The Bismarck-class corvettes were ordered as part of a major naval construction program in the early 1870s, and she was designed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended tours in Germany's colonial empire.

She was armed with a battery of ten 15 cm (5.9 in) guns and had a full ship rig to supplement her steam engine on long cruises abroad.

In October 1911, Moltke was renamed Acheron and she served in this capacity until 1920, when she was sold to ship breakers in July and subsequently dismantled for scrap.

Moltke and her sister ships were intended to patrol Germany's colonial empire and safeguard German economic interests around the world.

[2][3] Moltke was the first member of the Bismarck class to be laid down; construction began in July 1875 under the contract name Ersatz Arcona at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig.

Moltke thereafter went further north and visited cities in Central America, including San José, Costa Rica.

It took more than a week to find a suitable landing site, and on 21 August, the scientists went ashore at what is now known as Moltke Harbor on the north side of Royal Bay, which was named for the ship.

Leipzig went to visit Hawaii while Moltke remained off South America, though she sailed north to tour Peru and Ecuador, beginning on 28 February.

While on the way, the squadron stopped in São Vicente, Cape Verde from 13 to 30 November, during a period of tension between Germany and Spain over competing claims to the Caroline Islands in the central Pacific.

Moltke visited numerous ports in Greece, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire before the squadron returned to Wilhelmshaven on 16 April 1889.

[9] The ship was taken into the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel for an extensive reconstruction, which included new boilers, new quick-firing guns, and housing arrangements for up to 50 cadets and 210 Schiffsjungen (apprentice seamen).

Moltke began another training cruise on 15 June, visiting the West Indies, La Guaira, Venezuela, and Bahía Blanca, Argentina.

While on the way back to Germany, she stopped in Norfolk, United States on 13 June 1892, and the Isle of Wight for the Cowes Regatta in early August.

During this period, she suffered a serious accident on 24 May, when the steamship SS Helene accidentally collided with one of Moltke's dinghies and capsized it, killing six Schiffsjungen.

Moltke took Kaiserin Friedrich aboard and transported her to Fiume, where she met the Austro-Hungarian Kaiser Franz Joseph I on 29 March.

[11] Moltke began individual training thereafter, though this was interrupted in June by a celebration marking the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal.

A week later, she embarked on the winter cruise to the Mediterranean; while in Cadiz, Morocco, she received orders to proceed to Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire as quickly as possible, since unrest in the area threatened Germans in the city.

While touring the country, Moltke accidentally ran aground lightly off the Hebrides on 17 July, but she was able to free herself without incurring any damage.

On 26 September, the winter cruise to the West Indies began, but while in Madiera, Moltke was diverted to the coast of Syria in the Ottoman Empire to protect German interests in the area that were threatened by civil unrest.

While she was in the area, the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish–American War, and Germany feared that unrest in Cuba would threaten Germans, so she was sent to Havana.

She visited New Orleans from 10 to 20 January 1900, the first time a German warship stopped in the city, before returning to Germany, arriving in Kiel on 25 March.

Several Baltic cruises followed between 25 May and 28 July, and then again from 11 August to 12 September, the latter period including visits to Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Stavanger.

She visited other ports in the region, and on 24 January 1901, entered the Dardanelles after having received permission from Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire.

[13] The ship was overhauled on returning to Germany before beginning a hydrographic survey of the Adlergrund on 21 May, where the battleship Kaiser Friedrich III had run around and been badly damaged earlier that year.

A fire broke out aboard the ship on 6 April, necessitating repairs at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel that lasted approximately five weeks.

She made a cruise in the Baltic, followed by a voyage to South American waters, which included a visit to Rio de Janeiro and a tour of the West Indies.

This proved to be the last time Moltke went to sea; she arrived back in Kiel on 23 March 1908, where she was decommissioned on 7 April, her place in the Training Squadron having been taken by the protected cruiser Hertha.

She was then converted into a barracks ship and renamed Acheron on 28 October 1911 so her name could be used for the battlecruiser Moltke that had just entered service.