Her coal-fired boilers were converted into oil-fired ones, and her original two short, squat funnels were replaced with three smaller, more streamlined ones, profoundly altering her appearance.

The ships first steamed to the Italian-occupied island of Leros in the southern Aegean Sea, where the torpedo boats were prepared for the incursion.

They then proceeded to Strati (also known as Bozaba), where they arrived on 17 July 1912 and the officer who would command the torpedo boats during the operation joined the force.

While Borea, Vettor Pisani, and Nembo remained off the coast out of sight of land, the torpedo boats penetrated the Dardanelles, noting the location of Ottoman ships and the defenses of the strait.

At the time, Borea, under the command of Capitano di corvetta (Corvette Captain) Pontremoli, as well as Aquilone, Nembo, Turbine, and their sister ship Espero made up the 5th Destroyer Squadron, based at Taranto.

[8] On the afternoon of 6 December 1915 Borea, now under the command of Capitano di corvetta (Corvette Captain) Arese, the protected cruiser Quarto, the scout cruiser Guglielmo Pepe, the auxiliary cruiser Città di Catania, the minelayers Minerva and Partenope, and the destroyers Francesco Nullo, Giuseppe Cesare Abba, and Ippolito Nievo got underway from Taranto to escort a convoy consisting of the troopships America, Cordova, Dante Alighieri, and Indiana and the military transport Benghazi carrying 400 officers, 6,300 non-commissioned officers and soldiers, and 1,200 horses from Italy to Vlorë (known to the Italians as Valona) in the Principality of Albania.

[9] In October 1916 Borea, Nembo, the destroyers Ascaro and Garibaldino, and four torpedo boats provided protection and support to a landing force consisting of the armored cruiser Francesco Ferruccio and the steamers Ausonia, Bulgaria, Choising, and Polcevera sent to occupy Sarandë (known to the Italians as Santi Quaranta), in Albania.

[8] The clash, a part of the larger Battle of the Strait of Otranto, the largest naval action of the Adriatic Campaign of World War I, ended at 03:45 when the two Austro-Hungarian ships withdrew.