On 10 August, the ships reached Colombo, Ceylon, and on 14 August they passed through the Strait of Malacca. They arrived in Singapore on 18 August and departed five days later, reaching Hong Kong on 28 August. Two days later, the expeditionary force stopped in the outer roadstead at Wusong, downriver from Shanghai. From there, "Wörth" was detached to cover the disembarkation of the German expeditionary corps outside the Taku Forts, while "Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm" and her other two sister ships joined the blockade of the Yangtze River, which also included a British contingent of two battleships, three cruisers, four gunboats, and one destroyer. A small Chinese fleet stationed upriver did not even clear their ships for action, owing to the strength of the Anglo-German fleet. By the time the German fleet had arrived, the siege of Peking had already been lifted by forces from other members of the Eight-Nation Alliance that had formed to deal with the Boxers. In early September, "Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm" and the rest of the German fleet was moved to the Yellow Sea, where Waldersee, who had been given command of all ground forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance, planned stronger actions against the harbors of northern China. On 3–4 September, the flagship of the East Asia Squadron, reconnoitered the harbors of Shanhaiguan and Qinhuangdao. "Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm" then went to Shanhaiguan and sent a landing party of 100 men ashore while her torpedo crew cleared the Chinese minefields. She then returned to the Wusong roads while the ships of the East Asia Squadron remained off both ports. Since the situation had calmed, "Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm" and her sisters were sent to Hong Kong or Nagasaki, Japan in early 1901 for overhauls; "Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm" went to Nagasaki from 4 to 23 January. In March, the expeditionary fleet reassembled in Tsingtau for gunnery and tactical exercises. On 26 May, the German high command recalled the expeditionary force to Germany. The fleet took on supplies in Shanghai and departed Chinese waters on 1 June. The fleet stopped in Singapore from 10 to 15 June and took on coal before proceeding to Colombo, where they stayed from 22 to 26 June. Steaming against the monsoons forced the fleet to stop in Mahé, Seychelles to take on more coal.