The propulsion system was capable of generating 1,000 indicated horsepower (750 kW), for a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).

The ship was fitted with a three-masted sailing rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages.

Frundsberg sailed on 4 February, bound for Barcelona, Spain, where she awaited the arrival of Kaiser, the squadron flagship, which reached the port on 4 March.

[2] While in Valencia in early May, Frundsberg was delayed departing by a Spanish mob that attacked the Austro-Hungarian consulate there on the 4th.

The deployment to Spain was used, in part, to evaluate the recently completed Frundsberg, and it was found that she maneuvered just as well under sail as under steam, and her top speeds were comparable.

She passed through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea and toured eastern Africa before returning to Pola in 1885.

[6] On 12 August that year, she departed Pola for another lengthy trip abroad, this time to East Asia.

She once again passed through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, stopping in Suakin in Mahdist Sudan and Massawa in Italian Eritrea on the way, but instead sailed east to British India, stopping in many ports in the country, including Madras, Pondicherry, and Calcutta.

[6] Frundsberg made another overseas cruise in 1896 and 1897, which included visits to ports in western and southern Africa, the West Indies, and South America.