SMS Salamander was a steam gunboat of the Jäger class built for the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s and early 1860s.

The ship was ordered as part of a program to strengthen Prussia's coastal defense forces, then oriented against neighboring Denmark.

The Jäger class of gunboatss came about as a result of a program to strengthen the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Reichsflotte and in the midst of rising tensions with Denmark.

Her entire propulsion system, including the masts and the funnel, was removed and a roof was erected over the hull to keep the elements out.

On 8 December 1863, the Prussian Navy ordered the fleet to mobilize, as tensions between Prussia and Denmark over the Schleswig–Holstein question rose sharply.

The unit was led by the aviso Grille and was based at Swinemünde, under the command of Franz von Waldersee; the vessels were used to guard the island of Rügen.

Salamander was detached to strengthen the Prussian naval forces at Wilhelmshaven on Prussia's North Sea coast in early October.

On 23 October, Salamander carried the new Chief of the Admiralty, Albrecht von Stosch, to inspect the area at Friedrichsort near Kiel.

In January 1874, Unterleutnant zur See (Sub-lieutenant at Sea) Ernst von Frantzius commanded the ship, though he left the following month.

Salamander and the gunboat Nautilus were sent in mid-May 1874 to assist the screw corvette Nymphe, which had run aground off Langeland on the way back from her world cruise.