See main article: Iltis-class gunboat.
The German German: [[Kaiserliche Marine]] (Imperial Navy) abandoned gunboat construction for more a decade after, launched in 1887. By the mid-1890s, the navy began planning to replace the older vessels of the and es, but the loss of the gunboat necessitated an immediate replacement, which was added to the 1898 naval budget. The new ship was planned to patrol the German colonial empire; requirements included engines powerful enough for the ship to steam up the Yangtze in China, where the new gunboat was intended to be deployed. Six ships were built in three identical pairs.
Iltis was 65.2m (213.9feet) long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced 894lk=onNaNlk=on as designed and at full load. The ship had a raised forecastle deck and a pronounced ram bow. Her superstructure consisted primarily of a conning tower with an open bridge atop it. She had a crew of 9 officers and 121 enlisted men.
Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of horizontal triple-expansion steam engines each driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by four coal-fired Thornycroft boilers. Exhaust was vented through two funnels located amidships. Iltis was rated to steam at a top speed of 13.5kn at 1300PS, though she exceeded these figures in service. The ship had a cruising radius of about 3080nmi at a speed of .
Iltis was armed with a main battery of four 8.8sp=usNaNsp=us SK L/30 guns, with 1,124 rounds of ammunition. Two guns were placed side-by-side on the forecastle and the other pair side-by-side near the stern. She also carried six Maxim guns. The only armor protection carried by the ship was of steel plate on the conning tower.
Iltis was laid down at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Danzig in 1897. She was launched on 4 August 1898 and commissioned into the German fleet on 1 December that year. After entering service, Iltis was sent abroad, to Germany's main naval force in Asia, the East Asia Squadron. Shortly thereafter, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China. At the time, the East Asia Squadron also included the protected cruisers,,, and, the unprotected cruiser, and the gunboat . Kaiser Wilhelm II decided that an expeditionary force was necessary to reinforce the Eight Nation Alliance that had formed to defeat the Boxers. The expeditionary force consisted of the four s, six cruisers, 10 freighters, three torpedo boats, and six regiments of marines, under the command of Marshal Alfred von Waldersee.
After the outbreak of World War I in early August 1914, the light cruiser captured the Russian steamer Ryazan and brought her back to Tsingtao. Men from the crews of Iltis, the unprotected cruiser and the gunboat were used to man Ryazan, which was commissioned as the auxiliary cruiser . Iltis was then scuttled on 28 September 1914 during the Siege of Tsingtao. Three of her sisters were also scuttled during the siege.