HMS
Forte served on the Cape and West African stations. She visited
Sierra Leone and
The Gambia in early January 1901. In December 1902 she was reported to be in East Africa, when she took the British colonial secretary
Joseph Chamberlain and his wife from
Mombasa to
Zanzibar during their tour of British colonies. In 1908, the ship delivered such a terrible result in a gunlayer's test that a Court of Inquiry was convened, leading to the determination that Captain
John Green and his officers had failed to provide sufficient training, as they had not appreciated the difficulty of the test procedure. In 1910 Green ran the cruiser aground, eliciting
Their Lordships "severe displeasure for failure to comply with King's Regulations for unseamanlike manner in which the ship was navigated." ==Disposal ==