SMS Scorpion was an ironclad gunboat of the Wespe class built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s.

The ships, which were armed with a single 30.5 cm (12 in) MRK L/22 gun, were intended to serve as part of a coastal defense fleet.

The decision was finalized based on the fleet plan conceived by General Albrecht von Stosch, the new Chief of the Kaiserliche Admiralität (Imperial Admiralty), in the early 1870s.

He envisioned a fleet oriented on defense of Germany's Baltic and North Sea coasts, which would be led by the ironclad corvettes of the Sachsen class.

The ship was fitted with a waterline armor belt that was 102 to 203 mm (4 to 8 in) thick, with the thickest section protecting the propulsion machinery spaces and ammunition magazine.

Alexander Georg Mosle, the director of the shipyard and also a member of the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), gave a speech during the launching ceremony.

Scorpion recommissioned for the first time on 5 September 1885, for a short period of training exercises as part of the Marinestation der Nordsee (North Sea Naval Station).

During this period, on 16 June, she and her sister Natter represented the German fleet at the opening of the Elbe–Lübeck Canal, which was officiated by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

In July, the four Brandenburg-class battleships were sent to China in response to the Boxer Uprising, so Scorpion, Natter, and their sisters Mücke and Crocodill took their place in the annual fleet maneuvers.