Built by the Danubius shipyard between December 1912 and January 1915, Novara was the third and final member of her class to enter service, some six months after the start of the war.

The ship saw extensive service during World War I, owing to the cautious strategies adopted by the Austro-Hungarian fleet and their opponents in the Triple Entente.

Novara was frequently used to raid enemy shipping and the Otranto Barrage, including a patrol in November 1915 where she destroyed a stranded French submarine.

[3] In March, after the beginning of the British Dardanelles Campaign against the Ottoman Empire, Germany began to pressure Austria-Hungary to assist their ally; Haus considered sending Novara with a cargo of munitions.

[6] By late in the year, the Austro-Hungarian high command decided to begin attacking the Entente supply shipments being sent to Serbia via Albania.

[9] Then-Linienschiffskapitän (Captain) Miklós Horthy, who commanded Novara at the time, launched an attack on the Otranto Barrage on 9 July.

[10] In February 1917, Horthy began preparations for a major raid on the drifters; he planned to use Novara and both of her sisters, which he modified to look like large British destroyers by cutting down their mainmasts.

[11] The three cruisers steamed south to the drifter line, arriving after night fall; at the same time, a pair of destroyers, Balaton and Csepel, mounted a diversionary attack off the coast of Albania.

At around 03:30 on 15 May, Novara and the other cruisers opened fire on the drifters, sinking fourteen and damaging four more before they broke off the attack and withdrew, hoping to return to port before Entente forces could react.

[12] At 06:45, the British cruisers HMS Dartmouth and Bristol and five Italian destroyers sortied to intercept Novara, Helgoland, and Saida.

Novara was hit several more times, and her main feed pumps and starboard auxiliary steam pipe were damaged, which caused the ship to begin losing speed.

This break in the action was enough time for the Austro-Hungarians to save the crippled Novara; Saida took the ship under tow while Helgoland covered them.

[13][14] Unaware that Novara had been disabled, and fearing that his ships would be drawn too close to the Austrian naval base at Cattaro (Kotor), Acton broke off the pursuit.

The destroyer Acerbi misread the signal, and attempted to launch a torpedo attack, but was driven off by the combined fire of Novara, Saida, and Helgoland.

[15] By early 1918, the long periods of inactivity had begun to wear on the crews of several warships at Cattaro, primarily those of the little-used armored cruisers.

Liechtenstein and Erich von Heyssler, the commander of Helgoland, plotted overnight how to extricate their vessels, their crews having abstained from actively supporting the rebels.

Liechtenstein tore down the red flag before ordering his ship to escape into the inner harbor; they were joined by the other scout cruisers and most of the torpedo boats, followed by several of the other larger vessels.

By late in the day, only the men aboard Sankt Georg and a handful of destroyers and torpedo boats remained in rebellion.