The
keel for
Frundsberg was
laid down at the
Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard on 19 June 1871. She was
launched on 11 February 1873, and was completed in October that year. On 5 January 1874,
Frundsberg was assigned to the active squadron of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. At that time, the unit also included the
ironclad , the
screw frigate , the screw corvette , and the
gunboat . Most of the ships were stationed in
Pola in February, though
Fasana and
Velebich were in Spanish waters at the time, as a result of the
Cantonal Revolution against the Spanish government.
Frundsberg,
Kaiser, and the gunboat were all sent to join them there in the coming weeks.
Frundsberg sailed on 4 February, bound for
Barcelona, Spain, where she awaited the arrival of
Kaiser, the squadron
flagship, which reached the port on 4 March. The two ships carried out shooting practice on 28 and 29 March, and on 7 April, the two ships departed together to conduct two days of tactical maneuvers in company with
Fasana. The Austro-Hungarian ships patrolled the southern Spanish coast over the summer, and visited a number of Spanish ports, including
Cádiz,
Cartagena,
Tarragona, and
Valencia, along with
Gibraltar and
Tangier in
Morocco. While in Valencia in early May,
Frundsberg was delayed departing by a Spanish mob that attacked the Austro-Hungarian
consulate there on the 4th. She remained there until 9 May, when she left to return to Barcelona. She remained there for the next two months, eventually sailing again on 11 July to return to Valencia. Upon returning to Barcelona on 18 July,
Frundsberg received orders to return home, and she departed three days later in company with
Kaiser. While underway, she received orders from
Kaiser to maneuver independently, so
Frundsberg detached from
Kaiser, using her sails only, and passed south of
Sardinia and then through the
Strait of Messina to stop in
Messina. From there, she proceeded to
Gravosa, ultimately arriving in Pola on 19 August. In early September, she moved to the
Fasana Channel, where she rejoined
Kaiser. The deployment to Spain was used, in part, to evaluate the recently completed
Frundsberg, and it was found that she maneuvered just as well under sail as under steam, and her top speeds were comparable. In 1884,
Frundsberg embarked on a major voyage overseas. She passed through the
Suez Canal and the
Red Sea and toured eastern Africa before returning to Pola in 1885. During this voyage, she visited
Madagascar and other islands off the coast, including
Zanzibar and the
Seychelles. On 12 August that year, she departed Pola for another lengthy trip abroad, this time to
East Asia. She once again passed through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, stopping in
Suakin in
Mahdist Sudan and
Massawa in
Italian Eritrea on the way, but instead sailed east to
British India, stopping in many ports in the country, including
Madras,
Pondicherry, and
Calcutta. She arrived back in Austria-Hungary in 1886. The ship returned to the east coast of Africa for a cruise in 1892, though this year she sailed around the southern tip of the continent to visit ports in
West Africa.
Frundsberg made another overseas cruise in 1896 and 1897, which included visits to ports in western and southern Africa, the
West Indies, and South America. In 1898,
Frundsberg and the screw corvette went on a deployment to East Asia. They were joined there in 1899 by the
protected cruiser , though all three ships returned home later that year, having been replaced by the new cruiser . In 1905
Frundsberg was reduced to a storage
hulk. After the outbreak of
World War I in July 1914, she was used to store
naval mines, based in
Šibenik. Following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918, she was transferred to the new
Royal Yugoslav Navy and renamed
Zlarin. Her ultimate fate is not known. ==Notes==