The ships were not much liked in service as they were deemed too weakly armoured to fight ironclad battleships and not fast enough to catch commerce-raiding cruisers.

The steel-hulled ships were fitted with a ram and their crew numbered approximately 560 officers and other ranks.

They were troublesome throughout the ship's life and she was always about 1 knot (1.9 km/h; 1.2 mph) slower than her sister despite repeated efforts to improve her speed.

Nelson was degraded to dockyard reserve in April 1901 and hulked seven months later as a training ship for stokers.

[5] Northampton became flagship of the North America and West Indies Station upon commissioning in 1879 and remained there for the next seven years.