Completed in 1904, Gloire joined her sister ships in the Northern Squadron (Escadre du Nord), usually serving as a flagship.

She participated in the French bombardment of Casablanca, Morocco, in 1907, and was briefly assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditeranée) in 1910–1911.

When World War I began in August 1914, she was assigned to patrol the English Channel to enforce the blockade of Germany and remained on that duty into 1916.

Gloire 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.

[9] Together with her sisters Condé and Amiral Aube, Gloire escorted the remains of John Paul Jones from France to Annapolis, Maryland, in April 1906 and then went on to visit New York City.

[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 by 4 September.

While conducting gunnery training on 20 September, a propellant charge exploded prematurely in one of her 194 mm gun turrets that killed nine and badly wounded another five crewmen.

[16] The successes of German merchant raiders like Möwe in 1916 caused the Allies to transfer cruisers to the Atlantic to protect their shipping.

After another reorganization in May, Gloire and all of her sisters were assigned to the 3rd DL which was tasked with patrolling the West Indies in search of German commerce raiders.

Together with Amiral Aube, Gloire departed Brest on 20 May, bound for Fort-de-France in the colony of Martinique to rendezvous with Marseillaise and Condé which were already there.

[17] The division was tasked with escorting convoys bound for Europe from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands beginning on 15 February 1918.

She was still assigned to the division when the war ended on 11 November and she escorted the ocean liner SS Leviathan bringing General John Pershing back to the United States on 1 September 1919.