[2] Her speed trials took place on 14 August, when she achieved 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) under natural draft while steaming between Cabo Prioriño and Cortegada Island.

[2] She then continued on to Mahón on Menorca in the Balearic Islands in company with the coastal defence ships Numancia and Vitoria, arriving on the morning of 11 April 1903.

[2] At 10:30 on 7 December 1903, Cardenal Cisneros got underway from Vigo in company with Emperador Carlos V and the destroyer Osado for Lisbon, Portugal, accompanying King Alfonso XIII on his first official visit abroad.

[2] In January 1904, Cardenal Cisneros made a voyage eastward in the Cantabrian Sea along the northern coast of Spain, stopping at Gijón, Santander, Bilbao, and Pasajes.

[2] On 15 April 1904, Cardenal Cisneros departed Ferrol bound for Cádiz, where she rendezvoused with the royal yacht Giralda, upon which King Alfonso XIII was embarked.

[2] From Cádiz, Cardenal Cisneros and the protected cruisers Lepanto and Río de la Plata escorted Giralda as Alfonso XIII visited the Balearic Islands, first stopping at Mahón, then arriving on the afternoon of 21 April 1904 at Palma de Mallorca on Mallorca, where they rendezvoused with Numancia and a British Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Charles Beresford that had arrived from Gibraltar.

[2] Cardenal Cisneros conducted maneuvers with other Spanish Navy ships off Santa Pola in late June and early July 1904.

[2] On 13 January 1905, Cardenal Cisneros, Pelayo, Princesa de Asturias, Emperador Carlos V, Extremadura, Río de la Plata, and the unprotected cruiser Infanta Isabel formed a squadron at Cádiz to receive the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn, Prince Arthur and Princess Louise Margaret, as they arrival there aboard the Royal Navy armoured cruiser HMS Essex.

[2] On 3 April 1905, Cardenal Cisneros entered Mahón escorting the German passenger ship Hamburg, on board which Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany was traveling.

[2] Cardenal Cisneros and Princesa de Asturias departed Ferrol on 27 May 1905 to escort King Alfonso XIII aboard Giralda.

[2][3] After a stop at Cherbourg, France, the ships arrived at Portsmouth, England, on 3 June 1905 for Alfonso XIII's visit to the United Kingdom.

[4] One of his officers went below to inspect the damage, finding that the collision had torn a 50-metre (164 ft) hole in the hull and that both boiler rooms and several other compartments forward of them were flooding.

[4] A hydrographic survey of the waters in which Cardenal Cisneros sank took place a few weeks after her loss and encountered difficulty in finding the rock she struck because of the distance she traveled from it before sinking.

[4] They identified the wreck as that of Cardenal Cisneros the following day, finding a board on which the shipyard had engraved her name and the information that four workers had died and 153 others had suffered injuries during her construction.

[4] Although it remained easily recognizable in 2006, the divers noted significant structural decay, including the collapse of large sections of the deck.