Originally the ship was the Austro-Hungarian Fiume-class torpedo boat SMS Tb 94-F. She was named for the ancient Greek city of Proussa (today known as Bursa) located in Anatolia; the city was part of the territory awarded to Greece for joining the side of the allied in the Treaty of Sèvres at the end of World War I.

[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] Proussa served in the Hellenic navy from 1919 until she was sunk by Italian Ju 87s at Corfu on April 4, 1941.