Following the acquisition of the small ironclad warships Arminius and Prinz Adalbert, which were only usable in coastal areas, the Prussian Navy sought to acquire armored vessels capable of operations on the high seas.

Ironclads were at that time a recent development and the only option for sea-going warships was the armored frigate, modeled on traditional sailing ships with a battery on the broadside.

Kronprinz carried a number of smaller boats, including a large tender, two launches, a pinnace, two cutters, two yawls, and one dinghy.

The battery's roof was protected by 9-millimeter-thick (0.35 in) iron plating, intended to deflect shots that passed over the side of the ship or fragments from explosions.

[4] The order for the new ship was placed on 13 January 1866, and the keel for Kronprinz was laid down in late February at the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London.

Samuda began sea trials on 6 August, which were supervised by representatives from the Prussian Naval Ministry, which included Henk.

[5] Kronprinz departed Britain on 24 October, and on the voyage from England to Prussia, the ship lost her main mast in a storm.

She thereafter joined the newly created Ironclad Training Squadron for a period of exercises held from 30 August to 10 September in the Kieler Förde.

In May 1870, the three ships were joined by Prinz Adalbert for a visit to Britain, though Friedrich Carl was damaged after running aground in the Great Belt.

[5][9] Kronprinz, König Wilhelm, and Prinz Adalbert continued on to Plymouth while Friedrich Carl returned to Kiel for repairs.

While they cruised east through the English Channel, they learned of the increasing likelihood of war, and the Prussians detached Prinz Adalbert to Dartmouth to be kept informed of events.

[12] The four ships, under the command of Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Eduard von Jachmann, made an offensive sortie in early August 1870 out to the Dogger Bank, though they encountered no French warships.

[15] Kronprinz, Friedrich Carl, and König Wilhelm stood off the island of Wangerooge for the majority of the conflict, while Arminius was stationed in the mouth of the Elbe river.

Kronprinz towed a floating dry dock from Swinemünde to Kiel in June 1871, with assistance from Cyclop and the paddle steamer Preussischer Adler.

The Germans threatened to deploy Kronprinz, Friedrich Carl, three more corvettes, and two gunboats, which convinced the Brazilian government to release the crewmen.

She was laid up in 1873 until 19 November, when she was briefly recommissioned for the possibility of being sent to strengthen the German squadron operating off the coast of Spain during the Cantonal rebellion, but she was not deployed there.

The ships then embarked on a cruise to Britain that included a stop in the Isle of Wight, where Crown Prince Frederick and his wife, Victoria, were visiting.

[19] Kronprinz was recommissioned on 19 May 1875 for another stint in the Ironclad Training Squadron; KzS Paul Grapow served as the ship's captain at that time.

For the year's summer training cruise, Kronprinz and König Wilhelm were joined by the recently built ironclads Kaiser and Hansa, though the ships remained in German waters.

The only event of note that year occurred on 25 July: while the squadron was moored in Swinemünde, Grapow died of a heart attack aboard Kronprinz.

The next year, the ironclad squadron—Kronprinz, Friedrich Carl, Kaiser, and the new Deutschland—were sent to the Mediterranean Sea in response to the murder of the German consul in Salonika in the Ottoman Empire.

The German ships were joined by French, Russian, Italian, and Austro-Hungarian warships in an international demonstration condemning the murder.

In September, they were laid up for the winter, but Kronprinz remained in the Mediterranean the rest of the year, ultimately departing for Germany on 20 December.

[20][21] Kronprinz remained laid up for the 1878 training cruise that saw the loss of the brand-new ironclad Grosser Kurfürst in an accidental collision with Kaiser.

Later that year, the training cycle concluded with a large-scale simulated attack on Kiel, with Kronprinz and the other ironclads acting as an "eastern" opponent.

[19][22][23] Kronprinz was docked for modernization in late 1883; she received new boilers and the six Hotchkiss revolver cannon and six torpedo tubes were installed.

[4] In 1887, she was present for the ceremonies marking the beginning of construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, which was to link the Kiel with the North Sea.

[27] Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered the navy to modernize Kronprinz and Friedrich Carl and then sell the vessels to Qing China in 1894, with the proceeds to be used to build new cruisers for the German fleet.

The plan was blocked by the First Sino-Japanese War, since Germany could not sell weapons to a belligerent state, which would have required a vote in the Reichstag.

Wilhelm II suggested buying the vessels himself and then selling them to China to avoid the constitutional restraints on the transfer, but the shipyard that had been proposed to do the work—Germaniawerft—pointed out that even after reconstructing the 25-year-old ships, they would be far too slow even for the backwards Chinese fleet.