She was the second and final member of the Prinz Adalbert class, which was built to provide scouts for the German fleet and station ships in Germany's colonial empire.

Friedrich Carl served with the scouting forces of the Active Battle Fleet for the first few years of her career, including a stint as the flagship of the reconnaissance squadron.

After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Friedrich Carl returned to active service for operations in the Baltic Sea against the Imperial Russian Navy.

In mid-November, the cruiser squadron was tasked with attacking the Russian base at Libau, but while en route on 17 November, Friedrich Carl struck a pair of naval mines.

The law called for a force of fourteen armored cruisers able to serve in Germany's colonial empire and scout for the main German fleet in home waters.

Friedrich Carl was powered by three vertical triple expansion engines driving three screws, steam being generated by fourteen coal-fired water-tube boilers.

[3] Friedrich Carl was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz König Wilhelm and built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg under yard number 155.

[6] The trials were interrupted in March 1904 when Friedrich Carl was tasked with escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II aboard the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer SS König Albert on a trip to the Mediterranean Sea.

King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy visited Friedrich Carl at Mahón before she, Hohenzollern, and the dispatch boat Sleipner began a tour of Mediterranean ports.

[7] Beginning in June 1904, Friedrich Carl joined II Squadron for a tour of Dutch, British, and Norwegian ports that lasted until August.

The German Chancellor, Bernhard von Bülow, sent a message to Wilhelm II in Lisbon suggesting he visit Morocco, and on 31 March Friedrich Carl and Hamburg arrived in Tangier, where they met the French cruisers Du Chayla and Linois.

The following day, the two German vessels steamed to Gibraltar, where Friedrich Carl accidentally collided with the British pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Prince George.

Friedrich Carl resumed her role as the deputy commander flagship on 31 October when KzS Eugen Kalau vom Hofe came aboard the ship; she held the position until 5 March 1908.

The year 1907 passed uneventfully for Friedrich Carl; she briefly served as the squadron flagship from 11 September to 28 October after Yorck suffered an accident.

Friedrich Carl went on a major training cruise into the Atlantic Ocean in early 1908 and on her return to Wilhelmshaven was decommissioned on 5 March for lengthy repairs.

The unit was dissolved on 24 April, and from mid-August to early September, Friedrich Carl participated in the autumn maneuvers as part of the Reconnaissance Group of the Reserve Fleet.

During the Kiel Week sailing regatta in July 1914, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz came aboard Friedrich Carl to observe the festivities,[11] which coincided with a visit from the British 2nd Battle Squadron.

[13] On 28 August 1914, Friedrich Carl returned to service under the command of KzS Max Schlicht; he held the position for just two months before being replaced by FK Loesch.

Friedrich Carl took part in a sortie into the Gulf of Finland on 24 October to sweep for Russian warships and British submarines that were operating in the area, though the Germans failed to locate any hostile vessels.

At 01:46 on 17 November, while 33 nautical miles (61 km; 38 mi) west of Memel, she struck a naval mine that had been laid by Russian destroyers in October.

The ship's crew initially thought the shock of the explosion was from striking a submarine; Loesch immediately altered course to return to Memel, at which point she struck a second mine at 01:57.