On 10 December, "Topeka" completed repairs and departed Norfolk to join the fleet in the West Indies. She reached Culebra, Puerto Rico, on the 16th and, for the following two months, conducted exercises in the West Indies and the Caribbean. On 21 February 1903, the ship got underway from Kingston, Jamaica, to return to the United States. She arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, on 1 March, and began operations along the length of the eastern seaboard. Those operations occupied her until late in the year.