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I know there's two ranges, but should range be added to the infobox somehow? The range statements are generally rather lengthy, so length probably rules out using both, and I'm not sure which one is the more significant. You probably have a better idea of how to handle this.
Good idea
"Descartes and Pascal were deployed to French Indochina after entering service in 1897. Both ships were present during the Boxer Uprising in Qing China; they were among the vessels France contributed to the Eight-Nation Alliance that defeated the Boxers in the early 1900s" - I've got an issue with the sourcing here. The way I read it, it's implied that both ships were sent to French Indochina in 1897. However, all indications from the sources indicate that Descartes went to Indochina in 1897, while Pascal followed the next year. Brassey 1897 lists only Descartes on the China station, while Brassey 1898 has both at China. The Notes on Naval Progress source clearly states that Descartes went to China in 1897, and that Pascal went in 1898. While the US intelligence may have been faulty, the tables in Brassey basically confirm the years. Make it a little clearer that the deployment happened over two years, not just in 1897.
That's a good point - in a technical sense, the line is correct (in that both ships entered service in 1897 and they were deployed to East Asia at some point after that) but I can see how it elides a bit too much and can easily be misunderstood.