SMS Kaiserin Augusta was a unique protected cruiser, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the early 1890s.

Kaiserin Augusta served abroad between 1897 and 1902, primarily in the East Asia Squadron under the command of Admiral Otto von Diederichs.

At the time, the Chief of the Kaiserliche Admiralität (Imperial Admiralty), General Leo von Caprivi, favored a fleet of cruisers to defend German maritime interests.

Caprivi, who was supported by then-prince Wilhelm, believed that such vessels should, first and foremost, have powerful engines capable of propelling them at great speed.

Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Alexander von Monts and VAdm Wilhelm von Wickede, the Chiefs of the Marinestation der Nordsee (North Sea Naval Station) and the Marinestation der Ostsee (Baltic Sea Naval Station), respectively, favored building a pure fleet scout for the next large cruiser.

[8] Dietrich continued to work on the revised design through late 1888, one of the chief difficulties being the necessary improvements to the propulsion system to retain the desired top speed.

[10] Kaiserin Augusta was in essence an enlarged version of the aviso Greif, with increased speed, a more powerful main battery, and heavier armor.

Her hull was constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames; the outer wall consisted of a single layer of timber planks covered with Muntz metal sheathing to protect the wood from fouling.

[11] The ship vibrated excessively at high speeds, earning her the nickname "cocktail shaker"; this was most likely the result of placing the propeller shafts too close to the hull.

Figures for her 1-hour forced draft test are missing from the navy's surviving records, but non-official contemporary sources credit Kaiserin Augusta with speeds of up to 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph).

The trials were interrupted by the need to send modern cruisers to represent Germany at a celebration of Christopher Columbus's first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.

Celebrations in Genoa, Italy, earlier that year prompted negative remarks over the German representative, the protected cruiser Prinzess Wilhelm.

As a result, Kaiserin Augusta's trials were interrupted in early 1893 to send her and the unprotected cruiser Seeadler to New York City in the United States for the ceremonies.

Kaiserin Augusta left Kiel on 29 March under the command of KzS Wilhelm Büchsel and met Seeadler in Halifax, Canada.

The two ships reached Hampton Roads, US on 26 April, where Kaiserin Augusta made a significant impression, having achieved an average speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) on her crossing of the Atlantic.

In July, the Navy sent Kaiserin Augusta, under the command of KzS Oscar von Schuckmann to seek a larger payment; she was joined there by the steam corvettes Marie and Stosch and the coastal defense ship Hagen.

The German gunboat diplomacy was successful and achieved its aims, but the operation was heavily criticized, especially in Britain, where anti-German sentiment was beginning to rise.

[22][23] In February 1897, an international naval demonstration took place off Crete to protest Greece's attempted annexation of the island and prevent another Greco-Turkish war.

Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Leopold Koellner, the ship's commander, was under orders to act on his own discretion, but also in accordance with the warships of the other Great Powers.

Ottoman successes in the conflict threatened to provoke a revolution in Greece, and so the International Squadron sent most of its ships, including Kaiserin Augusta, to Piraeus in an attempt to stabilize the country.

[26] Kaiserin Augusta remained in Qingdao in the Jiaozhou concession until mid-March 1898, when she left to visit the British colony at Hong Kong.

[27] Following the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898, Diederichs was ordered to proceed to the Philippines, where Commodore George Dewey had defeated a Spanish squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo.

In late March, the Boxer Uprising broke out in China, prompting the European fleets in Asia to send warships to Taku.

She put sixty men from her crew to assist with Admiral Edward Seymour's relief force to rescue the Europeans in Tientsin.

[4] Kaiserin Augusta served briefly as the squadron flagship, under VAdm Emil Felix von Bendemann, from 26 October to 18 November while the armored cruiser Fürst Bismarck was unavailable.

Fregattenkapitän (FK—Frigate Captain) Johannes Stein served as the ship's commander from January to November 1901, when he was replaced by FK Friedrich von Ingenohl, though he remained aboard only until March 1902.

[4] During the refit, the ship's generators were replaced with more powerful units that more than doubled electrical output, at 124 kW at 110 V. Her bridge was significantly expanded, with a second deck and extended aft of the foremast.

Kaiserin Augusta was reactivated for use as a gunnery training ship, to replace the more modern armored cruiser SMS Blücher, which joined the High Seas Fleet.

By the end of 1914, the threat of a direct British attack on the Baltic had receded, and so on 12 December, Kaiserin Augusta was removed from the coastal defense division.

[4][2] The ship was formally stricken from the naval register on 1 October 1919 and sold to Norddeutsche Tiefbauges in Berlin, and broken up the next year in Kiel-Nordmole.