Magenta and her sister ships suffered from a number of problems, including poor stability, insufficient armor protection, and excessive displacement.

Magenta, completed in 1893, had a relatively short and uneventful career, which she spent in the Mediterranean Squadron conducting training exercises.

Lighter guns allowed a fourth weapon to be added to the main battery, which were rearranged into a lozenge layout that would be used in most French capital ships built over the following ten years.

The class was to have comprised four vessels, but the first unit, Hoche had to be redesigned with a reduced armament after construction began after it became apparent that the initial design was not feasible on the specified dimensions.

[1][2] The design of the Marceau-class ships was revised repeatedly during construction, and by the time they were completed, they were seriously overweight, which submerged much of their belt armor and degraded their stability.

She was fitted with a pair of pole masts equipped with fighting tops that carried some of her light guns and spotted for her main battery.

[4][5][6] The ship was protected with a combination of mild steel and compound armor; her belt was 229 to 457 mm (9 to 18 in) thick and extended for the entire length of the hull.

[11] The following year, the Mediterranean Squadron consisted of Magenta, her two sisters, the two Amiral Baudin-class ships, Courbet, Dévastation, the ironclad Redoutable and the new pre-dreadnought battleship Brennus.

[12] That year, Magenta served as the flagship of Rear Admiral E. T. MacGuckin de Slane, who commanded the 3rd Division of the squadron.

[15] During the fleet maneuvers that year, the submarine Gustave Zédé "torpedoed" Magenta twice, once while she was at anchor and a second time while underway.

[16] The French fleet was reorganized in 1899, and the three Marceau-class ships were organized as a separate division attached to the Mediterranean Squadron for torpedo and gunnery training purposes.

In the 1890s, the French Navy began rebuilding older ironclads to prolong their useful lives, and modernizations for the three Marceaus were authorized that year.

[20] The Belleville boilers were delivered in 1907, but by that time, the navy had no intention of completing the overhaul; her sister Neptune had had her re-boilering cancelled two years earlier.