Schwalbe was built at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) in Wilhelmshaven; her keel was laid down in April 1886 and her completed hull was launched in August 1887.

Designed for colonial service, Schwalbe was armed with a main battery of eight 10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns and had a cruising radius of over 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi); she also had an auxiliary sailing rig to supplement her steam engines.

Through the 1870s and early 1880s, Germany built two types of cruising vessels: small, fast avisos suitable for service as fleet scouts and larger, long-ranged screw corvettes capable of patrolling the German colonial empire.

[1] General Leo von Caprivi, the Chief of the Imperial Admiralty, sought to modernize Germany's cruiser force.

The Schwalbes were the first modern unprotected cruiser to be built for the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), marking the first step in Caprivi's plans.

The assignment came following requests for reinforcement from Konteradmiral Karl August Deinhard, the local commander of naval forces in the region, to help suppress the Abushiri Revolt.

[4][5][6] On 3 January 1889, Schwalbe bombarded rebel positions at Bagamoyo before taking Deinhard aboard to Dar es Salaam.

The ship remained stranded for two days before Leipzig and the British steamer SS Woodcock arrived to pull her free.

Schwalbe and her crew were given a respite from the conflict from 20 July to 17 August for a period of rest and refit at Port Louis in Mauritius.

In early December, Schwalbe and Sperber were present at ceremonial reception of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition at Bagamoyo.

In mid-January 1890, Pfeil, Leipzig, and Sophie left East Africa, leaving Schwalbe, Sperber, and Carola on the station.

During this period, several artillery pieces were captured, one of which was taken aboard Schwalbe before eventually being given to the Training Inspection for the colonial troops.

Hirschberg contracted malaria and became severely ill, prompting his return to Germany on 24 June to recover; KK Rüdiger arrived on 13 July to take over command of the ship.

Rüdiger was promoted to the position of Deputy Governor of the colony in October, and KK Oelrichs replaced him aboard the ship.

She was anchored off Tanga by June, and in October, the death of Ali bin Said, the Sultan of Zanzibar, caused a succession crisis that forced Schwalbe and other vessels to steam to the island to help mediate the disputes.

She remained out of service after the repair work was completed, until 1 April 1898, when she was recommissioned for another tour in German East Africa, to replace the cruiser Seeadler.

Schwalbe and the cruiser Condor were sent to South Africa to protect German shipping, since the British had begun aggressively searching foreign freighters to prevent contraband from reaching the Boers.

During her patrol of South African waters, she stopped in Durban from 19 to 21 January 1900, Port Elizabeth, East London, Cape Town, and Delagoa Bay.

Tensions eased as the Boers began to suffer several defeats in early 1900, and on 7 May, Schwalbe was back in Dar es Salaam.

She then returned to Qingdao and the Yangtze area, before riots in Zhejiang province forced her to steam to Ningbo to assist in suppressing the unrest on 9 April 1902.