SMS Panther was one of six Iltis-class gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The ships were built to modernize the German gunboat force that was used to patrol the German colonial empire. They were ordered in three groups of two ships, each pair incorporating design improvements. Panther, along with Eber, 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 3,400 nautical miles (6,300 km; 3,910 mi).
Panther spent most of her career abroad, where she was involved in a number of international disputes. She was initially sent to the East American Station after entering service in 1902, and she was soon sent to intervene in the Markomannia incident, where she sank the Haitian gunboat Crête-à-Pierrot. Panther was next involved in the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903, during which she participated in the bombardment of Fort San Carlos. Panther returned to Haiti in 1904 to pressure the Haitian government to pay a settlement after an attack on a German diplomat in the country. In 1905 and 1906, the ship toured South America, steaming as far south as Paraguay. She was transferred to German West Africa in mid-1907.
The ship patrolled Germany's West African colonies for the next four years, largely uneventfully. Recalled to Germany for repairs in 1911, she stopped in Agadir, Morocco, at the request of the Foreign Office, touching off the Agadir Crisis, the most significant incident that involved Panther. The resulting international uproar created a war scare that significantly worsened Anglo-German relations. After repairs in Germany, Panther returned to Africa for another tour from 1912 to 1914, arriving back in Germany weeks before the start of World War I. She was used as a patrol vessel in the western Baltic Sea during the war, but she saw no action. After the war, she was retained by the new Reichsmarine (Navy of the Realm) for use as a survey ship. Decommissioned in 1926, she was eventually sold to ship breakers in 1931 and dismantled.
The German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) abandoned gunboat construction for more a decade after Eber, launched in 1887, instead focusing on larger unprotected cruisers beginning with the Schwalbe class. By the mid-1890s, the navy began planning replacements for the older vessels of the Wolf and Habicht classes. The new ships were scheduled to begin construction by 1900, but the loss of the gunboat Iltis in a storm 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; each pair incorporated incremental improvements over the preceding set, and Panther was one of the last pair, along with Eber.
Panther was 66.9 meters (219 ft 6 in) long overall and had a beam of 9.7 m (31 ft 10 in) and a draft of 3.54 m (11 ft 7 in) forward. She displaced 977 metric tons (962 long tons) as designed and 1,193 t (1,174 long tons) at full load. The ship had a raised forecastle deck and a straight stem. 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. Panther could steam at a top speed of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph) at 1,300 metric horsepower (1,300 ihp) as designed. The ship had a cruising radius of about 3,400 nautical miles (6,300 km; 3,900 mi) at a speed of 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph).
Panther was armed with a main battery of two 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns, with 482 rounds of ammunition. One was placed on the forecastle and the other at the stern. She also carried six 37 mm (1.5 in) Maxim guns. The only armor protection carried by the ship was 8 mm (0.31 in) of steel plate on the conning tower.
Panther, named after the eponymous cat genus, was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig in July 1900 under the contract designation "A". She was launched on 1 April 1901, and at the launching ceremony, she was christened by the wife of General August von Lentze, the commander of XVII Corps; the director of the shipyard, Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Curt von Prittwitz und Gaffron gave a speech at the event. She was commissioned on 15 March 1902 to begin sea trials, which lasted until early May, when she went to the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel for final fitting out. Her first commander was Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Richard Eckermann. On the order of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Panther was sent along with the dispatch boat Sleipner to represent the Imperial Navy at the industrial and commercial exhibition in Düsseldorf. The two ships sailed to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where they entered the Rhine. They arrived in Düsseldorf on 7 June; they were the first large German warships to visit the area, and they created such a stir in the populace that their visit was extended to 3 July. After departing, Panther stopped for two days in Duisburg, before arriving back in Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea coast on 13 July. There, her crew began preparations for her first overseas deployment, which included repainting the ship from gray to white and yellow.
Panther sailed from Germany on 31 July 1902, bound for the East American Station. She arrived in Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies on 30 August, where she joined the flagship of the station, the protected cruiser Vineta. The latter's commander, Kommodore (Commodore) Georg Scheder ordered Panther to steam to Haiti, where a revolt had broken out. The rebels, who controlled the gunboat Crête-à-Pierrot, seized the German HAPAG steamer SS Markomannia, which was carrying a shipment of weapons to the Haitian government. Panther was to intervene in the Markomannia incident and retrieve the captured ship. On 6 September, Panther located Crête-à-Pierrot in Gonaïves; she fired a warning shot that prompted most of the crew to abandon ship, but Admmiral Hammerton Killick remained board. He detonated ammunition in the stern of the ship, which would prevent her from being captured by the Germans. Panther then sank the wrecked ship with gunfire. Panther's guns both quickly failed after having fired five rounds and twenty-four shells from the forward and aft gun, respectively; the forward gun broke down completely, and the aft mounting proved to be too weak for the recoil of the 10.5 cm gun. The recoil began to pull apart the deck planking, which forced the crew to cease firing. There were concerns about how the United States would view the action in the context of the Monroe Doctrine. But despite legal advice describing the sinking as "illegal and excessive", the US State Department endorsed the action. The New York Times declared that "Germany was quite within its rights in doing a little housecleaning on her own account". The Haitian government later officially thanked the German government for destroying the rebel gunboat.
Vineta arrived to relieve Panther on 25 September, allowing the latter to sail to visit Venezuela. She steamed about 160 nmi (300 km; 180 mi) up the Orinoco river to visit the city of Ciudad Bolívar. By this time, tensions between Venezuela and Britain, Germany, and Italy had risen significantly over measures that the Venezuelan president, Cipriano Castro, had imposed to try to suppress a rebellion, including a blockade of several coastal cities. Castro also suspended payments toward foreign debts, which sparked the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903. The German naval command instructed their ships in the region to free any German merchant vessels that were seized by the Venezuelan Navy by force if necessary. No incidents involving German ships materialized, however, but the European powers concluded an agreement on 1 December to put an end to the blockade. For its part, Germany had assembled the East American Cruiser Division, led by Scheder aboard Vineta, and which also included Panther, the cruisers Falke and Gazelle, and the training ships Stein and Charlotte.