In the 1880s and 1890s, factions in the French Navy's officer corps argued over the types of cruiser that best served France's interests.

The two cruisers of the D'Estrées class were ordered under the construction program of 1896 at the behest of the colonialists for use in the French overseas empire.

The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines made by Schneider, driving two screw propellers.

[3] Infernet was built at the Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde shipyard; her keel was laid down in December 1896.

[8] The ship was named for Captain Louis-Antoine-Cyprien Infernet, a French naval officer who had seen action at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

On 15 March, Infernet was commissioned for a deployment to the East Indies station, where she was to replace the old unprotected cruiser Nielly.

[15][16] The Russian Consul met Ibn Saud, the ruler of Najd, who was in Kuwait at the time, and promised him financial assistance and rifles.

This caused concern to the British, who considered any foreign interference in the Persian Gulf area a threat to their colonial interests in the region.

Infernet was found to have come to rest on a shoal, but the water was too low to allow her to be refloated; an initial survey noted that the ship's propellers and rudder were damaged in the grounding.