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

Heimdall was built by the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven between 1891 and 1894, and was armed with a main battery of three 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns.

In the late 1880s, the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) grappled with the problem of what type of capital ship to build in the face of limited naval budgets (owing to parliamentary objections to naval spending and the cost of dredging the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal).

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.

During this period, she was commanded by Leutnant zur See (Lieutenant at Sea) Carl Schaumann, but in May, he was replaced by Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Adolf Goetz.

While steaming in Danish waters on 8 September, Heimdall suffered a serious accident and had to return to Kiel for repairs at the Kaiserliche Werft there.

The ship was reactivated on 26 July 1898, KK Hermann Lilie serving as her captain, for the annual fleet exercises that concluded on 29 September, and was thereafter decommissioned again.

As in previous years, the ship was reactivated to take part in summer training exercises from July to September in 1902 and 1903.

Activated in August under the command of Kapitän zur See (KzS–Captain at Sea) Rudolf Bartels, the ship's crew was assembled by 14 September in Wilhelmshaven.

The ships of VI Squadron were stationed in the outer Jade roadstead to cover the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group during the Raid on Yarmouth on 2–3 November.

During this period, on 23 December 1914, Heimdall accidentally rammed the dreadnought battleship Kaiserin in the Wilhelmshaven roadstead, but neither vessel was seriously damaged in the incident.

[9][10] On 31 August 1915, VI Battle Squadron was disbanded, but Heimdall remained on guard duty; she was assigned to the newly formed Coastal Defense Flotilla based in the Ems.