the protected cruiser Quarto to the Palagruža (known to the Italians as the Pelagosa) archipelago in the Adriatic Sea, where they landed the vanguard of an occupation force.

The auxiliary cruiser Città di Palermo, the protected cruiser Marsala, the destroyer Strale, and the torpedo boats Airone, Arpia, Astore, Calliope, Cassiopea, and Clio also took part in the operation, which went smoothly: Two Austro-Hungarian signalmen, who first hid from and then surrendered to the Italians, made up the archipelago's entire garrison.

[5] In the early hours of 17 July 1915 Animoso, Quarto, and the destroyers Intrepido and Irrequieto bombarded the radiotelegraph station and other Austro-Hungarian military installations on Šipan (known to the Italians as Giuppana), an island off the coast of Dalmatia.

[5] After the Italian ships began their return voyage to Italy, the Austro-Hungarian submarine U-4 attacked at 04:40 and torpedoed the armored cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi,[5] which sank within minutes.

[5][6] A few hours after an Austro-Hungarian Navy force subjected the Palagruža archipelago to a heavy bombardment during the night of 16–17 August 1915, Animoso, Ardito, Intrepido, Quarto, and the destroyer Impavido, which were on a cruise in the Adriatic Sea north of the line Brindisi–Cattaro, interrupted their operations to respond.

[5][7] On the night of 13–14 August 1917 Animoso left Venice with Ardente, Audace, Giuseppe Cesare Abba, and the destroyers Carabiniere, Francesco Stocco, Giovanni Acerbi, Giuseppe Sirtori, Pontiere, and Vincenzo Giordano Orsini to intercept an Austro-Hungarian force made up of the destroyers Dinara, Reka, Sharfschutze, Streiter, and Velebit and six torpedo boats which had supported an air raid by 32 aircraft against the fortress of Venice which had struck San Giovanni e Paolo Hospital, killing 14 people and injuring around 30 others.

[5] On 16 November 1917 Animoso, Ardente, Audace, Francesco Stocco, Giovanni Acerbi, Giuseppe Cesare Abba, and Vincenzo Giordano Orsini got underway to respond to a bombardment carried out by the Austro-Hungarian coastal defense ships Wien and Budapest from the Gulf of Trieste against Italian artillery batteries and other coastal defenses at Cortellazzo, near the mouth of the Piave.

[7] On 10 February 1918, Animoso — under the command of Capitano di fregata (Frigate Captain) Arturo Ciano, a future admiral — got underway from Venice at 10:45 with Audace and Giuseppe Cesare Abba to participate in a raid on Bakar (known to the Italians as Buccari) on the coast of Austria-Hungary.

The explosion damaged some of Animoso′s oil pipes in addition to the boiler, knocked over one of her funnels, wrecked her superstructure, started a fire, and caused flooding amidships.