Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria travelled aboard "Viribus Unitis" in late June 1914 en route to Bosnia to observe military manoeuvres. On 25 June, he boarded the ship in Trieste Harbour and travelled to the mouth of the Neretva River, where he transferred to another vessel. On 30 June, two days after Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, "Viribus Unitis" transported their bodies back to Trieste.