SMS Saida (1878)

Saida was built at the Pola Navy Yard, beginning with her keel laying in September 1876. She was launched on 2 July 1878, and she was completed on 14 August 1879.^[1] By this time, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had begun a series of overseas cruises, and Saida was immediately sent to tour the West Indies, Brazil, and South Africa.^[3]

In 1884, Saida returned to South American waters, before crossing over to visit South Africa again, but this year, she continued on across the Indian Ocean to visit Australia, before returning home in 1886. After a brief respite, the ship got underway again later that year to visit South America and East Africa in another cruise that lasted until 1887. Her next major cruise began in 1888, which took the ship to the West Indies and North American ports. She arrived back in Pola in 1889.^[4]

Saida embarked on another major cruise, this time to the Pacific Ocean, from 1892 to 1894. During the trip, she visited ports in Australia, China, and Japan. She repeated the voyage in 1895–1897 during a circumnavigation of the globe, the sixth time an Austro-Hungarian vessel had accomplished the feat. In 1898, Saida was deployed to East Asian waters along with the screw corvette Frundsberg. The next year, the protected cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth reinforced the flotilla, but all three ships were recalled later in 1899.^[5]

Saida was decommissioned in 1902.^[6] The ship was struck from the naval register on 26 February 1906. Saida was converted into a storage ship for naval mines in 1908, which included removing her engine. The ship was based in Pola. She was renamed Minerva in 1912 so her name could be used for the new scout cruiser Saida. Minerva remained in the fleet's inventory through World War I and after the end of the conflict in 1918, she was ceded to Italy as war reparations and broken up there in 1920.^[1][7]

• Greger, René (1976). Austro-Hungarian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0623-2.
• Sieche, Erwin & Bilzer, Ferdinand (1979). "Austria-Hungary". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 266–283. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-034-9.