SMS Bismarck was a Bismarck-class corvette built for the German Imperial Navy in the late 1870s. She was the lead ship of her class, which included five other vessels. The Bismarck-class corvettes were ordered as part of a major naval construction program in the early 1870s, and she was designed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended tours in Germany's colonial empire. Bismarck was laid down in November 1875, launched in July 1877, and was commissioned into the fleet in August 1878. She was armed with a battery of sixteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns and had sails, a full ship rig to supplement her steam engine on long cruises abroad.

Huahine is an island located among the Society Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the South Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Leeward Islands group (Îles sous le Vent). At the 2017 census it had a population of 6,075.