The class, which were the first steam gunboats built for the Prussian fleet, comprised the following vessels: Jäger, Crocodill, Fuchs, Hay, Scorpion, Sperber, Hyäne, Habicht, Pfeil, Natter, Schwalbe, Salamander, Wespe, Tiger, and Wolf.

Crocodill was scrapped in 1867 due to her poor condition, but the rest of the class remained in the fleet's inventory into the 1870s, when they began to be discarded.

Following the dissolution of the Reichsflotte in 1852, the leaders of the Prussian Navy sought resources to expand its forces to defend Prussia's coastline, which was extended in 1853 with the acquisition of the area that would become the port of Wilhelmshaven.

In 1855, King Wilhelm IV signed what became known as the Fleet Foundation Plan of 1855, which authorized a total force of 42 sail- and oar-powered gunboats.

Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Jan Schröder, the head of the Prussian Naval Ministry, and Robert von Patow, the finance minister, responded with a larger program that included a total of 52 steam-powered gunboats to be built between 1860 and 1875.

Meanwhile, Chief Constructor Carl Elbertzhagen had already begun collecting information on steam gunboats being built in Britain, France, Russia, and Brazil, to determine what characteristics the new Prussian vessels should have.

[5] They were powered by a pair of horizontal, single-cylinder marine steam engines that drove one 3-bladed screw propeller and four coal-fired trunk boilers.

[8][7] The ships were intended for use as part of Prussia's coastal defense system, but their poor handling led to very infrequent service.

[7] They spent much of their careers laid up on land, and during this period, their copper sheathing was removed from the hulls so ventilation holes could be cut into the outer planking.

[25] While on patrol in the Baltic Sea on 14 April, they briefly engaged the Danish ship of the line Skjold and the steam frigate Sjælland in a short and inconclusive action.

[10] Though the gunboats had little combat value against the much larger Danish warships, the Danes overestimated their capabilities, which led them to fail to press their blockade of Prussia's coast effectively.

[5] The preservation efforts were not entirely successful, and already in 1867, Crocodill was badly dry rotted; she was according struck from the naval register on 14 March that year and thereafter broken up.

[8][11] The rest of the class was activated during the Franco-Prussian War to defend Prussia's coast, primarily operating in the North Sea, either at the Jade Bight or the mouths of the Elbe, Weser, or Ems rivers, though Scorpion and Tiger were stationed at Kiel and Salamander was based at Swinemünde, both in the Baltic.

Jäger was later sunk as a target ship, while the latter two became mine storage barges, both being renamed Minenprahm No 1, based at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, respectively.