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

They were based on the preceding Forbin class, the primary improvement being the addition of armor to the conning tower.

After the first two ships were ordered, the navy requested competing proposals from private shipyards, and the design from Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde was selected, which became the Troude class.

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

At a more economical speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), the ship could steam for 2,110 nautical miles (3,910 km; 2,430 mi).

In 1893–1894, the ship had her cofferdam replaced by a layer of highly sub-divided watertight compartments that covered the entire width of the deck.

The keel for Lalande was laid down at the Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde shipyard in Lormont on 6 May.

These continued for more than a year, and she was finally placed in full commission on 25 April 1891, though the trials results were not formally approved until 6 May.

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

[8] She was still serving in the unit in 1895, by which time the fleet's cruiser division consisted of Lalande, her sister ships Troude and Cosmao, Tage, and Suchet.

[17] 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.

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.

[21] Lalande was placed in special reserve on 18 February 1909 in Bizerte in French Tunisia so that she could be re-boilered once again, but on 3 November, the work was postponed before ultimately being cancelled on 17 June 1910.

Struck from the naval register the same day, she was placed for sale on 14 August 1912 and was eventually sold to M. Boccarra on 13 October,[5] and she was subsequently broken up for scrap.