SMS Leopard was a British cargo steamship that was built in 1912 as Yarrowdale, captured in 1916 by the Imperial German Navy, converted into a commerce raider in Germany, and sunk with all hands by the Royal Navy in 1917. Yarrowdales British operator was Robert Mackill & Co of Glasgow, who gave this name to at least three different ships. This was the second of the three. Leopard was the last commerce raider that Germany sent out in the First World War. After the Royal Navy sank her, Germany relied entirely on U-boats to sink Allied merchant ships. Building William Dobson & Co built Yarrowdale at Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne as yard number 178. She was launched on 3 May 1912 and completed that June. Her registered length was , her beam was and her depth was . She had two decks. Her tonnages were , , and 9,800 tons displacement. Yarrowdale had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine that was rated at 429 NHP and gave her a speed of . Yarrowdale The Mackill Steamship Company owned Yarrowdale and Robert Mackill and Company managed her. She was registered in Glasgow. Her UK official number was 133049 and her code letters were HWBR. On 11 December 1916 the German commerce raider captured Yarrowdale in the Atlantic Ocean. Möwes commander, KK Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien, saw Yarrowdales potential for conversion into a commerce raider. He put a German prize crew and 400 interned Allied seafarers aboard her, and she evaded Allied Blockade to reach Germany. Leopard Kaiserliche Werft Kiel converted Yarrowdale into the commerce raider Leopard. She was armed with five 15 cm SK L/40 naval guns, four 8.8 cm SK L/45 naval guns and two torpedo tubes, all concealed. She was disguised as Rena, a cargo ship that had been built in England in 1911 for owners in neutral Norway, and whose size and appearance was similar to Yarrowdales. This was the second time that Germany had disguised a commerce raider as Rena. The first was a year earlier, which HMS sank before she had a chance to attack any Allied shipping. On 9 January Leopard was commissioned into the German Navy under the command of KK Hans von Laffert. Her complement was 319 officers and ratings. She passed through the Little Belt on 7 March 1917, and then through the Kattegat, Skagerrak and North Sea.