 These modernizations have been criticized by some naval historians because these ships would eventually prove to be inferior to the British battleships they were meant to face (namely the , since by the time the decision to proceed was taken a war between Italy and the United Kingdom seemed more likely).In addition, the cost of the reconstruction would be not much less than the cost of building a brand new "Littorio"-class battleship; moreover, the reconstruction work caused bottlenecks in the providing of steel plates, that caused substantial delays in the construction of the modern battleships, which otherwise might have been completed at an earlier date.Both battleships were completed after Italy entered World War I on the side of the Triple Entente, though neither saw action, since Italy's principal naval opponent, the Austro-Hungarian Navy, largely remained in port for the duration of the war.