All six ships were heavily rebuilt, each undergoing refits at various times between 1898 and 1904.
Melbourne was out of service for most of 1971 while she underwent refits, which concluded in early August.
During this service, she underwent refits at Portsmouth in 1909 1910, during which she received fire control equipment for her main battery, and 1911 1912.
After her return to International Mercantile Marine (IMM), the ship underwent a refit at the W. & A. Fletcher Marine Works yard in Hoboken that outfitted her for 242 first-, 310 second-, and 876 third-class passengers.
Many such buildings have achieved savings of around 25% after undergoing a refit to increase efficiency.
After undergoing a refit in the early months of the war, Provence conducted anti-raider patrols with Force Y, based in Casablanca.
She then went into reserve, undergoing a refit at Chatham in mid-1917 and being employed as an accommodation ship beginning in February 1918.
She was dispatched to Russia in February 1915 to serve as an icebreaker, clearing a route to Arkhangelsk while the regular icebreaker was undergoing a refit.
She was converted to a minelayer while undergoing a refit in November December and laid minefields in German coastal waters as well as anti-submarine minefields off the British coast until she was reconverted back to her destroyer configuration in February 1940.
She was paid off at Chatham on 27 February 1905 to undergo a refit there, and her Atlantic Fleet service ended when she emerged from refit and was commissioned at Chatham into the Portsmouth Reserve on 15 August 1905.
