Wolf-class gunboat

The three ships of the Wolf class spent nearly their entire careers in active service on foreign stations, generally returning to Germany only for overhauls and modifications. Wolf's first voyage, from 1878 to 1884, took the ship to East Asia, primarily off the coast of China. On the way home, she was involved in the establishment of the colony of German South West Africa.^[7] Immediately after entering service in late 1879, Hyäne began the first of three extended cruises abroad. She sailed first for South America before moving to the South Pacific, where she served as one of the station ships in Samoa until 1879.^[6]

She returned to the South Pacific in 1882, and on the way, she stopped in Easter Island to examine the island. While in the South Pacific, Hyäne took part in the establishment of the colony of German New Guinea. She moved to eastern Africa in early 1886 to support attempts to establish a colony there before returning home in late 1887.^[8] Iltis was sent on a deployment to East Asia in 1880 that lasted until 1886. The ship spent much of this time patrolling the coast of China, ready to protect German nationals in the country if need be. This included retaliating against pirates in the Pescadores Islands in 1882 and guarding Germans in Guangzhou, China, in 1883. She was sent to the central Pacific in 1885 during an unsuccessful attempt to wrest control of the Caroline Islands from Spain. After returning home in 1886, she was overhauled and modernized.^[9]

Wolf's next cruise, which lasted from 1886 to 1895, initially returned to East Asian waters, but she spent most of her time abroad in the South Pacific. In 1889, she carried the exiled King of Samoa, Malietoa Laupepa, back to the islands, where he was reinstated as king. In 1891, she rescued survivors from the wrecked Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul.^[10] Hyäne's final deployment overseas began in 1888 and lasted until 1897. During this period, Hyäne operated in Kamerun in Central Africa and routinely supported efforts to suppress rebellions against German rule.^[11] Iltis was recommissioned in 1887 for another voyage to East Asian waters that lasted for nine years. She observed naval events during the First Sino-Japanese War, and took part in the rescue of Chinese sailors and soldiers after the Battle of Pungdo, and she was present when the main Japanese and Chinese fleets clashed at the Battle of the Yalu River.^[12] Iltis sank in a typhoon while cruising in the Yellow Sea on 23 July 1896.^[4][5] Fatality figures vary; out of a crew of 82, 71 died according to Nottelmann,^[13] but Gröner states that 76 men died in the sinking.^[4]

After returning to Germany in 1895, Wolf was converted into a survey ship, and in this capacity, she was sent to map Germany's colonies in Africa. Wolf operated off the coast of Kamerun and German South West Africa until 1905. Throughout this period, the ship was also used for other tasks, including assisting the colonial Schutztruppe suppress unrest. Hyäne was also converted into a survey ship in 1897, though she served in home waters, a role she filled from 1899 to 1906 and then from 1911 to 1914. Wolf was struck from the naval register on 3 February 1906 and thereafter converted into a repair ship based at Danzig. She served in this capacity until after World War I, and was sold to ship breakers on 26 April 1919. After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Hyäne was stationed as a guard ship on the Eider river. In May 1916, she returned to surveying duties. After the war, she was struck from the register on 7 April 1920, after having already been sold to a merchant shipping company on 15 July 1919. Renamed Seewolf, she served as a commercial vessel until 2 May 1924, when her cargo caught fire in Dieppe, France. She sank in the harbor, but was later raised and scrapped.^[4][14][15]

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• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 4. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0382-1.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 8. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
• Lyon, David (1979). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 240–265. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Nottelmann, Dirk (2022). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy Part III: The Gunboats". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2022. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 63–79. ISBN 978-1-4728-4781-2.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.