SMS Pommerania was a paddle steamer originally built for use as a packet ship but was acquired by the North German Federal Navy in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War.

Pommerania went to the Mediterranean Sea in 1876 in response to the murder of a German diplomat and remained in the region to observe the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878.

Pommerania was among four merchant ships purchased by the navy, along with the paddle steamer Falke and the HAPAG passenger liners Cuxhaven and Helgoland.

She was difficult to control and lost considerable speed in a head sea, and she tended to ship large quantities of water forward.

[1] Pommerania's propulsion system consisted of one vertical, oscillating 2-cylinder marine steam engine that drove a pair of paddle wheels located amidships.

She could carry up to 75 t (74 long tons) of coal, which allowed a cruising radius of 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) at a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

Waldersee's trials were underway when war with France broke out on 19 July, and the North German Federal Navy requisitioned the vessel on 20 August at no cost.

[1][4] The German Fisheries Association requested a commission to conduct research in the North and Baltic Seas and the navy—now the Imperial Navy—provided Pommerania for the work.

From there, she proceeded to Friedrichsort in the Kieler Förde, where the survey work ended owing to an outbreak of cholera among the crew, forcing Pommerania to go into quarantine.

From there, she proceeded to Wilhelmshaven and then back through the Skagerrak and Kattegat to Kiel, arriving there on 10 September, having traveled 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi).

Pommerania was recommissioned in 1873 to conduct surveys of the Mecklenburg coast, but she had to return to port for repairs in May after suffering machinery problems.

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

Most of the German vessels left in August, but Pommerania and the ironclad Friedrich Carl remained in the eastern Mediterranean, first off the Levant and then stopping in Smyrna.

She repeatedly intervened to stop British fishing vessels from illegally operating in German territorial waters off the East Frisian Islands.

She conducted further surveying work in the Baltic beginning on 13 April 1887, and in June, she went to Kiel to participate in the ceremonial start of construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal.