The construction of the ships, particularly the third vessel, was significantly delayed by shortages of materiel supplied by the UK during World War I, particularly armaments; Jaime I was almost complete in May 1915 but her guns were not delivered until 1919.

The class's limited displacement was necessitated by the constraints imposed by the weak Spanish economy and existing naval infrastructure, requiring compromises on armor and speed to incorporate a main battery of eight 12-inch (305 mm) guns.

España represented Spain during the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915 and conducted training exercises with Alfonso XIII after she entered service later that year.

Both ships conducted long-range voyages to North and South America in 1920–1921; España was damaged in an accidental grounding off the coast of Chile.

Both vessels provided gunfire support to ground forces engaged in the Rif War, which started in mid-1921, and Jaime I joined them there after her commissioning later that year.

In 1923, España ran hard aground off Cape Tres Forcas while bombarding Rif positions and could not be freed before storm damage destroyed the ship in November 1924.

España was seized by the rebel Nationalist faction at the start of the conflict while the Republican government retained control over Jaime I. España was used to enforce a blockade of Republican-controlled ports in northern Spain; the Spanish Republican Navy briefly deployed Jaime I to break the blockade but neither side attacked the other.

International developments, particularly conflicts with Germany in the First Moroccan Crisis, provided the impetus and public support necessary for the Spanish government to embark on a major naval construction program.

The agreement brought Spain closer with Britain and France, leading to an exchange of notes between the three governments in May 1907, by which time a strong cabinet led by Antonio Maura had come to power.

Accordingly, Maura secured passage of the Fleet Plan of 1907, which proposed the construction of three battleships, several destroyers, torpedo boats, and other craft.

The commissioning of the revolutionary "all-big-gun" Dreadnought in late 1906 prompted Commodore José Ferrándiz y Niño, the Spanish naval minister, to press the Junta Técnica de la Armada (Navy Technical Board) to revise its design to match the new, more powerful type of battleship in March 1907.

[3] The Spanish Navy was principally concerned with defending its main naval bases at Ferrol, Cádiz, and Cartagena; given this requirement, the ships would not need an extensive cruising range.

The need to keep the new battleship design tightly constrained due to the frail Spanish economy and industrial sector was of secondary importance.

[4] Rather than simply order the ships from foreign builders, the government required any tender to include provisions for the submitter to take control of and modernize the Spanish shipyard facilities that would build the vessels.

While this would increase costs and delay completion of the ships, the government decided improving domestic facilities was an important goal of the program.

Ansaldo prepared two design variants; the first called for four twin gun turrets for the main battery with one forward, one aft, and two offset amidships.

The Office of the Navy Controller also evaluated the proposals in November and advised the Junta Superior only the SECN bid met the design requirements without any legal, administrative, or cost problems.

[10] Due to the constraints imposed by the Spanish economy, the resulting design produced the smallest dreadnought-type battleships ever built.

[12] The ships were reasonably stable compared to foreign designs but they had a low metacentric height of 1.56 m (5 ft 1 in) at full loading that caused them to have poor stability when damaged.

[24] Only limited modifications were possible due to technical constraints imposed by the need to keep displacement low and insufficient funds to effect a major reconstruction to free up tonnage for other uses.

These modernization plans called for the installation of new fire control equipment with more effective rangefinders, additional, newer anti-aircraft guns, and the building of anti-torpedo bulges into the hull to improve underwater protection for a loss of one knot of speed.

All three España-class battleship saw action during the conflict, primarily providing artillery support to Spanish ground forces engaging the Rif rebels.

A lengthy salvage operation failed to free the ship, and, in November 1924, severe storms battered the wreck and broke the hull in half, rendering her a complete loss.

[37][38] In 1931, after the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII and the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic, his namesake battleship was renamed España to erase traces of the monarchy.

[6] Both vessels were immediately decommissioned to reduce costs during the Great Depression, though Jaime I was recommissioned in 1933 to serve as the fleet flagship.

[40] España was undergoing a limited refit to bring her back into service in anticipation of the modernization when the Spanish coup of July 1936 initiated the conflict.

[41] In 1936 at the start of the Nationalist uprising led by General Francisco Franco, the bulk of the Spanish Navy's fleet remained loyal to the Republican government.

The Republican fleet attempted to block the crossing of Franco's Army of Africa from Morocco to mainland Spain, resulting in a brief action between Jaime I and the gunboat Eduardo Dato, but German interference secured the Nationalists' passage.

Jaime I shelled Nationalist positions in Spanish Morocco and in September 1936 sortied with a pair of cruisers and four destroyers to disrupt the blockade imposed by España.

[44][48] España was lost on 30 April 1937 off the coast of Santander while on blockade duty, having struck a single mine that had been laid by a Nationalist minelayer.