The Jean Bart-class cruisers were intended to serve a long-range commerce raiders to attack enemy merchant shipping.

Jean Bart was present in the Far East during the Boxer Uprising in Qing China the following year, by which time Isly had been transferred to the North Atlantic station.

The French naval minister, Charles-Eugène Galiber, drew up specifications for a new commerce raiding cruiser in mid-1885, which he submitted to the Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works) for consideration on 12 June.

The new ship was to generally follow the pattern of the earlier cruiser Amiral Cécille, but slightly smaller and a revised armament.

Galiber took the revised specifications and forwarded them to France's shipyards on 21 July to request refined design proposals.

Aube was an ardent supporter of the Jeune École doctrine, which envisioned using a combination of cruisers and torpedo boats to defend France and attack enemy merchant shipping.

By the time Aube had come to office, the French Navy had laid down three large protected cruisers that were intended to serve as commerce raiders: Sfax, Tage, and Amiral Cécille.

[4] To meet the requirement for the large vessels, Aube ordered a second member of the Jean Bart class, which was named Dupuy de Lôme.

In November, the second ship was cancelled in favor of a second member of the Alger class, but on 1 March 1887, the navy ordered another Jean Bart-class cruiser named Isly.

[3] The Jean Bart class and Alger proved to be the last of the large commerce-raiding cruisers built for the French fleet ordered by Aube.

The cruisers carried a pair of heavy military masts fitted with fighting tops for some of their light guns and observation positions.

[2][7] The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of horizontal, 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines for Jean Bart and Isly, driving two screw propellers in both vessels.

They also suffered from excessive vibration when the ships steamed at high speeds, and the commander of Isly reported in 1894 that he lacked enough crew to effectively man the gun positions.

As a result, Jean Bart had hers shortened considerably in 1897, to roughly the same height as the conning tower, and lighter, composite wood-and-steel pole masts erected on top.

[7] During an extensive refit between February 1903 and July 1905, Jean Bart was re-boilered with twelve water-tube Niclausse boilers; during trials after completion of the refit, she managed a speed of 17.03 knots (31.54 km/h; 19.60 mph) from 7,025 ihp (5,239 kW) according to Roberts,[8] but Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships reports that she reached 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) from 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW).

[8] Isly initially served in the Northern Squadron as part of the Reserve Division, being activated only for maneuvers with the unit.

[11][13] Early in her career, in April 1893, Jean Bart visited the United States to take part in the Columbian Naval Review.

Jean Bart was part of the French fleet that responded to the Boxer Uprising in Qing China later that year.