This was the last class of the Victorian Navy's multitude of sloops, gunvessels and gunboats to be constructed, and they followed the traditional pattern for 'colonial' small warships, with a full rig of sails.

[2] Propulsion was provided by a three-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engine developing 1,400 horsepower (1,000 kW) and driving twin screws.

The overseas stations of the Royal Navy were responsible for patrolling the maritime British Empire, and these ships were intended for that role.

According to Hansard, it was stated by the Secretary to the Admiralty in Parliament on 6 March 1905 that they were never designed for fighting purposes but for subsidiary work in peace or war, for which they are still available, and in which they are at the present moment engagedOn commissioning, Espiegle joined the China Station.

[7] Once the ice had melted, she made passage to Weihaiwei, passing Port Arthur at daylight on 13 April 1904, witnessing exchanges of fire between Japanese and Russian ships.

Fantome served on the North America and West Indies Station, including a period in late 1902 and early 1903 when, under Commodore Montgomerie in HMS Charybdis, she enforced a blockade of the Venezuelan coast.

They would be near the sea coast, where they would be able to start fisheries to supply the people of Cape Town... and that in future they could not rely on a yearly visit from a man-of-warAfter vaccinating children, conducting a census (74 people) and baptising a child, they received the answer of the inhabitants: three families were for, seven against, and one neutral.

[11] By 1909, Odin had become a drill ship for the Cape Naval Volunteers,[12] but by March 1914 had recommissioned at Muscat for service on the East Indies Station.

[13] October 1914 saw Odin, Espiegle, and Dalhousie protecting the Abadan Island oil refineries at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.

An uneasy peace was sustained until 31 October, when Espiegle learnt that the Turkish Navy had shelled Odessa, thus effectively declaring war.

[14] Odin and Espiegle supported British and Indian Troops in engagements near Basra, firing on Turkish positions.

[15] Beyond Basra the waters of the Shatt-al-Arab are too shallow for all but the smallest vessels, and the naval contribution to the Mesopotamian campaign was taken over by an improvised fleet of tugs and paddle steamers[3] Odin continued to serve on the East Indies Station, and near Aden on 5 March 1917, she pursued the German raider Iltis, which was scuttled rather than be captured.

[18] She formed part of the British expeditionary force in the Shatt-al-Arab in April 1915,[19] and in 1917 served in operations off Aden in March.

[20] In December 1919, after commissioning at Gibraltar, she took part in the fifth campaign against Mohammed Abdullah Hassan ("the Mad Mullah").