"Hansa" served abroad in the German East Asia Squadron for the first six years of her career. She contributed a landing party to the force that captured the Taku Forts during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. In August 1904, she participated in the internment of the Russian battleship "Tsesarevich" after the Battle of the Yellow Sea during the Russo-Japanese War. After returning to Germany in 1906, she was modernized and used as a training ship in 1909, following the completion of the refit. At the outbreak of World War I, "Hansa" was mobilized into V Scouting Group, but served in front-line duty only briefly. She was used as a barracks ship after 1915, and ultimately sold for scrapping in 1920.