All of the battleships of the Erzherzog Karl-class were built in the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyards in Trieste.

However, small docking space and budget restraints resulted in the class being fairly compact.

[1] At the beginning of the war, the members of the Erzherzog Karl class formed the III division of the Austrian-Hungarian battle-fleet and were active in May 1915 in the combined fleet operation of bombardment of Italian ports and other vital communications.

[1] The ships also took part in suppressing a major mutiny among the crew members of two armoured cruisers stationed in Cattaro between 1–3 February 1918.

The ships were propelled by two two-shaft, four cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines.

[1][4] The Erzherzog Karl class carried a primary armament made by Škoda Works.

[5] Their secondary armament consisted of twelve 19 cm (7.5 in)/42 caliber guns, also made by Škoda,[6] mounted in eight single casemates on either wing of the ship and two single midships turrets on the either wing of the ship.

The ships had a tertiary armament for protection against torpedo boats in the form of the 7 cm (2.8 in)/45 caliber gun, too manufactured by Škoda.

This was done in order to protect the battleships against a possible shell landing on the turrets and the imminent explosion resulting from such a hit.

Following 15 months of construction she was launched on 4 October 1903 and finally commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 17 June 1906.

[10] In company with other units of the Austro Hungarian Navy the class took part in the bombardment of Ancona on May 24, 1915.

Two days later, the three Erzherzog Karl-class ships arrived in the port and assisted with the suppression of the mutiny.

Following the restoration of order in the naval base, the armored cruisers Sankt Georg and Kaiser Karl VI were decommissioned and the three Erzherzog Karl-class battleships were stationed in Cattaro in their place.

[2] For the morning of 11 June, Admiral Miklós Horthy planned a major assault on the Otranto Barrage; the three Erzherzog Karls and the four Tegetthoff-class battleships were to provide support for the Novara-class cruisers.

[11] This was to be the last military action the Erzherzog Karl-class ships were to take part in and they spent the rest of their career at port in Pola.

[1] However, Erzherzog Karl ran aground at Bizerte on her voyage to Toulon and was eventually broken up in situ.