 The ship arrived at Malta to begin her Mediterranean service in August . In August and September 1898 , she was part of the International Squadron blockading Crete during the Greco @-@ Turkish uprising there . The ship was relieved by the battleship Implacable on 14 September 1901 and departed Gibraltar homebound on 3 October . On 12 October , Empress of India paid off at Devonport , but she recommissioned the next day under the command of Captain Henry Louis Fleet , to relieve the ironclad battleship Howe at Queenstown , Ireland , as both the coast guard ship there and as flagship to Rear @-@ Admiral Edmund Jeffreys , Senior Naval Officer , Coast of Ireland Station . The ship began an extensive refit at Plymouth in early March 1902 . During this refit her upper deck six @-@ inch guns received casemates to improve their protection . 
