SMS Zrinyi was a screw corvette of the Aurora class and was built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the early 1870s.

[1] Zrinyi was built at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino in Trieste; her keel was laid down on 17 January 1870, and she was launched less than a year later on 10 December.

[1] After entering service, Zrinyi was assigned to the active squadron of the fleet on 1 September, which also included the ironclad Habsburg and the gunboats Velebich and Hum.

On 15 January, the united squadron, consisting of Lissa—the flagship—Zrinyi, Novara, Dandolo, and Hum, sailed from Pola to the Dalmatian islands for tactical training exercises.

The squadron soon began to disperse, and on 9 February Zrinyi was detached to return to Pola, where modifications were made to make her suitable to host Archduke Johann on a visit to Piraeus, Greece.

[3] The active squadron had left the area by mid-July to carry out tactical training off the island of Corfu, Greece, beginning on 16 July.

While there, Zrinyi received instructions to sail back to Italy, where the Austro-Hungaria barque Ortodossia had run aground in Foggia in bad weather.

The merchant vessel had been broken in half by heavy seas and could not be saved, but Zrinyi assisted in the recovery of its cargo of marble and iron over the course of two days.

The island had recently been hit by an earthquake that had badly damaged the buildings there; while she was there, her crew assisted with relief work.

She remained there until 8 March and then sailed back north to Smyrna, passing through Fethiye, kos, Bodrum, and Vathi on the way.

[5] Zrinyi remained in Smyrna for the next month, departing on 21 April for the Dardanelles, where she embarked Alexander Conze and members of his archaeological expedition to take them to the island of Samothrace.

In mid-August, Zrinyi received orders to join Lissa, still the flagship of the active squadron, for a cruise in the eastern Mediterranean.

She left Trieste on 23 August and rendezvoused with Lissa the following day; the two ships then sailed to Pola to replenish fuel and supplies for the voyage.

Austria-Hungary's growing trade with South America was a significant reason for the trip, and while she was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she encountered a trio of Austro-Hungarian merchant vessels that were stranded there because of riots in the city that prevented them from being loaded.