The Gloire-class ships were designed by the naval architect Emile Bertin as enlarged and improved versions of the preceding Gueydon class.

Condé had three-cylinder engines fed by 28 Niclausse boilers that were designed to produce a total of 20,500 metric horsepower (15,100 kW) intended to give her a maximum speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph).

The cruisers carried enough coal to give them a range of 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[2] The main battery of the Gloire class consisted of two quick-firing (QF) 194 mm Modèle 1893–1896 guns mounted in single-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure.

The order for the ship was transferred to the Arsenal de Lorient on 8 April 1898 where she was laid down on 29 January 1901, after her sister Gloire vacated the slipway.

[14] When the Danton-class battleships began entering service in August, the French Navy reorganized yet again with the 2nd Squadron renumbered as the 3rd and the Cruiser Division was renamed as the 3rd DL.

During the United States occupation of Veracruz beginning in April 1914, the cruiser was frequently off the coast of Mexico to protect French citizens and interests during the Mexican Revolution.

On 16 October, Condé joined with the British armored cruiser HMS Berwick to search for the German ship off the coast of Brazil.

Unbeknownst to the Allies, Karlsruhe had been destroyed by an internal explosion on 8 November, but Condé and Descartes remained in the West Indies until August 1915.

[17] On 14 February Condé relieved the light cruiser HMAS Sydney watching the interned German merchant ships in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Condé returned to France for a refit at the Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde shipyard in Bordeaux in July.

Condé joined the unit in late 1917 and the division was tasked with escorting convoys bound for Europe from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, beginning on 15 February 1918.

Condé relieved the armored cruiser Gueydon in the Arctic on 25 June and covered the withdrawal of French troops from Arkhangelsk and the subsequent evacuation of Murmansk by Allied forces on 12 October.