The s 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 and in the midst of rising tensions with Denmark. In 1859, Prince Regent Wilhelm approved a construction program for some fifty-two gunboats to be built over the next fifteen years, of which eight became the Camäleon class. They were similar to the contemporaneous s, but were substantially larger vessels.
