[2][6] After completion, Leda was assigned to the Medway Fleet Reserve, and was required to be ready to be commissioned on 24 hours notice.

[7] On 22 March 1894, Leda was commissioned as a tender to Australia, guardship at Southampton, replacing the second-class gunboat Grappler for coastguard and fishery protection duties.

Despite these improvements, she was still too slow for effective use against much faster torpedo boats and destroyers,[18][19] and was employed as a drillship for Royal Navy Reserve training in the Clyde until 1906.

[21] Repairs were completed by the end of March that year, allowing Leda to resume her coast-guard duties at Harwich.

[23] She was converted to a minesweeper in 1909,[20] which involved removing the torpedo tubes,[24] but continued on coast-guard and fishery protection operations.

[27] On the outbreak of the First World War Leda, reverting to the role of minesweeper, joined the newly established Grand Fleet.

[28] In August 1914, the minesweepers attached to the Grand Fleet, including Leda were employed on carrying out daily sweeps of the Pentland Firth.

[29] On 16 October 1914, Leda sighted a suspected periscope inside the fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow in Orkney.

[31][32] On 27 October, the battleship Audacious struck a mine off Tory Island, north-west of Lough Swilly, and despite efforts to tow her to safety, sank later that day.

[33][34] Leda, which along with sister ship Circe was already at Lough Swilly, was used to clear a safe channel through the minefield.