Bussard-class cruiser was present in the Caribbean during the Spanish–American War in 1898, though she took no active role in the conflict. Between 1898 and 1900, "Bussard" and "Seeadler" were modernized in Germany. In 1900, "Seeadler" participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China, including a blockade of the Chinese coast. In December 1902, "Falke" and the protected cruiser joined British forces in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–03 after Venezuelan forces seized a British merchant ship. The two cruisers helped British warships bombard Venezuelan coastal fortifications and blockade the coast. "Cormoran" and "Geier" were modernized between 1907 and 1909; only
Protected cruiser Argentina, Austria and the United States. The French Navy adopted the protected cruiser wholeheartedly in the 1880s. The Jeune École school of thought, which proposed a navy composed of fast cruisers for commerce raiding and torpedo-boats for coast defence, was particularly influential in France. The first French protected cruiser was the , laid down in 1882, and followed by six classes of protected cruiser – and no armoured cruisers. The Royal Navy was equivocal about which protection scheme to use until 1887. The large , begun in 1881 and finished in 1886, were built as armoured cruisers but were often