A battleship held in reserve for the Austrian fleet

Commissioned in 1913, the ship entered war as an experienced flagship of the First Battle Squadron at Taranto and later joined forces in the southern Adriatic and Ionian Sea. During the 1918 Allied attack on Durazzo, she waited to engage any Austro-Hungarian sortie that never came. The multinational attacking force instead fought submarines, small craft, and shore batteries while Dante Alighieri's main guns remained silent. Her heavy guns and dense anti-torpedo-boat battery were designed for decisive combat, yet her operational value lay largely in being ready for an enemy fleet that stayed in harbor.