The German navies, beginning with the Prussian Navy in the 1840s, acquired a series of avisos for use in a variety of roles, including as scouts, flagships for gunboat flotillas, and dispatch vessels. The first such vessel, , was a packet steamer requisitioned for service during the First Schleswig War in 1848, though she returned to civilian duty after the war. In 1850, the Prussians ordered a pair of small vessels—the —from Britain; like , these were both paddle steamers. The first screw-driven aviso followed in 1856: the French-built . Another paddle steamer, , was laid down in 1858, the first vessel of the type built in a German shipyard. Many of these vessels served as yachts for the royal and later imperial family. During the Second Schleswig War, and saw action at the Battles of Jasmind and Heligoland, respectively.

At the start of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the Prussians purchased and requisitioned . engaged French forces in the Baltic during the war, but the rest of the fleet's avisos saw little activity in the conflict. , the first torpedo-armed aviso to be built for what was now the German Imperial Navy, was also the last major warship to be built abroad for the Imperial German fleet. The 1880s saw a significant aviso construction program that included two s, , two s, and two s. The latter two classes were disappointments in service owing to their small size, insufficient speed, and in the case of the s, excessive vibration from their engines. , the last vessel of the type to be built for the Imperial fleet, was completed in 1895. The Germans thereafter built light cruisers that fulfilled the roles occupied by the avisos; the first of these, the , combined the best features of with those of contemporary unprotected cruisers. was herself sunk in September 1914 during World War I; the other vessels still in service saw little active use during the war and were all broken up afterward.

One final vessel, , was built in the mid-1930s for use as a yacht for Adolf Hitler. During World War II, she was used as a minelayer, a training ship, and a stationary headquarters ship in Norway before being seized by Britain. She was sold after the war to a private owner and was ultimately scrapped in 1951.

+ Key Armament The number and type of guns in the primary armament Displacement Ship displacement at full combat load Propulsion Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated Service The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate Laid down The date the keel assembly commenced Commissioned The date the ship was commissioned

Kaiserliche Marine Preussischer Adler

was an iron-hulled paddle steamer originally built for the Prussian postal service to operate on the packet route between Prussia and Russia in the mid-1840s. At the time, the Prussian Navy was an anemic force consisting of a handful of small sailing vessels and cannon-armed yawls. The ship was requisitioned early in her career during the First Schleswig War to defend the Prussian coast from the more powerful Danish Navy that imposed a blockade on Prussia's and the other German states' ports. She took part in a short battle with the Danish brig , the first engagement involving the Prussian fleet. She returned to commercial duties after the war and served in that capacity uneventfully until 1862, when the expansion of the Prussian Eastern Railway rendered her superfluous. Purchased by the Prussian Navy, she was in the Mediterranean Sea with a pair of gunboats on the eve of the Second Schleswig War. The ships were recalled to Prussia but arrived after the outbreak of war. They joined a pair of Austrian screw frigates to attack the Danish blockade squadron in the Battle of Heligoland, though the Austrians bore the brunt of Danish fire. She served as the flagship of Prussian vessels in the Baltic Sea during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, but saw no action. Reduced to subsidiary duties in 1872, including as a training ship and fisheries protection vessel, she was ultimately decommissioned in April 1877 and sunk as a target two years later in June 1879.

+ Summary of the class Ship Armament Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 2 × 25-pound mortars 2 × paddle wheels, 1 × marine steam engine, 1846 1846 Sunk as a target, 26 June 1879

Nix class

The two -class avisos were ordered in the immediate aftermath of the First Schleswig War as part of a program intended to strengthen the Prussian fleet. Prince Adalbert of Prussia, one of the leading advocates for a larger navy, initially sought to have the ships built in Prussia, but domestic shipbuilders had little experience with steam ships, and so contracted with a British firm to build the vessels in 1850. The ships' careers in Prussian service proved to be short and uneventful, apart from repeated boiler fires aboard . The Prussians were not satisfied with the ships, in part a result of s fires and general unfamiliarity with operating steamships. They sold the vessels to Britain in exchange for the sail frigate in 1855; and became HMS Weser and Recruit, respectively. The former saw action during the Crimean War at the Battle of Kinburn later that year, but both ships thereafter saw little use in the Royal Navy. Both were out of service by the mid-1860s, with Recruit being sold for scrap in 1869 and Weser following her to the breaker's yard in 1873.

