The class was built as part of a construction program intended to provide scouts for the main battle fleet.

They were based on the earlier unprotected cruiser Milan, with the addition of an armor deck to improve their usefulness in battle.

They had a high top speed for the time, at around 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), and they carried a main battery of four 138 mm (5.4 in) guns.

Forbin spent the 1890s in the Reserve Squadron, based in the Mediterranean Sea; during this period, she was kept in partial commission to participate in annual training exercises.

Beginning in 1879, the French Navy's Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works) had requested designs for small but fast cruisers of about 2,000 long tons (2,032 t) displacement that could be used as scouts for the main battle fleet.

[1][2] The three Forbins, along with the three very similar Troude-class cruisers, were ordered by Admiral Théophile Aube, then the French Minister of Marine and an ardent supporter of the Jeune École doctrine.

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

[7] She was launched on 14 January 1888 and was commissioned for sea trials on 15 November,[6] the first member of her class to enter service.

A series of exercises included shooting practice, a blockade simulation, and scouting operations in the western Mediterranean.

Five men were burned in the accident, but the fire did not detonate any adjacent charges and Forbin was only lightly damaged.

[20] She took part in the fleet maneuvers that year, which began on 6 July with the concentration of the Northern and Mediterranean Squadrons in Algiers in French Algeria.

The maneuvers were conducted in the western Mediterranean, alternating between ports in French North Africa and Toulon and Marseilles, France, and concluding on 4 August.

[23] At some point in 1911, Forbin was assigned to the Moroccan Naval Division, where she patrolled French Morocco until 27 September, when she was replaced by the cruiser Lavoisier.

[24] On 9 April 1913, the navy allocated Forbin for use as a storage hulk based in Rochefort, and she was struck from the naval register there on 27 November.

On 1 February 1918, the tug Utrech towed Forbin to Corfu, which was the French fleet's primary naval base during the conflict.