Departing Boston 20 June for the Asiatic Station, Palos steamed across the Atlantic Ocean and through the Mediterranean Sea, becoming the first American warship to transit the Suez Canal 11–13 August,[1] and arrived at Singapore, via Aden and Ceylon, 25 September.

Following a brief stay at that port, the gunboat put out for Hong Kong and for the next 22 years operated on the China and Japan coasts and inland waters.

In May 1871, the warship sailed from Shanghai for Nagasaki, Japan, and thence Korea as part of the Asiatic Squadron under Rear Admiral John Rodgers carrying U.S. Minister to China Frederick Low on a diplomatic mission to the “Hermit Kingdom.” While engaged in surveying the Salee River 1 June, she was fired upon by a Korean fort, two men from the squadron being wounded before return fire stopped the attack.

Palos continued her operations on the Asiatic Station into 1891, cruising the Chinese and Japanese coasts, visiting the open treaty ports and making occasional voyages up the Yangtze and Canton Rivers.

From June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankou, 600 miles upriver.