 Upon completion on 5 September 1899 , she was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Captain John Burr , who was relieved on 12 March 1901 by Captain Francis Foley . That month the ship was one of two cruisers tasked to escort the ocean liner HMS Ophir , commissioned as a royal yacht for the world tour of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York ( later King George and Queen Mary ) , from Gibraltar to Malta , and then to Port Said . Captain Christopher Cradock was appointed in command on 24 March 1902 , and from 11 June that year Andromeda served as flagship to Rear @-@ Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker , commander of the Cruiser Division of the Mediterranean Fleet . In May 1902 she visited Palermo to attend festivities in connection with the opening of an Agricultural Exhibition by King Victor Emmanuel , and the following month the ship was in Gibraltar for a coronation fête . 
