The nascent German Imperial Navy was not in position to challenge its French opponent, and mostly remained safely inside its harbours.

On 27 August 1870, SMS Nymphe, assigned to the defences of Neufahrwasser that protected Danzig, challenged a French squadron under Admiral Édouard Bouët-Willaumez, consisting of three ironclads and one aviso.

The next day the French mail steamer SS Nouveau Monde left the harbour for Veracruz but was forced to return a few hours later due to fears that she would be captured by the Prussian gunboat.

Meteor had to wait twenty-four hours before she could meet the French vessel due to neutrality laws governing warfare at the time.

Franquet was keenly aware of this weak point in his ship, and had makeshift protection installed out of sandbags, coal bags and chains, positioned to shield the exposed parts of the engine from enemy fire.

[citation needed] The ships collided under a steep angle; although the hull of the Meteor managed to resist the ramming attempt, the shock of the impact collapsed her rigging, sending sails and debris on her deck and, most significantly, wrapping lines around her propeller.

[9] As the Bouvet was preparing to ram the immobilised Meteor again, a German shell struck her exposed boiler, allowing her steam to leak on deck and rendering her dead in the water as well.

[citation needed] Neither ship was permanently disabled from the action, with both warships mostly suffering damage to their masts and rigging (Bouvet's boilers and machinery remaining intact and functioning) and very few killed and injured on either side.

[10] The Meteor remained blockaded in Havana until the end of the war, unable to fulfill her purpose there of preying on French merchant shipping in the Caribbean.

Under diplomatic pressure from France, the Spanish shipyard in Havana delayed completing the repairs to Meteor until the war ended on 10 May 1871.

Three days later, the ship departed for Germany; she sailed up the eastern coast of the United States and Canada before crossing the Atlantic.