SMS Greif was a converted freighter serving as a merchant raider with Imperial Germany. Originally named Guben, she was a (4962 GRT) steel-hulled steamship owned by the German-Australian Line (DADG), Hamburg. Greif was converted for military service at Kaiserliche Werft Kiel, in 1915. Greif was commissioned 23 January 1916 and sailed from the Elbe port of Cuxhaven on 27 February 1916 under the command of Fregattenkapitän Rudolf Tietze (born 13 September 1874). The Royal Navy had learned of Greif's sailing and was waiting in the North Sea.