"St George" took part in the 40-minute-long Anglo-Zanzibar War in 1896. The obsolete armed yacht of Zanzibar fired upon a British flotilla led by "St George", also comprising , , and . The response sank "Glasgow" with a hole below the waterline. With a Union Jack flying over the sinking yacht in surrender, the flotilla launched lifeboats to rescue the crew of "Glasgow" which would lie at the bottom of Zanzibar Town Harbour until 1912.