In the late 1880s, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) accelerated construction of ships for its fleet and reorganized the most modern ironclad battleships—the Duilio and Italia classes—into a fast squadron suitable for offensive operations.

To compound matters, the visit of a German squadron of four ironclads to Italy confirmed French concerns of a combined Italo-German fleet that would dramatically outnumber their own.

Training exercises held in France that year demonstrated that the slower French fleet would be unable to prevent the faster Italian squadron from bombarding the French coast at will, in part because it lacked enough cruisers (and doctrine to use them) to scout for the enemy ships.

In addition to twenty-four new battleships, a total of seventy cruisers were to be built for use in home waters and overseas in the French colonial empire.

Like most French warships of the period, the Linois-class cruisers' hulls had a pronounced ram bow and tumblehome shape.

[4][6] The ships' propulsion system consisted of a pair of vertical triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers.

These were carried in individual pivot mounts and they were distributed along the length of the ship to provide wide fields of fire.

The torpedoes were the M1892 variant, which carried a 75 kg (165 lb) warhead and had a range of 800 m (2,600 ft) at a speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).

They took part in training exercises during this period, which sometimes included joint maneuvers with the Northern Squadron, along with shooting practice and naval reviews.

[14][15][16] Linois was involved in a show of force meant to intimidate the Ottoman Empire in 1902 during a period of tension with France.

[19] During a review in 1909, Galilée hosted President Armand Fallières and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia during the latter's visit to France.

[11] Lavoisier was attached to the 2nd Light Squadron in the English Channel at the start of World War I in August 1914, but she saw no action there.

In April 1919, Lavoisier was detached from the Syrian Division; decommissioned for the last time in August, she was struck from the naval register in early 1920 and sold to ship breakers.