in 1904, the Peruvian president José Pardo y Barreda authorized the acquisition of the two twin cruisers, which would bear the names of Almirante Grau and Coronel Bolognesi, commissioning the English company Vickers Sons Armstrong & Maxim Limited to construct them, which was carried out at the Barrow-in-Furness shipyards.

The two units still featured many elements of the protected cruiser, but they were stronger, better gunned and had greater autonomy than the slightly slower contemporary British scouts.

The "Grau" turned out to be excellent units, although they periodically had to undergo inspection and maintenance work, and for half a century they were the most representative ships of the Peruvian Navy.

Northeast military campaign of 1932 In 1932, the cruiser would receive its baptism of fire, intervening in the Colombia–Peru War, along with the submarines R-2 and R-3, blocking the Pacific coast of Colombia, forcing this country to create a seaplane base in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, and another in Cartagena de Indias.

Northern and northeastern military campaign of 1941 When the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War broke out in 1941, this cruiser, along with the destroyer Almirante Villar, was anchored in the port of Callao, heading on July 7 towards the port of Salaverry, joining the theater of operations on the 9th, and then, between July 10 and 13, escort, together with the destroyer Almirante Villar, the convoy made up of the Mantaro and Ireland transports of the Compañía Peruana de Vapores, and the oil tanker Pariñas (which had joined the Squadron), which since Callao was heading north, transporting troops and supplies for the Peruvian Army that was in the northern Theater of Operations.