 "Preussischer Adler" was an iron-hulled paddle steamer originally built for the Prussian postal service to operate on the packet route between Prussia and Russia in the mid-1840s.At the time, the Prussian Navy was an anemic force consisting of a handful of small sailing vessels and cannon-armed yawls.The ship was requisitioned early in her career during the First Schleswig War to defend the Prussian coast from the more powerful Danish Navy that imposed a blockade on Prussia's and the other German states' ports.