The French Navy was not satisfied with the vessel, owing to her obsolescent design, since she too weak to defeat the more powerful protected cruisers and was too slow to escape from them.

The ship served as the flagship of the Pacific station after entering service in 1889, but was forced to return home the following year to correct defects in her propulsion system.

In the late 1870s, the French Navy had embarked on a program of cruiser construction based on a strategy aimed at attacking British merchant shipping in the event of war.

The Minister of the Navy, Louis Pierre Alexis Pothuau, asked the Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works) for recommendations on what types of cruisers should be built in the future.

The Conseil made their report on 28 March, and recommended ships of around 3,000 to 3,200 tonnes (3,000 to 3,100 long tons), good freeboard, a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph), and a cruising radius of 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi).

In addition, the Arethusé type was insufficiently armed to be able to engage foreign counterparts like the British Shah or the German Leipzig.

The naval constructor Pierre Gaston Hermann Valin, who had designed the cruiser Iphigénie, prepared an improved version of that ship to meet the Navy's requirements.

The Conseil des Traveaux rejected his proposal on 4 August 1881, but the naval minister, Georges Charles Cloué, overruled their decision shortly thereafter.

[6] The ship was poorly regarded as a result of her dated design; she was significantly weaker than the new protected cruisers that began to enter service in foreign navies by the time she was completed.

Delays with the design and manufacturing of the steam engines slowed work on the ship, and she was finally completed in 1886, being commissioned for sea trials on 15 June.

Further trials were carried out, beginning on 6 June 1887, and after defects were discovered during a test run on 16 July, she was placed in the 3rd category of reserve for alterations on 10 August.

[5][6] At some point during the trials period, Dubourdieu received additional alterations, including the installation of admiral's quarters to allow the vessel to serve as a flagship.

[5] The ship sailed south through the Atlantic, rounded Cape Horn, and made calls in a series of ports along the way, including in Chile, Peru, and the Hawaiian Kingdom, before reaching Tahiti in French Polynesia.

[5] After recommissioning in 1896, Dubourdieu was assigned to the North American station to serve as its flagship, along with the unprotected cruiser Roland.

[11] In May that year, Dubourdieu steamed to Cherbourg to undergo an overhaul and receive a new crew before resuming her role as the station flagship.