SMS Arcona was the ninth 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).

Arcona was a modified version of the basic Gazelle design, with improved armor and additional coal storage for a longer cruising range.

She was recalled to Germany in 1910 and thereafter modified for use as a minelaying cruiser; during World War I, she operated in this capacity in the mouth of the Ems, while also fulfilling secondary duties.

Following Germany's defeat, Arcona was converted into a mother ship for minesweepers tasked with clearing the minefields that had been laid in the North Sea as mandated by the Treaty of Versailles.

After the work was completed in 1920, she was restored to cruiser configuration and she served briefly with the German fleet in the North Sea before being decommissioned in 1923.

[4] Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion steam engines manufactured by AG Weser, driving a pair of screw propellers.

Afterward, fitting-out work commenced and the completed ship was commissioned into the fleet on 12 May 1903 for sea trials under the command of Korvettenkapitän (KK–Corvette Captain) Karl Zimmermann.

[7][8] Arcona spent the years 1904–1906 in a similar if uneventful routine, her time primarily occupied with unit and fleet maneuvers and training cruises.

The rest of the year passed uneventfully, and in September, KK Herwarth Schmidt von Schwind took command of the vessel.

The fleet maneuvers, which had immediately followed the cruise, concluded with a naval review on 13 September for Grossadmiral (Grand Admiral) Hans von Koester, who was retiring at the end of the year.

On 4 April, she was removed from the Active Battlefleet; her crew was reduced, being transferred to man the new cruiser Danzig, which was to take Arcona's place in the reconnaissance unit.

After passing through the Suez Canal, she reached Singapore on 23 October and joined the East Asia Squadron, which was at that time commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Carl von Coerper aboard his flagship, the armored cruiser Fürst Bismarck.

During this period, she steamed from the German Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory to assist the British steamer SS Chingpin that had run aground further south on the Shandong Peninsula.

She won the Schiesspreis (Shooting Prize) for the East Asia Squadron, an award Kaiser Wilhelm II gave to every major unit every year.

The local population had begun to revolt against German rule and Arcona was used to help suppress the unrest, along with the light cruiser Leipzig, which at that time had Coerper aboard, and the gunboat Jaguar.

After the warships bombarded the restive villages on the island, the attacks stopped and on 6 May, Arcona left for Suva in British Fiji in company with the squadron collier SS Titania.

While on the way back, she stopped in Honolulu again and pulled the British sailing ship Celtic Chief free after the latter had run aground.

Schröder, by this time having been promoted to the rank of fregattenkapitän (FK—Frigate Captain), transferred to Leipzig and FK Karl Heuser took command of the ship for the voyage home.

After passing through the Suez Canal and stopping in Port Said from 4 to 7 March, she met her replacement, the cruiser Nürnberg, and some officers and enlisted men were exchanged there as well.

[12][13] After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Arcona assisted in the laying of a mine barrier off the mouth of the river Ems.

[16] The Treaty of Versailles that ended the war mandated that Germany was responsible for clearing the mines that had been laid in the North Sea during the conflict,[17] and Arcona was selected in early 1919 to serve as a mother ship for the minesweepers that were tasked with clearing the mines; this decision was made after the old pre-dreadnought battleship Preussen proved to be unsuited to the task.

On 25 May 1921, she was recommissioned and assigned to the Marinestation der Nordsee (North Sea Naval Station), at that time commanded by KAdm Konrad Mommsen.

Arcona visited Arendal and Sandefjord in Norway in August and then she steamed to Frederikshavn, Denmark, where a monument to the sailors who had died in the Battle of Jutland during the war.