Iltis, along with Jaguar, was armed with a main battery of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns, had a top speed of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph), and could cruise for more than 3,000 nautical miles (5,560 km; 3,450 mi).

Iltis saw no further action for the remainder of her time in East Asian waters, though her crew remained on alert during the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing government in 1911 and 1912.

After the start of World War I in July 1914, Iltis was disarmed; some of her weapons and crew were sent to convert a captured Russian merchant vessel into the auxiliary cruiser Cormoran, while the rest were used to strengthen the defenses of Qingdao.

Iltis was rated to steam at a top speed of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph) at 1,300 metric horsepower (1,300 ihp), though she exceeded these figures in service.

She was launched on 4 August 1898 and the director of the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig, Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Friedrich von Weitersheim, gave a speech at the ceremony.

On 1 June, Iltis stopped at the Promontory Lighthouse, where her namesake vessel had been wrecked, to participate in a memorial service for those who had died in the sinking.

[6] In response to the Boxer Uprising, the six major European colonial powers, along with Japan and the United States, formed the Eight Nation Alliance.

By this time, the British Admiral Edward Seymour had assembled an expedition to relieve the Siege of the International Legations in Beijing, as the situation there had worsened.

Bendemann, who had joined the forces gathered at the mouth of the Hai, observed that the Taku Forts guarding the entrance to the river threatened the rear of Seymour's expedition and the lines of communications with the European consulates in Tientsin.

He ordered Lans to take Iltis into the river in company with the British sloop Algerine to observe the forts—which consisted of a north, northwest, south, and southwest fort, along with a so-called "beach battery"—and to suppress their guns if necessary.

[9] Bendemann discussed potential courses of action with the other naval officers in the roadstead, but he could not persuade a majority to agree to attack the forts during a meeting on 14 June.

Bendemann sent landing parties from Hansa, Hertha, and Gefion, to reinforce the men in Tientsin, under the command of KzS Hugo von Pohl.

[10] The Europeans planned to use Iltis and Algerine to lead the attack on the northwest fort and suppress its defenders, which the landing parties from Tientsin were to storm.

The Chinese disrupted the plan by opening fire at 00:50 on 17 June, more than an hour before the ultimatum was to expire, and before the Europeans had reached their intended positions.

Iltis was targeted particularly heavily,[11] in large part because the Chinese viewed her as the most dangerous warship, owing to her modern appearance.

By about 04:45, she and Algerine had disabled most of the Chinese guns in the northwest fort, which allowed Iltis to signal the ground forces to begin their assault.

The Chinese defenders soon returned fire with good accuracy; beginning at about 05:45, Iltis received a series of hits, the first of which struck the base of the conning tower and killed an officer.

Had it exploded inside the ship, Iltis likely would have been destroyed, but it killed two men and inflicted significant damage even having failed to detonate.

Iltis then weighed anchor to withdraw to the outer roadstead, where Waffenstein reported the situation to Bendemann and transferred the wounded for care.

A subsequent order from the imperial high command on 27 January 1903 awarded the Pour le Merite to the ship, allowing Iltis to display the honor as well.

[15] In the order in the German Imperial Gazette, Kaiser Wilhelm II included a letter admiral commanding the East Asia Squadron: (As quoted in The Times 28 January 1903) By means of the picture ′Germans to the front′ which represents the honourable part taken by the officers and men of my vessels in Admiral Seymour′s march on Peking, I have honoured these services and assured to them a lasting memorial.

I therefore ordain that my gunboat Iltis, as a special external distinction, is to carry on her bows, at her masthead truck, and on her boats a representation of the Order Pour le Merite.

For the next thirteen years, she conducted routine patrols along the Chinese coast, took part in various training exercises, and visited Japanese ports.

[17] After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing government on 10 October 1911, Iltis was set to Nanjing in the event that the fighting spilled over to target Europeans in the city.

Iltis was then lashed to her sister Luchs and the two ships were scuttled together on the night of 28–29 September 1914 during the Siege of Tsingtao, after it had become clear that the garrison could not hold out indefinitely against the Japanese Army.