Budapest was fitted with slightly more modern and powerful engines, giving her a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph).

Budapest and Wien took part in the bombardment of Italian positions along the Adriatic coast in 1915 and 1917, but the three battleships went largely inactive for the remainder of war.

Budapest and Wien were built in the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino yards in Trieste, and Monarch was constructed at the Naval Arsenal in Pula.

Wien and Monarch had coal-fired cylindrical boilers and vertical triple expansion engines with an output of 8,500 indicated horsepower (6,338 kW).

All three ships of the Monarch class partook in a cruise around the Adriatic and Aegean in 1899, to display the Austro-Hungarian flag in foreign waters.

The battleship Wien participated in the Diamond Jubilee of the crowning of Queen Victoria in 1897, as well as the international blockade off Crete during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897.

[1] However, less than five years after their completion, the Monarch-class battleships were rendered obsolete by the newly commissioned Habsburg class.

[1] On 28–29 December 1915 Budapest supported the cruisers and destroyers of the Austro-Hungarian Navy that were to raid Durazzo, but the detachment returned to port without having opened fire on the enemy.

[1][8][9] The torpedo fired at Budapest missed, but Wien was hit twice and sank in less than five minutes in the shallow water of the Trieste harbor.

[8] Budapest was subsequently given the task that Monarch had been performing for over three years, and was demoted to a floating barrack for German U-boat crews.

[citation needed] In June 1918 Budapest was renovated and had a 380 mm (15 in) L/17 howitzer installed in her bow to use for coastal bombardment, but she never saw action with the new gun in place.