Almost nothing is known about "Navarin"s early history other than she was built in Venice. She was named "Nessabih Sabah" and was serving as a sixth rate corvette in the Ottoman Egyptian Navy when she was captured by the frigate and the ship of the line off Modon, Greece on 21 April 1828 during the Russo-Turkish War. The ship was renamed "Navarin", after the recent naval victory over the Turks in the Battle of Navarino, and used by the Russians against the Turks in the Mediterranean for the rest of the war.