The ship was primarily intended for colonial duties, and she served in this capacity as part of the East Asia Squadron until she was relieved in 1909, at which point she returned to Germany.

Given the dominance of the British Royal Navy and the impossibility, as he saw it, of competing with it, Hollmann envisaged a small fleet consisting of torpedo boats and coastal defense ships to be based in German waters.

[3] The ship was of transverse and longitudinal steel frame construction; the hull was a single layer of wooden planks covered by a Muntz metal sheath that extended up to .95 m (3.1 ft) above the waterline.

[4] Fürst Bismarck's primary armament consisted of a battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) SK L/40 guns in twin-gun turrets,[b] one fore and one aft of the central superstructure.

[7][8] For defense against torpedo boats, the ship also carried ten 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns in a combination of individual casemates and pivot mounts.

[10] The contract for Fürst Bismarck was awarded to the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel, and her keel was laid down on 1 April 1896.

While the shipyard was completing the fitting-out work for the new armored cruiser on 2 March 1900, the ironclad Sachsen accidentally collided with Fürst Bismarck, slightly damaging her stern.

Initial testing revealed the need for alterations to the ship, but the outbreak of the Boxer Uprising in China in late 1899 prevented the work from being done, as the German East Asia Squadron required reinforcement.

Fürst Bismarck stopped in Perim at the southern end of the Red Sea and then crossed the Indian Ocean to Colombo, Ceylon before proceeding to Singapore.

The three ships arrived there on 13 August, and four days later, Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Emil Felix von Bendemann, the commander of the East Asia Squadron, transferred his flag from the protected cruiser Hertha to Fürst Bismarck.

Not long after Fürst Bismarck reached Hong Kong, the Detached Division, which consisted of the four pre-dreadnought battleships of the Brandenburg class and the aviso Hela arrived with additional troop ships.

The squadron was further reinforced over the following month with the cruisers Geier, Schwalbe, and Bussard, the gunboats Luchs and Tiger, the torpedo boats S90, S91, and S92, and the hospital ship Gera.

An agreement with Russia saw the German Generalfeldmarshall (Field Marshal) Alfred von Waldersee placed in command of the multinational force.

[12][c] Bendemann decided to implement a blockade of the Yangtze, and so went there with Fürst Bismarck, Gefion, Irene, and the gunboat Iltis, as well as the ships of the Detached Division, though he sent the battleship Wörth to cover the landing of troops at Taku.

Bendemann sent Seeadler and Schwalbe up the Yangtze to protect German, Austro-Hungarian, and Belgian nationals upriver, Bussard to Amoy, and Luchs and S91 to Canton.

On 5 October, Fürst Bismarck steamed to Taku, where she joined Hertha and Hela and the battleships Brandenburg and Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm.

In November, Fürst Bismarck went to Nagasaki, Japan for engine maintenance, temporarily transferring Bendemann to Kaiserin Augusta while she was away for repairs.

In May, Seeadler was detached to Yap in the Caroline Islands, and in June, Hansa carried Konteradmiral (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Hermann Kirchhoff to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

The experience of projecting significant military power over such a great distance proved to be invaluable to the German army and navy and it made particularly clear the importance of logistics.

[15] Fürst Bismarck completed repairs in Nagasaki on 15 January 1902 and in early February she rendezvoused with Hertha and Bussard in Singapore.

On 25 December, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded the Schießpreis (Shooting Prize) for excellent gunnery in the East Asia Squadron to Fürst Bismarck.

On 15 November, KAdm Curt von Prittwitz und Gaffron replaced Geissler as the squadron commander, after which Fürst Bismarck returned to Nagasaki for another overhaul in December.

By this time, tensions between Russia and Japan over their competing interests in Korea had risen considerably, so on 7 January the Admiralstab (Admiralty Staff) instructed Prittwitz und Gaffron to order his ships to observe the strictest neutrality toward both countries.

After the Battle of the Yellow Sea on 10 August, several damaged Russian ships sought refuge in Qingdao, including the battleship Tsesarevich and the cruiser Novik, where they were interned for the remainder of the Russo-Japanese War.

On 11 November, KAdm Alfred Breusing relieved Prittwitz und Gaffron as commander of the squadron, and in December embarked on a tour of the southern portion of the East Asia Station, though the cruise had to be cut short due to unrest in Shanghai that necessitated Fürst Bismarck's presence there.

On 28 May, Fürst Bismarck went to Taku, where Breusing and his staff traveled overland to Beijing, the first German naval officers to visit the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi after the Boxer Rebellion.

Hansa began the voyage back to Germany on 4 July, and on 9 August, the light cruiser Niobe arrived to join the squadron.

On 13 May, KAdm Carl von Coerper arrived to replace Breusing; he began his tenure as squadron commander by boarding Tiger for a cruise into the Yangtze to familiarize himself with German economic interests in the area.

The rest of the year passed uneventfully for Fürst Bismarck, and in early 1909 she received orders to return to Germany for repairs.

On 28 November, Fürst Bismarck was recommissioned under the command of Kapitän zur See KzS—Captain at Sea) Ferdinand Bertram, the former head of the artillery school.