[4] She had a John Penn and Sons steam engine rated at a nominal 600 horsepower (447 kW)[5] which, with her four boilers, gave her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

[1] Her keel was laid at the Arsenal de La Carraca in San Fernando, Spain, on 28 February 1858,[1][4] She was launched on 2 August 1860[1][4] and commissioned on 6 June 1861.

[1][9] On 10 August 1866, she departed Cádiz bound for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to replace screw frigates in Contralmirante (Counter Admiral) Casto Méndez Núñez's squadron[1] which had completed a circumnavigation of the world after fighting in the southeastern Pacific Ocean during the Chincha Islands War.

[1] Concepción and the rest of Méndez Núñez's squadron arrived at the Rio de la Plata (River Plate) on 12 December 1866.

[10] On 24 December 1866, the Ministry of the Navy ordered Méndez Núñez to move to Havana and prepare to defend the Antilles against attack.

[10] In December 1868, Méndez Núñez turned over command of the squadron to Miguel Lobo Malagamba, with Concepción and the screw frigate Reina Blanca forming a division.

[1] When an insurrection against the government broke out in Uruguay in May 1869, Lobo ordered Concepción to patrol the coast of the Río de la Plata to protect Spanish citizens.

[1] By the time Concepción arrived at Montevideo, Uruguay, on 13 June the insurrection had been defeated, so she returned to Rio de Janeiro.

[1] Concepción got underway from Rio de Janeiro at 07:30 on 17 August 1869 with a crew of only 363 men to return to Spain, where she called at Vigo before proceeding to Ferrol.