In 1896 a ship repair facility for the merchant, naval and fishing vessel fleets of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was founded in Rijeka, the largest Adriatic port, under the name Lazarus.

[3] In the late 1960s the shipyard was moved 3 kilometres to the south to its present location at Martinšćica Bay (Kostrena), which has an adequate water depth to accommodate vessels with deep draughts.

[4] Viktor Lenac has successfully completed extensive ship repair and dry-docking of US Navy's 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20).

They included complete overhaul and docking of the ship, class surveys, renovation of accommodations and galleys, shell plating and deckhouse steel renewal.

UHP water blasting of hull, Ballast tanks blasting with steel shots and application of full coating system, cleaning and gas freeing of all fuel tanks, modification of existing spaces into the new auxiliary engine room including installation of 3 new CAT generators, switch boards and control room was carried out.