Like other major navies in the 1850s, the Austrian Navy began building a series of screw frigates and corvettes (and converting existing vessels to steam power), but unlike their foreign contemporaries, the Austrian Empire neither had or sought an overseas colonial empire.

The Aurora class, which the historians Erwin Sieche and Ferdinand Bilzer refer to as sloops, were part of this series.

The propulsion system was capable of generating 1,000 indicated horsepower (750 kW), for a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).

The ships were fitted with a three-masted barque sailing rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages.

[2][3] Aurora, Frundsberg, and Zrinyi were armed with a main battery of four 15 cm (5.9 in) Wahrendorf breechloading guns.