SMS Szigetvár was a protected cruiser of the Zenta class, the third and final member of her class, which was built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the late 1890s. The class included two other vessels, Zenta and Aspern. The Zentas were intended to serve as fleet scouts and to guard the battleships against attacks by torpedo boats. They carried a main battery of eight 12 cm (4.7 in) guns manufactured by Škoda; Szigetvár and her sisters were the first major warships of the Austro-Hungarian fleet to be armed entirely with domestically produced guns. Unlike earlier Austro-Hungarian cruisers, the Zenta class discarded heavy belt armor in favor of a higher top speed.