1887–1890 In 1887,
Infanta Isabel received orders to proceed to the
South American Station at the
Río de la Plata (River Plate) and replace the
screw corvette there. She arrived at
Montevideo,
Uruguay, on 17 June 1887. On 10 July 1887, she collaborated with local authorities at
Buenos Aires,
Argentina, during disastrous
flooding and evacuated people from
Recreo Island in the
Riachuelo River, saving 27 lives. Auñón then boarded the Argentine
torpedo ram to negotiate with rebel
Lieutenant Eduardo O'Connor. Accompanied by the U.S. Navy squadron and the other foreign warships, they set out at dawn on 23 April for New York City, where they arrived that night and anchored in the Lower Bay of
New York Harbor.
Reina Regente remained behind at New York for
drydock work, but
Infanta Isabel and
Nueva España got underway from New York on 2 May for Havana, which they reached on 8 May 1893. She stopped first at
Puerto Rico on 5 May, then at Havana from , before arriving in New York Harbor on 18 May 1893. There Eulalia and her entourage transferred from
Reina Maria Cristina to
Infanta Isabel, from which they made their official landing at
Sandy Hook,
New Jersey, where U.S. officials greeted them. Eulalia subsequently visited
Washington, D.C., where
President Grover Cleveland received her at the
White House, before heading to Chicago for the exposition. After her sister ship
Cristóbal Colón sank off
Cuba on 29 September 1895,
Infanta Isabel, her sister ship , and the unprotected cruiser engaged in
salvage efforts at the scene of the wreck. They succeeded in recovering
Cristóbal Colón′s
safe and
torpedo tubes and some of her guns. By 1897,
Infanta Isabel was part of the Training Squadron. To represent Spain at ceremonies in the
United States recognizing what would have been the 75th birthday of the late
President Ulysses S. Grant and celebrating the opening of
Grant's Tomb in New York City,
Infanta Isabel got underway from
Mahón on
Menorca in the
Balearic Islands on 3 April 1897 in company with the
armored cruiser and proceeded to New York, which the two ships reached on the day of the
tomb's dedication, 27 April 1897. After completing their participation in the planned events, the two
cruisers departed New York on 11 May 1897. Regarding
Infanta Isabel, however, the decree stated "The
Infanta Isabel, also of no military value, is suitable for service in the
Canary Islands, the
Gold Coast, and the possessions of
Guinea, and her conservation, as long as there is no other of military efficiency, seems unavoidable. [...] Art. 2. Of the remaining ships, the , the , and the
Infanta Isabel will be decommissioned when they require the replacement of their current boilers or other important repairs or
careening." In 1902,
Infanta Isabel steamed to the Canary Islands to rendezvous with the
torpedo boats , , and , which had been stationed there since they were separated from
Contralmirante (
Counter Admiral)
Pascual Cervera y Topete's squadron in April 1898 when it deployed to the Caribbean during the Spanish-American War. She escorted the three torpedo boats back to Spain. On 15 September 1904, she arrived at Mahón with a crew of 188 on board. From 1907, she was part of a Spanish Navy squadron that assembled at
Cartagena, Spain, on the occasion of the visit of the British
King Edward VII.
Infanta Isabel was modernized between 1910 and 1911, during which her flanking redoubts were removed and her armament was altered to a single
Skoda gun on her
forecastle and ten guns on her
broadsides, with five on each side. During the following years,
Infanta Isabel served along the coasts of the
Gulf of Guinea,
Spanish Sahara, and Morocco. By 1921 her armament had become one and ten guns and her
complement had risen to 194. She finally was decommissioned in 1926 after 39 years of service, by far the longest-lived ship of her
class. She was stricken and scrapped in 1927. ==References==