China Station cruiser became a destroyer depot ship

Leander completed two commissions on the China Station between 1889 and 1895, performing the distant-service work for which her range had been designed. She then entered reserve and refit rather than disappearing immediately from the fleet. By 1902 the Admiralty judged her obsolete as a cruiser but still useful as a platform. Conversion into a depot ship for torpedo-boat destroyers shows how support duties could extend the value of an older hull as newer combatants entered service.