[5] In 1862, they bought from the British Admiralty the sailing frigate SMS Niobe and the Helena-class sloops Musquito and Rover.

After unit exercises, in fall the ships started a foreign voyage to the Atlantic, but were already stopped at 16 November due to tensions with Denmark.

Because of the recently ended war with Denmark, the corvettes Vineta and Victoria accompanied the departing squadron to Plymouth.

[5] There Niobe separated and continued her voyage to the West Indies, while the two escort corvettes returned to the Baltic Sea.

[5] In the following years, Rover untertook, several short trainings in the Baltic Sea in summer and in winter a voyage to the south lasting several months.

[7] The sister ship Musquito, which had been back in service since the previous year, and the similar newbuilding SMS Undine from kaiserliche Schiffwerft in Gdansk,[9] which had entered service for the first time the previous year, continued to serve as training ships for cabin boys.

[5] In fact, Rover, which was again serving as a ship's boy training vessel, was already used in 1873 for an Atlantic voyage in autumn, calling at the West Indies and ports in the USA and Canada.

In 1875, Rover was only in service for the summer half-year, and in the spring of 1876 she was merely recommissioned to be transferred to Danzig for a major overhaul.

In 1882, she saw service from the end of February to 1 May 1882 in order to brief the crew of the future experimental torpedo ship Blücher.

[10] She then again carried out the small voyages into the Baltic during the first section of the ship's boy training, to be decommissioned as usual on 15 October 1885.