+ Summary of the class Ship Armament Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 4 × 25-pound mortars 2 × paddle wheels, 2 × marine steam engines, 1850 1850 Sold to Britain, 1855; broken up, 1873 Sold to Britain, 1855; broken up, 1869

Grille

was ordered in 1855 as part of Adalbert's fleet expansion program; she was the first steam ship to use a screw propeller rather than the paddle wheels of earlier vessels. She was initially unarmed, being used as a royal yacht until the outbreak of the Second Schleswig War. She sortied on 16 April with Adalbert aboard to attack the Danish blockade squadron in the Baltic, resulting in an inconclusive encounter with the Danish ship of the line and the steam frigate . She next engaged the steam frigate on 24 April. She sortied twice more by early May, but on both occasions encountered far superior Danish forces and withdrew without attacking.

served as a yacht after the war, taking Crown Prince Friedrich to the opening ceremonies for the Suez Canal in 1867. During the Franco-Prussian War, she once again served in the Baltic, and she engaged a French blockade squadron on 17 July, interrupting French plans to attack Swinemünde. remained in service through the early 1910s, serving in a variety of roles, including as a fleet scout, a tender, and a training vessel. She ended her career as a tender for the cruiser as part of the training establishment for the Mürwik Naval School. Decommissioned for the last time in 1918, she was the longest-serving vessel of the Imperial Navy, having been on active service for sixty-two years. She was then sold for scrap in 1920.

+ Summary of the class Ship Armament Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 2 × 12-pound guns 1 × screw propeller, 1 × marine steam engine, 13 knots 1856 3 June 1858 Broken up, 1920

Loreley

With serving as a yacht in the 1850s, the Prussian Navy decided it needed another aviso to serve as a flagship for the gunboat flotillas defending the country's Baltic coast. The designers reverted to paddle wheels and a wooden hull, as they were not convinced of the long-term utility of iron hulls or screw propulsion. The ship went to the Mediterranean in 1860 to protect Prussian nationals in Italy during the Second Italian War of Independence. She served in her intended role during the Second Schleswig War, and saw action at the Battle of Jasmund against the Danish blockade squadron in March 1864, where she was hit only once. She was decommissioned after the war and saw no further service for the rest of the decade.

In poor condition by the late 1860s, was heavily rebuilt in 1869–1873, leading some historians to treat the vessel as two different ships. In 1879, the ship was sent to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to serve as the station ship there, a right enjoyed by all of the European Great Powers after the Crimean War (which was intended to counter Russian expansionism at the expense of the Ottomans). She served there for the rest of her career. During this period, she helped to protect German interests in Egypt during the 'Urabi revolt in 1882, conducted training cruises in the Mediterranean, and sent men ashore in 1895 to protect Germans from domestic unrest in the Ottoman Empire. Worn out by 1896, she was decommissioned and sold later that year, but her ultimate fate is unknown.

+ Summary of the class Ship Armament Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 2 × 12-pounder guns 2 × paddle wheels, 1 × marine steam engine, 10.5 knots 1 February 1858 28 September 1859 Unknown

Falke

was originally built as a speculative project by her British constructors, who intended to sell the vessel to the Confederate States Navy for use as a blockade runner during the American Civil War. By the time work on the vessel was completed, however, the war was over, leaving the shipyard without a buyer. A private shipowner in the Netherlands purchased the vessel, renamed her , and left it idle in Rotterdam for the next five years. She was purchased by what was now the North German Federal Navy in August 1870, shortly after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, but she was accidentally rammed by the ironclad turret ship shortly after entering service as , causing serious damage that ended her wartime career. She operated with the fleet during the 1870s, but suffered repeated machinery breakdowns, thereafter serving as a tender for the (North Sea Naval Station) in the early 1880s. Later in the decade, she was used for fisheries protection before being decommissioned in 1888, struck from the naval register in 1890, and sold for scrap in 1892.

+ Summary of the class Ship Armament Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 2 × breechloading guns 2 × paddle wheels, 1 × marine steam engine, 1865 4 October 1870 Broken up, 1892

Pommerania

was built for the Prussian postal service as a packet steamer, though the exact nature of her design and construction is uncertain. The navy's chief designer prepared the plans for the ship and the navy subsidized construction costs, which led the naval historians Hans Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, and Hans-Otto Steinmetz to suggest that the navy wanted to have a steamship it could requisition when needed but would not have to maintain. The navy brought the ship into commission during the Franco-Prussian War but crew shortages delayed conversion until after the war. She was used for fishing surveys in 1871 and 1872, with this work providing the scientific basis for the German Fisheries Act passed in 1874. She went to the Mediterranean with the ironclad training squadron in 1876 in response to the murder of a German diplomat in Salonika. She remained in the region after the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, staying in Constantinople with . After returning to Germany, she served as a tender to the from 1881 to 1884, thereafter seeing service as a fisheries protection vessel and survey ship. Decommissioned in 1889 and struck in 1890, she was sold to a shipping company, converted into a sailing schooner, and renamed . She was lost in a storm on her maiden voyage on 20 January 1894.

+ Summary of the class Ship Armament Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 2 × hoop guns 2 × paddle wheels, 1 × marine steam engine, 1864 27 April 1871 Converted to merchant ship, sank in a storm, 20 January 1894

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