Cristóbal Colón is the fifth and last ship of the Álvaro de Bazán-class of air defence frigates entering service with the Spanish Navy.

[7] In mid-July 2016 Cristóbal Colón certified her combat system in Norfolk, US with the American destroyer USS Arleigh Burke,[8] after which she made a stopover in Halifax, Canada to support Navantia's commercial options in a contest for the construction of fifteen frigates.

There she helped train the crews of Australian Hobart class ships based on the Álvaro de Bazán-class.

After stopping in Papeete, French Polynesia and Callao, Peru it arrived back to Ferrol in August.

It incorporates new Bravo 16V engines that increase its maximum speed and a bow thruster of 850 kW for operations in port.