Leipzig and several other warships formed a cruiser squadron that bombarded rebel troops and sent landing parties ashore to suppress the rebellion, which was defeated by 1890.

The naval command determined that modern steam corvettes were necessary for scouting purposes, as well as overseas cruising duties to protect German interests abroad.

In early 1878, Leipzig and five other vessels that had gathered off the coast landed men at Corinto to seize weapons in the event that Nicaragua chose to resist German demands, though the government quickly acceded.

After rounding the southern tip of South America and entering the Pacific Ocean, she stopped in Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands, where she was visited by King Kalākaua.

On 28 May, Leipzig departed Shanghai and began the voyage back to Germany, stopping in Singapore, Anjer in the Dutch East Indies, Mauritius, Cape Town, South Africa, and Plymouth, Great Britain, before arriving in Kiel on 27 September.

[7] Leipzig remained out of service until late 1882, and during this period she underwent an extensive overhaul that included moving the bridge further aft, replacing the rudder with a more effective one, and installing the four 35 cm torpedo tubes.

The ship departed Germany on 19 October and after encountering severe storms in the North Sea, stopped in Plymouth and Yarmouth to wait for the weather to improve.

In August, Leipzig visited Vladivostok, Russia, and in October, she carried the German Consul General from Shanghai to Chemulpo, so he could sign a trade agreement between Germany and the Kingdom of Korea.

During this stay, a major outbreak of fever rendered 6 officers and 230 sailors seriously ill, and they had to be transported home, with a replacement crew sent to bring Leipzig back to Germany.

Elisabeth's captain read the formal proclamation announcing the German protectorate, and Leipzig remained in the area to patrol the new colony.

At that time, the German navy did not possess a ship suited to that purpose, and opposition in the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) prevented the construction of a new vessel to fill the role.

Leipzig was stripped down to her iron hull and almost completely rebuilt with new wood planking, the installation of additional transverse bulkheads to increase the number of watertight compartments, a new propulsion system, and a reorganization of the interior spaces to accommodate an admiral and his staff.

Leipzig stopped in Aden on 16 July, where she formally relieved Bismarck as the squadron flagship, and proceeded to Zanzibar, where she arrived on 2 August.

Starting on 2 November, the German ships enforced a blockade of the coast in concert with the Royal Navy, and a month later the Italian and Portuguese warships in the region joined the effort.

From 5 to 6 December, Leipzig again bombarded rebel forces in Bagamoyo; she remained there for the rest of the month and was joined there for subsequent battles by the corvette Carola.

[13] By the end of July, the insurrection was all but over; Dar es Salam and Bagamoyo had been successfully defended and Wissmann's troops had retaken Tanga and Saadani.

On 4 September, while Leipzig was still in the drydock, Deinhard received instructions that he was to take his ship as soon as was possible to the Mediterranean Sea, where he was to brief Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was cruising there in his yacht Hohenzollern with the Armored Training Squadron.

She rendezvoused with the Armored Training Squadron off the island of Mytilene on 1 November; Hohenzollern was at that time in Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, and she arrived five days later.

By this time, Deinhard had been promoted to the rank of Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) and recalled to Germany; his replacement, KAdm Victor Valois, began the voyage out to take command of the squadron.

Leipzig then cruised south to Singapore via Hong Kong and Manila, after which she toured the Dutch East Indies, sailed through Dampier Strait, and then visited the Bismarck Archipelago.

He had taken Leipzig to Yokohama to have the ship's hull inspected for damage, and while there he received another set of orders stressing the need to proceed to South America as soon as possible.

The second order he had received was worded so harshly that he instructed his ship's captains to skip replenishing their coal stocks to avoid any further delay, hoping instead to use favorable winds to cross the Pacific as quickly as possible.

The ships initially went to San Francisco, United States before proceeding south to Valparaiso; they arrived on 6 July, but remained outside of the harbor for three days.

The ships reached Cape Town on 21 February; two days later, KAdm Friedrich von Pawelsz arrived to relieve Valois as the squadron commander.

The ships underwent repairs in Cape Town before sailing north to Delagoa Bay on 22 March, where Pawelsz traveled overland to the South African Republic to pay a visit to the president, Paul Kruger.

While Leipzig was in Shanghai, Pawelsz received orders to return to East Africa, as the succession of Ali bin Said of Zanzibar threatened to destabilize the region.

Schwalbe and Möwe were also still in East Africa, bringing the total number of vessels available to respond to any crises resulting from bin Said's accession to the throne to six.

It was planned that the squadron would return to East Asia once repairs were completed, but it was discovered that Leipzig had deteriorated significantly in her years abroad.

Wear on her propulsion system proved to be too extensive for the shipyard in Cape Town, and so VAdm Friedrich von Hollmann, the State Secretary of the Reichsmarineamt (RMA—Imperial Navy Office), ordered her to return to Germany.

The first wireless telegraphy school for the German navy was set up aboard the ship, and during World War I she was used for initial training for U-boat crews.