Her wartime service was cut short by an accidental ramming by the ironclad warship SMS Arminius, sending Falke into dock for repairs.

She had repeated problems with her propulsion system during this period, and in 1879, she was involved in experiments with electrical lighting, making her the first German warship to be equipped with a searchlight.

Falke was among four merchant ships purchased by the navy, along with the paddle steamer SMS Pommerania and the HAPAG passenger liners Cuxhaven and Helgoland.

[3] Falke's propulsion system consisted of one vertical, oscillating 2-cylinder marine steam engine that drove a pair of paddle wheels located amidships.

She could carry up to 200 t (200 long tons) of coal, which allowed a cruising radius of 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km; 1,600 mi) at a speed of 12 knots.

In late August 1870, shortly after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette captain) Franz von Waldersee was sent to secure fast steamships built abroad.

Waldersee initially searched in Britain but could not find a suitable ship, though he learned of Heinrich Heister's presence in Rotterdam.

The ship was temporarily renamed Emden to obscure the movement of the vessel and commissioned on 4 September so she could be transferred to the main naval base at Wilhelmshaven.

After returning to service, still under Waldersee's command, Falke conducted sea trials before embarking on 12 October on a sortie to attack the French blockade squadron in company with the ironclad turret ship Arminius.

[6] Falke was recommissioned on 19 May 1875 for service as an aviso; by this time, experience with towed torpedoes had demonstrated to the German naval command that they were not effective weapons, and her originally envisioned role had been abandoned.

During this period, the squadron held maneuvers off Sassnitz that were observed by Kaiser Wilhelm I, during which Falke acted as a simulated enemy vessel.

She was to have left for the eastern Mediterranean Sea, but after getting underway she broke a connecting rod, forcing her to return to port for repairs.

AG Weser of Bremen quickly manufactured a replacement rod and completed the repair within 24 hours, allowing Falke to get underway on 3 June, meeting the rest of the squadron in Gibraltar ten days later.

Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Carl Ferdinand Batsch, the squadron commander, and his staff were also ordered to return aboard Falke for an inquiry into the accident.

The accident cancelled the planned training cruise and Falke remained in commission only through 17 July, during which time she served as a fishery protection ship in the North Sea.

The following year, Falke returned to commission on 1 April to serve as a tender for the Marinestation der Nordsee (North Sea Naval Station).