With her sister ships Heroine and Hyacinth, Caroline was sent to the China Station[3] and recommissioned at Hong Kong on 18 February 1890.[4] On 7 January 1896 Caroline left Hong Kong in company with Grafton and Mercury for a return to Portsmouth via Singapore, Aden, Suez, Malta, Gibraltar and Plymouth. On arrival she was reduced to dockyard reserve.[5]
Caroline was hulked in 1897 and served at Harwich as the hospital ship to the boys' training ship HMS Ganges at Harwich. Once shore hospital facilities had been built in 1902, Caroline was refitted as overflow accommodation for 60 boys. In 1904 both hulks left Harwich for Shotley, Suffolk, and as the school expanded ashore, a series of old ships inherited the name Ganges, with Caroline receiving the name in April 1908. In 1913 she was renamed Powerful III and moved to Devonport, where she became part of the training establishment at Devonport. In November 1919 she inherited the name of the training establishment as Impregnable IV. She was sold on 31 August 1929.
Gunnery practice with 5-inch breech-loading guns in 1890
Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC52620555.