Chanzy ran aground off the Chinese coast in mid-1907, where she proved impossible to refloat and was destroyed in place after her crew was rescued without loss.

Steam for the engines was provided by 16 Belleville boilers and they were rated at a total of 8,300 metric horsepower (6,100 kW) using forced draft.

A watertight internal cofferdam, filled with cellulose, ran the length of the ship from the protective deck[5] to a height of 1.2 meters (4 ft) above the waterline.

In early March 1897, she steamed with other ships of the squadron to Selino Kastelli on the southwest coast of Crete to put an international expedition ashore that rescued Ottoman troops and Cretan Turk civilians from Kandanos[10][11][12][13] Although the International Squadron operated off Crete until December 1898, Chanzy departed Cretan waters on 25 February 1898 and returned to France.

[9] On 1 January 1899 Chanzy was reassigned to the 1st Light Division and her most notable activities for the year were visits to the Balearic Islands and ports in the Aegean Sea and Middle East.

Chanzy was repaired in time to participate in the annual maneuvers and spent three weeks in September attached to the elderly gunnery ship Couronne before making a cruise to French North Africa.

She arrived back at Toulon on 1 February 1902 and began a long period of relative inactivity that lasted until she was formally placed in reserve when the new armored cruiser Marseillaise replaced her in the squadron in May 1904.

She arrived at Saigon, French Indochina, on 10 January 1907 and visited Hong Kong and ports in China, and Japan in April and May.