SMS Jaguar was the second member of the Iltis class of gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late 1890s and early 1900s, for overseas service.

Jaguar, along with Iltis, 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).

Jaguar 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.

[2][4] The keel for Jaguar was laid down at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Danzig in September 1897, under the contract name Ersatz Hyäne, as a replacement for that vessel.

Her completed hull was launched on 19 September 1898 and she was christened by the director of the shipyard, Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Curt von Prittwitz und Gaffron.

[2][5] Jaguar left Kiel, Germany, already on 1 June for a deployment to join the East Asia Squadron in Qing China.

While in Colombo, British Ceylon, Jaguar received orders to sail first to the Caroline and Mariana Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

Spain had sold the island chains (with the exception of Guam, which was taken by the United States) after its defeat in the Spanish-American War, under the terms of the German-Spanish Treaty.

Jaguar then departed to join the East Asia Squadron; she arrived in Shanghai, China, on 30 November, where she underwent repair work after her long voyage from Germany.

She finally arrived in Qingdao in the German-controlled Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory, where she formally joined the East Asia Squadron.

The outbreak of the Boxer Uprising soon thereafter forced her to return to China in early June, and she entered the lower Yangtze to protect Germans in the area.

The expeditionary force consisted of the four Brandenburg-class battleships, six cruisers, ten freighters, three torpedo boats, and six regiments of marines, under the command of Marshal Alfred von Waldersee.

[8] In the meantime, Jaguar remained in the Yangtze until after the Battle of the Taku Forts, when she was sent to Tanggu to guard the area while ships of the Eight Nation Alliance sent landing parties ashore.

[6] By July, the crisis in China had largely passed, allowing Jaguar to return to Japanese ports, at times with the rest of the East Asia Squadron.

During that period, the ship briefly came under the command of the executive officer, KL Max Kühne from September to November; he was then replaced by Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Karl Wilbrandt.

The ship resumed her routine of cruises to various ports in the region, interrupted by another stay in Qingdao in November and December, after which she made another visit to Japan.

After arriving back in Herbertshöhe on 12 March 1909, the ship received orders to sail to Apia, German Samoa, where unrest had broken out.

[10] The rebels were defeated quickly, and in early April, Jaguar carried the captured leaders to Jaluit Atoll in the Marshalls, where they had been deported.

Jaguar was sent to suppress the unrest, along with the British river gunboat HMS Thistle, a force of international volunteers, and Chinese army units.

[12] Jaguar reached Qingdao on 4 August, where she was the only major German warship still in service; her sisters Luchs, Tiger, and Iltis had all been disarmed and their crews transferred to other purposes.

[13] After the siege of Qingdao began later that year, Jaguar bombarded enemy positions ashore to support the German defenses, and she frequently engaged in artillery duels with Japanese field guns.

During one action on 4 October, she received a hit from a 12 or 15 cm (4.7 or 5.9 in) shell on her bow, but it inflicted negligible damage and she remained in service.