New wireless equipment was installed in early 1913, after which she was sent to replace the protected cruiser as the station ship in the Ottoman Empire. She departed Pola on 10 June and arrived in Constantinople five days later before embarking on a tour of Ottoman ports in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. These operations continued into early 1914, when she was recalled home; she reached Pola on 28 February. Over the next four months, she alternated between Durazzo, Teodo, Pola, and Cattaro, apart from a brief visit to Smyrna from 22 June to 6 July; while there, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, leading to the July Crisis and the start of World War I. As Europe drifted to war, the ship sent to Valona, Albania, from 19 to 31 July, by which time war had broken out between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.