In September, she bombarded local villages in Morocco to suppress challenges to French colonial rule.

The plan called for a total of seventy cruisers for use in home waters and overseas in the French colonial empire.

[1][2] Their design was heavily drawn from that of the preceding Friant-class cruisers, being slightly longer and wider, which improved speed and stability.

The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers.

They were placed in individual pivot mounts; one was on the forecastle, two were in sponsons abreast the forward conning tower, and the last was on the stern.

[8] On 9 September, Cassard departed Cherbourg for Toulon on the French Mediterranean coast, arriving there seven days later.

On 6 March, Cassard joined several pre-dreadnought battleships and the protected cruisers Du Chayla, Lavoisier, and Galilée for maneuvers off Golfe-Juan on the Côte d'Azur, including night firing training.

The maneuvers included a blockade conducted by Group II in late June, and after completing its own exercises, the Mediterranean Squadron rendezvoused with the Escadre du Nord (Northern Squadron) off Lisbon, Portugal in late June before proceeding to Quiberon Bay for joint maneuvers in July.

[13] On 30 October, Cassard joined elements of the Mediterranean Squadron to conduct what were purported to be tests with wireless telegraphy, but was in fact a show of force in the Aegean Sea to intimidate the Ottoman Empire.

[15] During the 1902 fleet maneuvers, which began on 7 July, the Northern Squadron attempted to force a passage through the Strait of Gibraltar.

The cruisers of the Mediterranean Squadron, including Cassard, conducted patrols from their base at Mers El Kébir to observe their entrance and signal the rest of the fleet.

[16] At some point in early 1904, the ship ran aground off Toulon, but suffered only minor damage to her port screw.

The reserve ships, including Cassard, were activated to take part in the fleet maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron in 1905.

They were also responsible for escorting convoys and patrolling anchorages in the Canary Islands to ensure German U-boats were not using them to refuel.

[21] On 19 August, Cassard embarked the German and Austro-Hungarian chargés d'affaires in Tangiers after they had been expelled from French territory, and carried them to Salerno in then still-neutral Italy, where they could be repatriated.

On 26 September, Cassard and the British armed merchant cruiser Victorian conducted a sweep along the Moroccan coast, bombarding villages to suppress unrest against French rule.

[25] On 7 May 1917, she arrived in Bordeaux to have most of her guns removed, remaining inactive until early 1918, by which further alterations to her armament were completed.

She was to be sold to the Polish Navy in early 1924, and as a result, she was disarmed for the transfer in February, but the deal fell through.