The Brummer class was a pair of armored gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1880s.

The ship was ordered to serve in Germany's coastal defense system alongside the Sachsen-class ironclads and Wespe-class gunboats.

The former initially served as the flagship for a division of torpedo boats in the mid-1880s, and beginning in 1892, she was assigned to the gunnery training school.

In the mid-1879s, the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) began a program to strengthen its coastal defense forces, beginning with the four Sachsen-class ironclads.

Late in the decade, the navy ordered eleven Wespe-class gunboats, which were intended to support the operations of the Sachsens.

They were intended to beach themselves on the sandbars along the German coastline to serve as semi-mobile coastal artillery batteries.

The Wespes were too heavy and slow to be effective warships, and they rolled so badly their gun could be aimed only with great difficulty.

[7] They were powered by a pair of 2-cylinder double-expansion steam engines that were placed in-line and drove single 4-bladed screw propeller that was 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in) wide in diameter.

[2][6] The ships were armed with a main battery that consisted of a single 21 cm (8.3 in) K L/30 built-up gun in an open barbette mount forward.

This was supported by a single 8.7 cm (3.4 in) K L/24 built-up gun with 75 rounds of ammunition and two 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon.

[2][6] In 1892, Brummer began use as a training ship for light automatic weapons, and she had a pair of new quick-firing guns of the 8.8 cm SK L/30 type installed.

In her first years in service, she served as a flagship for a division of torpedo boats, and she took part in fleet training exercises in that role.

Brummer remained in the fleet's inventory through World War I, and during the conflict, she was used as a mooring hulk to support the torpedo nets protecting Kiel.