The Leipzig class was a group of two screw corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s.

She served abroad in this capacity from 1888 to 1893; during this extended deployment, she participated in the campaign to suppress the Abushiri revolt in German East Africa in 1888–1890.

In 1907, she was sold for scrap; by that time, Leipzig too had been reduced to a barracks ship and stationary training hulk in 1895, though she survived until 1919, when she sank accidentally.

The plan was an expansion program aimed at strengthening the Prussian Navy in the wake of the Austro-Prussian War, and it called for a total of twenty screw corvettes.

By the time that design work began on the Leipzig class in 1871, Prussia had won the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, forming the German Empire in the process.

[1] At the time, there was significant debate in what was now the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) over the use of iron to construct the hull of large warships, rather than traditional wood planking.

[2] Leipzig was originally ordered under the name Thusnelda as an improved Ariadne-class corvette identical to Freya, but before work began she was revised into a significantly larger design.

[4] Leipzig and Prinz Adalbert were stiff vessels, rolling and pitching badly, particularly when their fuel bunkers were full.

[4][5] The ships were powered by a single horizontal, 3-cylinder marine steam engine that drove one 2-bladed screw propeller that was 6 m (20 ft) in diameter.

Leipzig and Prinz Adalbert were equipped with a full ship rig to supplement their steam engines on long-distance cruises.

While on the way back to Germany, she stopped in the newly proclaimed colony of German Southwest Africa, where she participated in the flag-raising ceremony.

[6] In 1888, Leipzig embarked on a major overseas deployment, first to German East Africa, which was in the midst of the Abushiri revolt.

Leipzig and several other warships formed a cruiser squadron under the command of Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Karl August Deinhard.

This was an unfounded concern, and after an inspection in Cape Town revealed a significant deterioration in her condition, she was recalled to Germany.

Found to be not worth repairing, she was converted into a barracks ship and training hulk in 1895, a role she filled until 1919, when she sank unexpectedly.

Her time there was uneventful, though Prince Heinrich, Kaiser Wilhelm I's grandson, was aboard the ship as part of his naval training.

Worn out by 1888, she was decommissioned and reduced to a barracks ship, a role she filled until 1907, when she was stricken from the naval register and broken up in Rotterdam.