In the late 1880s, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) accelerated construction of ships for its fleet and reorganized its most modern ironclad battleships—the Duilio and Italia classes—into a fast squadron suitable for offensive operations.

To compound matters, the visit of a German squadron of four ironclads to Italy confirmed French concerns of a combined Italo-German fleet that would dramatically outnumber their own.

In addition to twenty-four new battleships, a total of seventy cruisers were to be built for use in home waters and overseas in the French colonial empire.

The Catinat class were ordered to as part of the program,[2][3] and they were intended to operate in France's overseas colonies.

[4] To meet the requirements for new cruisers for overseas deployments, the French naval minister, Édouard Barbey, issued a request on 4 November 1890 for design proposals similar to the older Lapérouse and Villars classes.

Barbey laid out his requirements for the Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works), which included a maximum displacement of 2,500 t (2,461 long tons; 2,756 short tons), a speed of at least 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) at natural draft, and a cruising radius of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) with a normal load of coal (and up to 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) with a maximum load).

The Conseil selected a design from the shipyard Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, which became the Descartes class, but they also chose a submission from the naval engineer Joseph Louis Tissier for further development as well.

Tissier had noted that the specifications issued by Barbey were broadly similar to the earlier Friant-class cruisers, so he based his design on those vessels.

He widened the hull slightly and added a layer of wood to the copper sheathing to protect the vessel during lengthy deployments overseas, where shipyard facilities were not readily available.

[7] In his revised design, which he had completed by January 1893, Tissier altered the arrangement of the main battery to more closely resemble the AC de la Loire design; he had originally placed the guns in sponsons that were widely spaced, but the Conseil preferred the closer arrangement that AC de la Loire had adopted.

[4] Catinat was instead affected by severe vibration at speeds greater than 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph); both ships were poorly ventilated.

[7] Like most French warships of the period, the Catinat-class cruisers' hulls had a pronounced ram bow, tumblehome shape, and a short forecastle deck.

Below the waterline, the hulls were covered in a layer of wood and copper sheathing to protect them from biofouling on long voyages overseas.

[8] The ships' propulsion system consisted of a pair of vertical triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers.

A rail extended aft, through the captain's cabin, to a port in the stern, where the mines could be dropped into the ships' wake.

[17] She helped suppress a fire in the United States in 1900 and protected French interests in Colombia during a conflict in the country in 1901.

[22] After arriving in France, it was determined that Protet's boilers were in poor condition, but repairs were deemed to be too expensive.

[11] She was converted into a training ship for gun crews at the Gunnery School in 1908,[23] but served in that capacity for just two years.