In 1870, their design was changed to that of an unprotected cruiser or wooden corvette; political events delayed their construction, but they finally were launched in this form in the years between 1879 and 1881 and completed in 1880 and 1882.

[1] Their original conception as armored ships and the change to an unarmored one during construction left them with an overly heavy wooden hull that was obsolescent by the time they were launched.

[2] Designed for colonial service, they were never intended to fight the kind of heavily armed, armored, steel-hulled warships Castilla would face in the Battle of Manila Bay.

Sources differ on whether Aragon and Navarra were hulked and then scrapped in the 1890s or survived into the early 20th century in non-combat roles.

She was part of the squadron of Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron when the Spanish–American War began, and was sunk in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898.