Her second deployment came in 1886 and saw "Carola" alternate between German East Africa and the Pacific as part of a cruising squadron commanded by Eduard von Knorr, Karl Eduard Heusner, and later Karl August Deinhard. The squadron's time in the Pacific was uneventful, and consisted of visiting ports in East Asia and patrolling Germany's holdings in the central Pacific in German New Guinea. During operations off East Africa from 1888 to 1890, she participated in anti-slave trade operations, which included the capture of a dhow carrying 78 slaves that were freed. She also helped suppress the Abushiri revolt, sending marines ashore to fight the rebels and providing gunfire support to German forces led by Major Hermann Wissmann.