SMS Amazone was the sixth member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph).

As more modern cruisers began to enter service in 1905, Amazone was placed in reserve until the start of World War I in 1914.

Among the few major warships that Germany was permitted to retain under the Treaty of Versailles, Amazone served after the war in the Reichsmarine (Navy of the Realm) after being modernized and rearmed in 1921–1923.

She took part in training exercises and cruises abroad through the rest of the 1920s, frequently to ports in Scandinavia, but also as far as the Mediterranean Sea.

Decommissioned in 1930, she was again reduced to a barracks hulk, serving in that capacity through World War II and into the postwar years.

Following the construction of the unprotected cruisers of the Bussard class and the aviso Hela for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the Construction Department of the Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Navy Office) prepared a design for a new small cruiser that combined the best attributes of both types of vessels.

At her launching ceremony, Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz gave a speech and Princess Hilda of Nassau christened the ship.

[3][6] The ship took part in squadron training in the Baltic Sea in March 1902, followed by a voyage around the British Isles that began on 24 April.

While passing near the Sevenstones Lightship on 24 May, the battleship Kaiser Wilhelm II accidentally rammed Amazone, striking her aft of her forward mast, causing extensive flooding that filled several compartments with water.

Amazone nevertheless remained afloat and able to steam under her own power, and she arrived at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel three days later.

This was the first in a series of accidents that made Amazone, according to the historians Hans Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, and Hans-Otto Steinmetz, the most accident-prone vessel of the Imperial fleet.

[6] On 1 March 1903, the Reconnaissance Unit was created under the command of Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Ludwig Borckenhagen, and Amazone was assigned to the organization.

The French had failed to send out a pilot boat to guide Amazone into the harbor, but they assisted with refloating the vessel at high tide.

The annual fleet maneuvers followed from 15 August to 12 September, and the training year ended with a winter cruise from 23 November to 5 December.

After anchoring in the Kieler Förde on 12 August, Amazone was struck by the Russian barque Anna, though she was not seriously damaged in the accident.

On 4 April, Amazone resumed her previous year's activities as a flotilla leader, and Maass came back aboard for the next month.

After their conclusion, Amazone was replaced in the Reconnaissance Unit by the light cruiser Berlin and she was decommissioned in Kiel on 28 September, being placed in reserve, where she remained for the next nine years.

Amazone took up an advanced position ahead of Behring's other cruisers, and during the operation, Magdeburg ran aground off the lighthouse at Odensholm on the Estonian coast.

[11] Amazone conducted another sweep to Windau on 9–10 October, during which she had to take the U-boat U-25 under tow after the submarine's engine broke down.

On the way north, Amazone proved to be unable to keep pace with the other cruisers, so she was detached off Gotska Sandön to return to port.

She frequently operated with her sister ships Medusa and Undine between Sassnitz and Trelleborg, in the Aarøsund, and around the island of Langeland.

[11][12] In March 1916, Amazone was released from the Coastal Defense Division and assigned to the U-boat Inspectorate for use as a target ship.

[4] The Treaty of Versailles that ended the war permitted Germany to retain six light cruisers, and Amazone was among those kept in service of the newly reorganized Reichsmarine.

She went on a longer cruise to the Mediterranean Sea in May and June 1926, in addition to her normal training duties, and in September, FK Alfred Saalwächter took command of the ship.

In 1927, she embarked on a major cruise into the Atlantic with the rest of the fleet, which lasted from 28 March to 16 June; in September, FK Albrecht Meißner took command of the vessel.

Amazone largely remained in German waters in 1929 and saw little activity of note, apart from a trip to Gothenburg, Sweden in August.

Amazone was initially assigned to the Reconnaissance Forces Command, under now-KAdm Gladisch, but it was quickly determined that she had little value as a warship by this point, some thirty years after her launch.

During World War II, she was towed to Bremen, and after the conflict she was used as an accommodation hulk for refugees who had fled from formerly-German occupied territories in eastern Europe.