A year later, in September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The two battleships and the ancient central battery ironclad —which had been built in the mid-1870s—had been on a summer training cruise since July, and so were prepared for the conflict. On 1 October, shortly after the outbreak of war, "Barbaros Hayreddin" and the rest of the Ottoman fleet was moored at Beirut. The following day, the fleet departed for Constantinople for repairs in preparation to engage the Italian fleet. Nevertheless, the bulk of the Ottoman fleet, including "Barbaros Hayreddin", remained in port for the duration of the war. By the end of the war, "Barbaros Hayreddin" and her sister were in very poor condition. Their rangefinders and the ammunition hoists for their main battery guns had been removed, their telephones did not work, and the pipes for their pumps were badly rusted. Most of the watertight doors could not close, and the condensers remained problematic.