hms "dwarf" was the first ship of the class to enter service, being commissioned on 31 august 1899. she spent her entire active career around the western and southern coasts of africa, covering a vast and varied zone from gibraltar to the limpopo river. during her career she participated in the boer war of 1899–1902, where she was one of the first british ships equipped with radio, and in 1914, she played a prominent role in a successful allied naval campaign against german west africa, defeating the armed steamer "nachtigal" in a ship-to-ship engagement.