The ship was a unique design, built by the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyard in Trieste; she was laid down in July 1891, launched in April 1893, and completed in November 1894.

In 1898, Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia was deployed to the Caribbean to safeguard Austro-Hungarian interests during the Spanish–American War; she inadvertently arrived off Santiago de Cuba on the morning the Spanish squadron attempted to escape from the American blockade, and was nearly attacked herself.

The fleet had until then been centered on large ironclad warships, but had been unable to continue building vessels of that type under the direction of the previous Marinekommandant, Vizeadmiral Friedrich von Pöck, owing to the refusal of the Imperial Council of Austria and the Diet of Hungary to grant sufficient naval budgets.

Sterneck decided to adopt the concepts espoused by the French Jeune École (Young School), which suggested that flotillas of cheap torpedo boats could effectively defend a coastline against a fleet of expensive battleships.

The Navy had already secured parliamentary approval for two of his proposed torpedo-ram-cruisers, the Kaiser Franz Joseph I class, and three of the torpedo cruisers, the two Panther-class vessels and Tiger.

The designers prepared two variants of the latter proposal, the first mimicking the unusual French decision to carry its main armament in wing turrets located amidships, and the latter adopting the traditional fore and aft arrangement.

Coal storage amounted to 9,746 long tons (9,902 t), which allowed Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia to steam for 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[5][7] Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia was armed with a main battery of two 24 cm (9.4 in) K L/35 guns, manufactured by Krupp, and mounted in two single turrets, one forward and one aft.

[5] In 1895, Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria took a squadron of warships, including Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia, to Germany to participate in the celebrations for the opening of the Kiel Canal.

The squadron operated until December 1898, but the Austro-Hungarians and Germans were dissatisfied with the compromise worked out for the settlement of the conflict on Crete, and so they withdrew their contingents early, Germany in November 1897 and Austria-Hungary in March 1898.

[10] In 1898, Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia was dispatched to Cuba during the Spanish–American War, to evacuate Austrian and German nationals in the city of Santiago.

The ship arrived off Santiago on 3 July, the day the Spanish admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete attempted to break out of the harbor, through the American blockade.

[11] The American auxiliary vessel USS Resolute spotted Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia approaching US Army transports off Siboney and Daiquirí.

After closing to 6,000 yards (5,500 m), Indiana's captain identified Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia shortly before his gunners would have opened fire.

After picking up the evacuees, Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia went to Port Royal, Jamaica, and remained in the Caribbean until the end of the war.

At the peak of the Boxer Uprising, Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia was deployed to the area under the command of Victor Ritter Bless von Sambuchi, along with numerous other European warships.