The contract for "Cruiser G" was awarded on 17 September 1908, under building number 200. The keel was laid on 7 December 1908, and the ship was launched on 7 April 1910. "Cruiser G" was commissioned on 30 September 1911, as SMS "Moltke". At the launching of the ship on 7 April 1910, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger christened her after his uncle, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army in the mid-19th century. On 11 September 1911, a crew composed of dockyard workers transferred the ship from Hamburg to Kiel through the Skagerrak. On 30 September, the ship was commissioned, under the command of "Kapitän zur See" von Mann, and replaced in the Reconnaissance Unit. Sea trials continued until 1 April 1912.