SMS Tiger was the third member of the Iltis class of gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Tiger, along with Luchs, was armed with a main battery of two 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns, had a top speed of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph), and could cruise for more than 2,500 nautical miles (4,630 km; 2,880 mi).

In early 1904, after the start of the Russo-Japanese War, the ship was used to evacuate Germans from Incheon, Korea, to avoid the fighting taking place in the country.

After the start of World War I in July 1914, Tiger was disarmed; her guns and part of her crew were used to equip the steamer Prinz Eitel Friedrich as an auxiliary cruiser.

The German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) abandoned gunboat construction for more a decade after Eber, launched in 1887.

[2][4] Tiger was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig under the contract name Ersatz Wolf in November 1898.

The two ships thereafter cruised together, stopping in Perim at the southern end of the Red Sea to replenish coal stocks from 21 to 23 July.

Tiger was not seriously damaged in the accident, but she nevertheless sailed back north to Aden to take on coal before continuing her voyage.

From mid-July to mid-August, she cruised in the Bohai Sea, before returning to southern Chinese waters through much of the rest of the year.

The year 1903 passed uneventfully; Tiger visited numerous Chinese ports along the country's entire coast but otherwise saw little activity of note.

[5] Following the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in February 1904, Tiger sailed to Incheon to observe events and be available to evacuate German nationals if the need arose.

On 13 August, the Russian ships restocked their coal supplies from three British steamers, but Fürst Bismarck and the protected cruiser Hansa cleared for action to prevent them from leaving the port.

There, unrest had broken out against foreigners, so Tiger and the gunboat SMS Vaterland sent landing parties ashore, along with detachments from the warships of other navies, to protect their countries' nationals in the city.

The rest of the year, along with 1910 and most of 1911, passed in the same routine of port visits and annual repair periods, with little else of note transpiring.

There, she met her sister SMS Iltis, which had the squadron commander (VAdm Günther von Krosigk) aboard.

Krosigk took command of the forces in the area and formed an international landing party from the warships in the city; the German contingent was strengthened by the arrival of the light cruiser SMS Emden soon thereafter.

[9] Tiger embarked on another cruise through the region with a new squadron commander—this time VAdm Maximilian von Spee aboard the flagship SMS Scharnhorst—on 3 January 1914.

Following the voyage, she returned to Qingdao for her annual repair period, and in June, KK Karl von Bodecker arrived to take command of the ship.

The guns, and many of her crew, were sent to equip the Norddeutscher Lloyd post steamer Prinz Eitel Friedrich so it could be used as an auxiliary cruiser to raid enemy merchant shipping.

Japan soon entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente and quickly deployed forces to capture Qingdao; in the final stage of the siege of Qingdao, the shipyard personnel in the harbor detonated scuttling charges aboard Tiger on 29 October, sinking her in the harbor.