All of the "Tegetthoff"s were members of the 1st Battleship Division at the beginning of the war and were stationed out of the naval base at Pola. Following the Bombardment of Ancona and the commissioning of "Szent István", the four ships saw little combat due to the Otranto Barrage which prohibited the Austro-Hungarian Navy from leaving the Adriatic Sea. In June 1918, in an attempt to earn safer passage for German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats through the Strait of Otranto, the Austro-Hungarian Navy attempted to break the Barrage with a major attack on the strait, but it was abandoned after "Szent István" was sunk by the Italian motor torpedo boat "MAS-15" on the morning of 10 June.