During this period, she visited Spain for the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition, and took part in an international naval demonstration off Crete in 1897 in an attempt to limit the Greco-Turkish War.

From 1900, Leopard made two major overseas deployments, including a tour of the Pacific Ocean in 1900–1901, and a stint in the East Asia squadron in 1907–1909.

After Austria-Hungary's defeat, Leopard was ceded to Britain as a war prize and sold to ship breakers in Italy in 1920.

In the early 1880s, Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Maximilian Daublebsky von Sterneck pressed for new naval construction to strengthen the chronically neglected Austro-Hungarian Navy, but realizing that new ironclad battleships could not be built given the parliaments' unwillingness to fund such expensive projects, he requested a pair of small protected cruisers.

[7] She participated in the annual fleet maneuvers in 1888, along with the ironclads Don Juan d'Austria, Kaiser Max, Custoza, Tegetthoff, and the cruisers Panther and Meteor.

[8] That year, Leopard and Panther joined a squadron that included the ironclads Tegetthoff, Custoza, Kaiser Max, Don Juan d'Austria, and Prinz Eugen to represent Austria-Hungary in the opening ceremonies for the Barcelona Universal Exposition.

While on training exercises off the island of Curzola on 25 June, Leopard ran aground, but was able to free herself under her own power two days later.

She arrived as part of an Austro-Hungarian contingent that also included the ironclad Kronprinzessin Erzherzogin Stephanie, the armored cruiser Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia, and the torpedo cruisers Tiger and Sebenico, three destroyers, and eight torpedo boats, the third-largest contingent in the International Squadron after those of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Italy.

The International Squadron operated off Crete until December 1898, but Austria-Hungary, displeased with the decision to create an autonomous Cretan State under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, withdrew its ships in March 1898.

Leopard carried a group of naval cadets on the training cruise, and she brought a memorial to the island of Guadalcanal, where men from the gunboat Albatross had died during their expedition in the Pacific Ocean.

She visited numerous Chinese, Russian, and Japanese ports, and cruised up the Yangtze river; she was relieved by her sister Panther on 13 April 1909, allowing her to return home.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Britain received Leopard as a war prize in 1920, but she was instead sold to ship breakers in Italy and scrapped.