Pontiere was powered by two sets of triple expansion steam engines fed by three Thornycroft water-tube boilers, producing an estimated 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,474 kW) and driving two propeller shafts.

[5] On 29 May 1915 Pontiere, Alpino, and their sister ship Corazziere provided support to a formation of destroyers composed of Artigliere, Bersagliere, Garibaldino, and Lanciere as it bombarded the Adria Werke chemical plant in Monfalcone, a production site for poison gases.

[5] At 19:00 on 8 June 1916 Pontiere departed Vlorë (known to the Italians as Valona) in the Principality of Albania with the protected cruiser Libia and the destroyers Espero, Impavido, and Insidioso to escort the armed merchant cruiser Principe Umberto and the troopship Romagna, which together had embarked the 2,605 men of the Italian Royal Army′s (Regio Esercito′s) 55th Infantry Regiment for transportation to Italy.

The convoy had traveled only a short distance when the Austro-Hungarian submarine U-5 hit Principe Umberto in the stern with two torpedoes.

Principe Umberto sank in a few minutes about 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) southwest of Cape Linguetta with the loss of 1,926 of the 2,821 men on board, the worst naval disaster of World War I in terms of lives lost.

[5] On the night of 13–14 August 1917 Pontiere left Venice with Carabiniere and the destroyers Animoso, Ardente, Audace, Francesco Stocco, Giovanni Acerbi, Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Giuseppe Sirtori, 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.