Originally the ship was the Austro-Hungarian 250t-class "F"-group torpedo boat SMS Tb 95-F. She was named for the ancient Greek city of Pergamon (today known as Bergama) located in Anatolia; the city was part of the territory awarded at the end of World War I in the Treaty of Sèvres to Greece for being on the Allied side.

[1] In the build-up to the First World War, Austria-Hungary ordered four 250–tonne boats to be built at the Ganz & Co.– Danubius shipyard in 1912/13.

Negotiations broke down in early December because of exaggerated prices requested by Danubius and were only resumed when pressured by the Hungarian Minister of Commerce.

Finally Ganz & Co. – Danubius got orders for 16 torpedoboats in 1913, despite the fact that original plans had called for the Naval Arsenal Pola to build the Tb 86 to Tb 100 series.

[2] Pergamos served in the Hellenic navy from 1919 until she was sunk during the German invasion of Greece on April 25, 1941.