The ship served with the fleet from 1898 to 1902, and during this period, from mid-1900 to mid-1901, she was deployed as part of an expeditionary force sent to help suppress the Boxer Rebellion in Qing China. The naval command decided her armament was insufficient for front-line use, so she was extensively modernized between 1903 and 1910, thereafter serving as a tender until the outbreak of World War I. She was then assigned to support the patrols in the German Bight. She was present at the Battle of Helgoland Bight in August 1914 but was not directly engaged. The following month, she was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine while steaming off Helgoland, though only two men were lost in the sinking.