 They played a minor role in World War I after a submarine sank shortly after Italy joined the war in 1915.Her sister ship, , became a training ship after the war and was broken up for scrap in 1937.The "Pisa" class was designed in 1904 by Italian engineer Giuseppe Orlando, who attempted to replicate on a smaller scale the armament and armor of the s then entering the service of the "Regia Marina".