They frequently supported Italian ground forces during the campaigns in North Africa and the islands of the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

They served during World War I, in which Italy participated from 1915 to 1918, but they saw no combat as a result of the cautious policies adopted by the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies.

Starting in 1899, Vittorio Cuniberti began design work on a warship armed with a uniform battery of twelve 8-inch (203 mm) guns, armored with 6 in (150 mm) thick belt armor, and capable of a top speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph), on a displacement of 8,000 long tons (8,100 t).

The ships were initially fitted with two masts, but after refits early in their careers, Regina Elena's and Napoli's foremasts were removed.

The ships had a slightly inverted bow and a long forecastle deck that extended past the main mast.

[4] The battleships' propulsion system consisted of two vertical four-cylinder triple expansion engines that drove a pair of screw propellers.

[4][5] The four ships of the Regina Elena class served in the active duty squadron after their commissioning through 1911 and participated in the peacetime routine of fleet training.

They participated in the operations off North Africa in the first months of the war, including escorting the crossing of the Italian expeditionary army sent to conquer Cyrenaica.

Both the Italians and Austro-Hungarians adopted a cautious fleet policy in the confined waters of the Adriatic Sea, and so the four Regina Elena-class battleships did not see action.

[12] After the end of the war, the ships of the class were included amongst the battleships that Italy could keep in service (by the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty[13]), but they were retained only for a few years.