Unlike earlier Austro-Hungarian cruisers, the Zenta class discarded heavy belt armor in favor of a higher top speed.

Aspern spent much of her early career abroad, being sent to join the campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in Qing China in 1900, though by the time she arrived, most of the fighting was over.

The ship was sent to represent Austria-Hungary at the Jamestown Exposition in the United States in 1907 and participated in operations in the eastern Mediterranean to protect Europeans living in the Ottoman Empire later in the decade.

[6] The keel for Aspern was laid down at the Pola Arsenal on 4 October 1897 under the contract name "Kreuzer B", also designated Ersatz (replacement) Helgoland for the elderly sloop-of-war.

The two ships left Pola on 24 July, transiting the Suez Canal before stopping in Aden, Ottoman Yemen, on 4 August.

Aspern then steamed north to British Hong Kong, where she spent several days re-coaling, before arriving at Taku in September, while Kaiserin Elisabeth went to Wusong.

[11][12] While Aspern was making her way into Shanghai's harbor on 8 February 1901, the British steam ship SS Macedonia crossed in front of her bow, causing a collision.

She entered the Yangtze River on 28 May for a cruise upriver before returning to open waters in early June, spending the next four months patrolling the ports of northern China.

[9] At the beginning of 1902 the ship was recalled home and arrived in Hong Kong on 6 January, after which Aspern sailed south to Singapore.

Aspern sailed to Penang in the Dutch East Indies and then steamed north to Calcutta, British India, where she arrived on the 27th.

The cruiser reached home waters on 13 March, stopping first at Lesina before moving to Trieste two days later, and arriving finally in Pola on the 19th.

[9] Aspern departed Pola on 20 September and relieved the armored cruiser Kaiser Karl VI as the station ship in East Asian waters on 2 October.

She arrived back in Pola on 19 May, but immediately departed for Trieste where she was present for the launching of the pre-dreadnought Erzherzog Ferdinand Max on the 21st.

Aspern then went into drydock for modifications, including the relocation of her bow torpedo tube further aft and the installation of a pair of Vickers 37 mm (1.5 in) cannon.

Later that year, she took part in large-scale fleet and amphibious assault maneuvers held at Gravosa from 12 to 15 September, which were observed by Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

The two cruisers departed Pola on 26 March and stopped in Cagliari, Sardinia, where men who had contracted scarlet fever were disembarked.

The vessels then proceeded to Gibraltar, Funchal on the island of Madeira, and Grassy Bay, Bermuda, before arriving in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 25 April.

[14] Aspern spent the year 1908 in reserve and was reactivated on 27 March 1909 to replace the torpedo cruiser Panther as the station ship in Trieste.

Aspern was detached to join I Cruiser Division, which was sent to the Ottoman Empire, from 15 May to 15 August to protect Austro-Hungarian interests during a period of unrest in the country.

Further unrest in Ottoman Syria prompted the Austro-Hungarian Navy to send a more powerful force—the battleships Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand, Radetzky, and Zrinyi, the cruisers Aspern and Admiral Spaun, and the destroyers Uskoke and Wildfang—to make a naval demonstration.

Aspern was sent as part of the Austro-Hungarian contingent, departing Pola on 20 March and arrived off Herceg Novi, Montenegro, the next day.

[15] Aspern was mobilized at the start of World War I in July 1914, being recommissioned on 31 July and briefly conducting sea trials starting on 21 August before being assigned to I Cruiser Division,[15] which at that time included Sankt Georg, Kaiser Karl VI, Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia, and the other two Zenta-class cruisers, under the command of Vice Admiral Paul Fiedler.

The rest of the year passed uneventfully, and on 22 March 1915, Aspern joined Admiral Spaun and the cruisers Novara and Saida for battle training in the Fasana Channel.

This allowed the Austro-Hungarians to shift I. Cruiser Division further south to Cattaro, where it could more easily raid Allied shipping in the southern Adriatic Sea.

The appearance of Aspern and the torpedo boats prompted the Allied ships to disengage, allowing the Austro-Hungarians to return to port.