SMS Beowulf was the second vessel of the six-member Siegfried class of coastal defense ships (Küstenpanzerschiffe) built for the German Imperial Navy.

General Leo von Caprivi, the new Chef der Admiralität (Chief of the Admiralty), requested a series of design proposals, which ranged in size from small 2,500 t (2,461-long-ton) coastal defense ships to heavily armed 10,000 t (9,800-long-ton) ocean-going battleships.

Caprivi ordered ten coastal defense ships to guard the entrances to the canal, since even opponents of the navy in the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) agreed that such vessels were necessary.

For defense against torpedo boats, the ship was also equipped with a secondary battery of eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns in single mounts.

She was launched on 8 November 1890, christened after the legendary Geatish hero Beowulf by Konteradmiral (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Hans von Koester.

At this time, the capital ships of the fleet were organized into a maneuver squadron for training exercises each year, spending the winter out of commission.

[4] The ship then went to Kiel to resume her trials, though these were interrupted again by a naval review held to welcome Tsar Alexander III of Russia and his son Nicholas, both of whom came aboard along with Wilhelm II to visit Beowulf.

The ship was sent to escort Wilhelm II aboard his yacht Kaiseradler for a voyage from 30 July to 8 August to Britain to observe the Cowes Regatta, held off the Isle of Wight.

Following the conclusion of the exercises, Beowulf returned to Wilhelmshaven on 29 September, where she was reassigned to II Division, replacing the old ironclad Friedrich der Grosse.

Beowulf was assigned to II Division for the 1893 training year; the unit also included her recently-commissioned sister Frithjof and several old ironclads.

On the first set of maneuvers, Beowulf and the other capital ships performed as the hostile French fleet, which was "attacked" by torpedo boats in the North Sea.

On 1 February 1894, Beowulf became the flagship of the Reserve Division, and after her crew was replenished under the command of KK August Gruner, conducted short training cruises in the North and Baltic Seas.

Beowulf was decommissioned on 2 October for repairs to her boilers, which were leaking badly; the work was carried out in the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven.

On 31 May 1898, Beowulf got underway in company with Frithjof for a visit to Norway; the ships stopped in Molde, Ålesund, and Stavanger over the course of the voyage, which concluded in Wilhelmshaven on 11 June.

[8] The ship conducted her normal peacetime training exercises in the first half of 1899, thereafter joining III Division for the annual maneuvers from 1 August to 16 September.

The fleet exercises concluded on 15 September, and unlike in previous years, Beowulf remained in service in II Squadron, though KK Franz von Holleben replaced Dassel at that time.

She was briefly reactivated in 1909 for the annual maneuvers, serving in III Battle Squadron under the command of KzS Gottfried von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels.

The ship was recommissioned on 12 August under the command of FK Ebert and assigned to VI Battle Squadron, initially attached to the High Seas Fleet, though they were tasked with coastal defense duties.

After the pre-dreadnoughts Brandenburg and Wörth arrived in Libau to relieve Beowulf on 12 July, she departed for Danzig for maintenance, which included a thorough re-tubing of her boilers.

On 31 August, VI Squadron was disbanded, though Beowulf remained on patrol duty, now assigned to the Coastal Defense Division of the Ems, operating here until 28 February 1916.

During that period, she supported the German intervention in the Finnish Civil War, which was centered on the two dreadnought battleships Westfalen and Rheinland.

While Beowulf was still undergoing repairs, she became the flagship of KAdm Ludolf von Uslar on 1 June, who was then the commander of naval forces in the eastern Baltic, though he rarely came aboard the vessel during his tenure.