From 1853 to 1856, "Cruizer" took part in the Baltic campaign of the Russian War. Renamed "Cruiser" in 1856, she served on the China station during the Second Opium War, including the taking of Canton and the attack on the Taku Forts on the Peiho river in 1859. Laid up in Portsmouth from 1861 to 1866, she recommissioned for the Mediterranean, where she served until 1870. She became part of the Steam Reserve in 1870, but in 1872 she recommissioned in Portsmouth for service as a sail training ship in the Mediterranean, for which role her engines were removed. In May 1893 she was renamed "Lark" and in 1912 she was sold at Malta.