One of four photographs of Italian naval vessels off the Tripoli coast, 1911 (c)-1912 (c).
From a photograph album of 137 photographs relating to the Italo-Turkish War, (1911-1912).

The conflict was caused by Italian imperialist ambitions, notably for the Turkish provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica, in Libya, as well as the Dodecanese archipelago. The Italians attempted to take the provinces by force from from the Ottoman Empire in the Autumn of 1911. The war was concluded after the Italian army captured Tripoli. A peace treaty was signed on 18 Oct 1912, handing over the provinces in question. The photographs in the album were collected by the British military attache who accompanied the Italian forces during the campaign.