Intended to screen the main fleet against attacking torpedo boats, Comet was armed with a battery of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns.

Her design suffered from several defects, including excessive vibration and poor handling in heavy seas, both of which could not be corrected.

The naval command decided in 1888 that the next class of avisos—the Meteor design—should focus solely on anti-torpedo boat duties.

Smaller and faster than the preceding Wacht-class avisos, the Meteors were also badly unstable and poor sea boats, and they suffered from severe vibration at high speed.

Comet also carried three 35 cm (13.8 in) torpedo tubes, one mounted submerged in the bow and the other two in deck-mounted launchers on the broadside.

The commander of the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel, Otto von Diederichs performed the christening at her launching ceremony on 15 November 1892.

[4][3] An order from the naval command reclassified Comet as a light cruiser on 21 February 1899, and in mid-1901, she was transferred to Danzig, along with three other old ships.