The Battle of Antivari or Action off Antivari was a naval engagement between a large fleet of French and British warships and two ships of the Austro-Hungarian navy at the start of World War I. The old Austrian protected cruiser SMS Zenta and the destroyer were blockading the Montenegrin port of Antivari, when on 16 August 1914 they were surprised and cut off by a large Anglo-French force that had sortied into the Adriatic. Zenta fought, and was destroyed, to give Ulan a chance to escape, which she did. The ships of the Austrian fleet at Cattaro, unaware of events, did not come out of port to meet the Allied fleet. After blockading the Adriatic for a short while the French were forced to withdraw due to lack of supplies.