The Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works) of the French Navy issued a request for a new cruiser design that incorporated a high top speed and an armament solely consisting of the recently developed Whitehead torpedoes.

On 19 September 1883, the torpedo tubes were removed from the ship, and so she entered service in 1886 armed only with guns, despite Bertin's original intention for the vessel.

[4] Milan proved to be a fairly successful design, becoming what Admiral Théophile Aube, the French Minister of Marine in 1886, considered to be the ideal small cruiser.

Her crew consisted of 150 officers and enlisted men originally, but had increased to 191 by 1891, as additional guns were added.

Steam was provided by twelve coal-burning water-tube Belleville boilers that were ducted into two raked funnels located amidships.

[6] The power plant was rated to produce 3,880 indicated horsepower (2,890 kW), but on speed trials in 1885 using forced draft, she reached 3,916 ihp (2,920 kW) for a top speed of 18.47 knots (34.21 km/h; 21.25 mph);[1] the contemporary journal The Mechanical Engineer noted that the vessel was "believed to be the fastest war vessel afloat.

[6] Coal storage amounted to 308.7 t (303.8 long tons), which provided a cruising radius of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at an economical speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[1] The ship was initially armed with a main battery of five 100 mm (3.9 in) guns carried in individual pivot mounts.

For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried eight 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon, all in individual shielded mounts.

After the work was initially completed in 1892, the decision was made to convert the ship's boilers to mixed coal and oil firing, which was done between December 1892 and February 1893.

[1][10] The ship took part in the annual large-scale fleet maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron that year, which were held off Toulon from 10 to 17 May.

The exercises lasted from 30 June to 6 July, and included simulated attacks on the French Mediterranean coast.

[1] By 1893, Milan had been replaced in front-line service by the protected cruisers her design had inspired, the Forbin and Troude classes, and she was placed in reserve.

At that time, the unit consisted of six ironclads, the protected cruiser Forbin, Condor, and forty-eight torpedo boats of various sizes.

The ships of the squadron were fully-manned only for the annual fleet maneuvers; they otherwise kept only half to two-thirds of their crews for the rest of the year.

[23] The Reserve Squadron was reduced in size in 1898, including only three ironclads, the armored cruiser Chanzy, and Léger in addition to Milan.

[25] Milan was decommissioned again on 1 January 1900 for another overhaul that lasted through 1901; she was recommissioned on 15 December that yeah, but she saw no further active service.

Milan was in turn replaced by the protected cruiser Chasseloup-Laubat in December 1910, and was thereafter sold on 1 August 1911 to M. Bénédic and broken up in La Seyne.