SMS Grille was an aviso of the Prussian Navy built in France in the mid-1850s as part of a naval expansion program directed by Prince Adalbert of Prussia, who saw the need for a stronger fleet.

Initially operated without armament, she received a battery of two guns in 1864 during the Second Schleswig War; during that conflict, she participated in three minor skirmishes with the Danish blockade squadron in the Baltic Sea.

She was disarmed after the war for use as a royal yacht, frequently carrying Crown Prince Friedrich and his family on cruises abroad, including on a trip to represent the North German Confederation at the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

Grille was rearmed and saw action again in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, briefly skirmishing with a French squadron and in the process disrupting their planned attack on Swinemünde.

After this refit, she was capable of storing 65 t (64 long tons) of coal; at a speed of 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph), the ship had a cruising radius of 3,230 nautical miles (5,980 km; 3,720 mi).

The French emperor, Napoleon III, sent Prince Jérôme Bonaparte to the launching ceremony to honor King Friedrich Wilhlem IV.

[2][5] The ship was recommissioned in early May 1859 due to increased tensions between Denmark and Prussia over the disputed ownership of Schleswig and Holstein, though the war scare passed quickly.

Her commander during this period, from May to June, was Leutnant zur See (LzS—Lieutenant at Sea) Heinrich Köhler, and Grille only conducted a tour of the Prussian coast with Prince Adalbert aboard before being decommissioned.

She was briefly reactivated a second time that year, from August to October; apart from her commander having been Kapitänleutnant (KL—Lieutenant Captain) Ludwig von Henk, nothing is known about this period in commission.

Grille was recommissioned under the command of LzS Franz Kinderling in July 1863 for use by Crown Prince Friedrich and his family to make short trips.

[6] With tensions again on the rise between Prussia and Denmark by the end of the year, Grille was allocated as the flagship for Prince Adalbert, the commander of the Prussian fleet.

Grille remained in port when Eduard von Jachmann took several vessels to sea to attack the Danish blockade, resulting in the Battle of Jasmund in March.

Grille sortied on 14 April with Adalbert aboard for a sweep Bay of Pomerania that resulted in an encounter with the Danish ship of the line Skjold and the steam frigate Sjælland.

Grille embarked on another sweep off Hiddensee two days later, but she encountered the combined Danish squadron: Skjold, Sjælland, Tordenskjold, and the armed schooner Absalon, prompting the Prussians to withdraw without engaging.

King Wilhelm I and Crown Prince Friedrich boarded the ship for a naval review in the mouth of the Oder river on 6 June.

[9][10] With the war over, Grille joined the main Prussian squadron that visited a number of ports in the newly-acquired provinces in the western Baltic in August.

[11] Grille was recommissioned on 1 May 1865 to take Crown Prince Friedrich and his family on a cruise; the ship's captain from June to September that year was KL Archibald MacLean.

[12] After stopping in Piraeus, Greece on 22 October, Grille embarked Prince Friedrich, who was to represent the North German Confederation at the ceremonies.

Grille remained in Naples until 29 January 1870, thereafter resuming the voyage home; while on the way, she stopped in Britain and was visited by Prince Edward and Princess Alexandra.

[13][14] Following the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War on 19 July 1870, Grille was reactivated on the 24th to serve as the flagship of the gunboat Flotilla Division that was stationed in Stralsund.

[15][16] Grille, Elisabeth, and some gunboats passed through the Kattegat and Skagerrak into the North Sea on 6 October, arriving in Wilhelmshaven three days later without having encountered any French warships.

By the time the winter ice had receded in March 1871, the war had already ended, so Grille returned to the Baltic in company with Elisabeth and the ironclad turret ship Arminius.

[15] After recommissioning on 2 July 1872, Grille returned to service as the royal yacht for the Crown Prince and his family for a summer cruise through August.

On 19 September, she hosted now-Kaiser Wilhelm I for a review of the training squadron and the next day, she was present for the launching ceremony of the new ironclad Friedrich der Grosse.

She served with the training squadron from 5 to 22 May, and in late June, she assisted Friedrich der Grosse and two tugboats to tow a floating dry dock from Kiel to Swinemünde.

[19] In 1885, Grille was used for surveying work off the coast of Mecklenburg, the bay at Aarøsund, and around Rügen, covering a distance of some 104 nautical miles (193 km; 120 mi).

[20] Grille continued the same activities in the early 1890s; in 1890, under the command of KK Georg Sarnow, she hosted government officials for the ceremonial transfer of Helgoland from Britain to Germany, and in 1891, she visited ports in Scotland with KL Ernst Gülich as her captain.

Grille resumed coastal cruises in 1908, and on 3 June the crew held a celebration of the ship's fiftieth year in service; Kaiser Wilhelm II issued a cabinet order to mark the occasion.

Grille was reactivated on 10 July 1915 for use as a tender for the training ship Freya, based at the Mürwik Naval School, and served in that role for the duration of the war before being decommissioned for the last time on 17 December 1918.

She was struck from the naval register 7 January 1920; by that time, she had been in service for nearly sixty-two years, the longest career of any vessel in the Imperial fleet.