The Allied naval blockade had confined the dreadnoughts of the Austro-Hungarian Navy to the waters close to their principal naval bases in the Adriatic Sea. Wishing to avoid risking the numerically superior Italian battle fleet in an engagement in the confined coastal waters of the Adriatic, where the Austrians might achieve a local advantage close to their heavily fortified coasts and islands, the "Regia Marina" chose instead to conduct a "little war" using fast torpedo motorboats, "Motoscafo armato silurante" or MAS.