She was again sent to the China Station in 1906, followed by a period at Colombo between 1908 and 1911. She returned to Britain in January 1912, where she was refitted to return to service. She was recommissioned at the Nore in June 1912, and joined the Third Fleet. By April 1913 she had been reassigned to operate off the Cape of Good Hope as part of the squadron assigned to the West Africa Station. She was serving off East Africa at Zanzibar when the First World War broke out, and the squadron was initially assigned to protect British Empire shipping travelling on the trade routes around the African coast. On 8 August 1914 "Astraea" bombarded Dar-es-Salaam, part of the German colony of German East Africa. "Astraea"s guns destroyed a radio station, and fearing an imminent landing, the German authorities scuttled their floating dock to block the harbour. This had the subsequent effect of preventing the German commerce raider from being able to return to the port. "Astraea" was later one of the ships assigned to hunt and blockade "Königsberg" in the Rufiji Delta.