[1] After being laid down in 1900, De Ruyter was built by the Maatschappij voor Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw Fijenoord in Rotterdam and launched on 28 September 1901.

Later that year De Ruyter, Hertog Hendrik, Borneo, Serdang and two ships of the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij took part in an expedition to South Celebes where they engaged in operations against the lord of Loewoe.

[5] On 15 December 1908 the ship left the port of Den Helder for Curaçao to reinforce the Dutch squadron that had been stationed off the Venezuelan coast following political tension between the two nations.

The first began on 10 August 1909 when the ship, together with the Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp and the Koningin Regentes, departed from Batavia and sailed to China, Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines.

[7] The second voyage was undertaken the following year, when De Ruyter and both her sister ships, Koningin Regentes and Hertog Hendrik, sailed to Australia after leaving the port of Surabaya on 15 August 1910.