This ship was build in the mid 1930s and was used as a government yacht before the war. When not needed in this role, its main duty was a fleet tender for the fleet stuff, a navigational training ship and its use as a target ship. In this last role, the ship served was used for the development of aerial torpedoes.

After the outbreak of the war, the Grille was first used as a auxiliary mine layer due to the lack of real mine layers in the Kriegsmarine. After the Invasion of Norway it was sent there and used as a floating staff headquarters for the U-Boat commander in Norway (FdU-Nord) based in Narvik.

In 1945 it was taken over by the British and sold to several private owners and was even used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean until it was scrapped in the USA in 1951.