SMS Sperber 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 gunboats 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.

[2] The ship, which was named after the sparrowhawk, was moved to Stralsund after completion later that year, where she was laid up on the island of Dänholm, where all of her sisters were also placed in reserve.

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.

[8] On 17 March, Sperber was sent to take her sister Hay under tow after her engines broke down while withdrawing from the Battle of Jasmund.

[4] Sperber was reactivated on 29 June 1869, under the command of Leutnant zur See (LzS—Lieutenant at Sea) Gustav Stempel, for a period of testing that concluded on 9 July.

The ship was recommissioned on 15 June 1875 for use as a tender, supporting the Marinestation der Ostsee (Naval Station of the Baltic Sea).

The ship's first command during this period was Kapitänleutnant (KL—Captain Lieutenant) Albert von Seckendorff; LzS Hans Sack replaced him in August 1875, serving until May 1876.