[1] After returning to Spain, she arrived at Tangier as part of the Training Squadron — which also included the battleship Pelayo and the protected cruisers Alfonso XIII and Marqués de la Ensenada — on 12 June 1895 to put put pressure on Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco after a series of incidents there, joining three Imperial German Navy and six British Royal Navy warships anchored at Tangier.

[1] Selected to represent the Spanish Navy at a naval review at Spithead in honor of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, celebrating the 60th anniversary of her coronation, Vizcaya got underway from Cádiz at 06:00 on 12 June 1897 as the flagship of Contraalmirante (Counter Admiral) Segismundo Bermejo y Merelo, the Training Squadron's commander.

[1] During the first half of August 1897, Vizcaya, Almirante Oquendo, Infanta Maria Teresa, and the torpedo gunboat Destructor visited the Arsenal de Ferrol to have their bottoms cleaned and painted.

[1] After loading coal, they departed Ferrol in mid-August for duty with the Training Squadron and proceeded to Cádiz, where the new armored cruiser Cristóbal Colón joined them.

[1] On 27 November 1897, the squadron — composed of Vizcaya (serving as Cervera's flagship), Almirante Oquendo, Infanta María Teresa, and Cristóbal Colón — got underway from Cádiz and began maneuvers focused on crew training and gunnery practice during a voyage to Levante.

[1] Destructor and the destroyers Furor and Terror remained behind in Cadiz until their bottoms were cleaned, but later joined the squadron at Santa Pola, as did the torpedo boats Ariete, Azor, and Rayo from Cartagena.

[1] On 26 January 1898 the Ministry of the Navy ordered Cervera to transfer his flag from Vizcaya to Infanta María Teresa and directed Vizcaya to make a goodwill visit to New York City in return for a goodwill visit the United States Navy armored cruiser USS Maine, often referred to as a "battleship," had begun at Havana in the Captaincy General of Cuba the previous day.

[1] With relations between Spain and the United States deteriorating rapidly, she found herself in a hostile environment and her crew kept arms ready to defend themselves in case of any American reprisals.

Ordered by neutral Portugal in accordance with international law to leave São Vicente within 24 hours of the declaration of war, Vizcaya and the rest of Cervera's squadron departed on 29 April 1898, bound for San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Vizcaya, the unprotected cruiser Reina Mercedes, and the destroyer Pluton all opened fire, and Merrimac quickly sank in a position that did not block the entrance.

Some of her men joined others from the fleet in a Naval Brigade to fight ashore against a United States Army overland drive toward Santiago de Cuba.

By the beginning of July 1898, that drive threatened to capture Santiago de Cuba, and Cervera decided that his squadron's only hope was to try to escape into the open sea by running the blockade.

While their squadron mates turned to starboard and put on steam for a run to the west behind them, Vizcaya followed Infanta Maria Teresa closely as she charged Brooklyn as if to ram.

Vizcaya now found herself back in the line-ahead formation the squadron had formed when it left its anchorage, in second place behind Infanta Maria Teresa and ahead of armored cruiser Cristóbal Colón and Almirante Oquendo.

At 1035, the sinking Infanta Maria Teresa was driven ashore with heavy damage and fires, and Almirante Oquendo soon suffered the same fate, running aground nearly abreast of Vizcaya.

But at about 1100, Brooklyn scored two 8-inch hits on Vizcaya; one detonated a torpedo in her forward tube and blew a large part of her bow off, and the other knocked down her bridge and set her decorative woodwork and wooden furnishings on fire.

Postwar, a U.S. Navy survey team evaluating Spanish wrecks for their potential for being raised and put in American service concluded that Vizcaya was beyond salvage.