Launched at the naval shipyard at Pola on 25 September 1890, Kaiserin Elisabeth was a steel-hulled vessel of 3,967 tons displacement. She measured in waterline length with a beam of and a mean draft of. The crew comprised 450 officers and men.
Propulsion
Propulsion was provided by two sets of horizontal triple expansion engines with four cylindrical double-ended boilers. Designed performance was for and for ; on trials she in fact reached.
Armament
Originally Kaiserin Elisabeth was armed with two 24 cm K L/35| and six 15 cm SK L/35| guns, both types Model 1886. In 1905-06 she was reconstructed with two long-barreled 15 cm and six short-barreled 15 cm guns, both types Model 1901. Rounding out her armament were 16 QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss#Austro-Hungarian service| quick-firing guns, one machine gun and four torpedo tubes located above water, two on either beam.
Service
Although Kaiserin Elisabeth burned enormous quantities of coal, in 1914 she could still steam at a very fair speed and was stationed in China. Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Kaiserin Elisabeth took part in the defense of the German colony of Tsingtao, which was besieged by the Japanese on 25 August 1914; Japan had declared war on Germany on 23 August and the presence of Kaiserin Elisabeth led to Japan declaring war on Austria-Hungary on 25 August. At Tsingtao with Kaiserin Elisabeth were the Imperial German Navylight cruiser, gunboats,, and and the torpedo boat. The ship′s crew was divided into two groups; one continued manning the ship, while the other bolstered the German garrison. On 6 September 1914 the first air-sea battle in history took place when a Japanese Farman MF.11 aircraft launched by the seaplane carrier unsuccessfully attacked Kaiserin Elisabeth with bombs. Early in the siege Kaiserin Elisabeth and Jaguar made a sortie against the Japanese. Later, Kaiserin Elisabeth's 15 cm and 4.7 cm guns were removed and mounted ashore in "Batterie Elisabeth." As the siege progressed, the naval vessels trapped in the harbor were scuttled -- Cormoran, Iltis and Luchs on 28 September, S90 on 17 October and Tiger on 29 October. Finally, Kaiserin Elisabeth was scuttled on 2 November, followed by Jaguar on 7 November, the day the fortress surrendered to the Japanese.
