The squadron commander, Contralmirante (Counter Admiral) Luis Hernández-Pinzón Álvarez, departed Cádiz, Spain, on 10 August 1862[1] with the screw frigates Resolución (his flagship) and Nuestra Señora del Triunfo[2] with both the political-military task of demonstrating a Spanish presence in the Americas and a scientific research mission[3] and had three zoologists, a geologist, a botanist, an anthropologist, a taxidermist, and a photographer aboard.

[1][3] The four ships got underway from Montevideo, Uruguay, on 10 January 1863[4] and proceeded down the coast of Patagonia, passed the Falkland Islands, rounded Cape Horn on 6 February 1863,[5] and entered the Pacific Ocean.

[1][6] With tensions spiking between Spain and Peru, Resolución and Nuestra Señora del Triunfo covered an operation in which many of the Spaniards in Peru embarked on the steamer Heredia at Callao and Virgen de Covadonga towed Heredia out of the harbor under the guns of Peruvian Navy warships that were ready to open fire.

[3][6] Spain and Peru avoided war, but Pinzón resigned his command on 9 November 1864 because he felt that the Spanish government had not supported his actions, and Vicealmirante (Vice Admiral) José Manuel Pareja took charge of the Pacific Squadron.

[1][3][6] An accidental fire destroyed Nuestra Señora del Triunfo on 25 November 1864, but Pareja's squadron received reinforcements on 30 December 1864 when the screw frigates Berenguela, Reina Blanca, and Villa de Madrid joined it.

[1] After Reina Blanca relieved her on station off Coquimbo, Virgen de Covadonga began a voyage to the waters off Valparaíso.

[1] The approaching ship was in fact the Chilean Navy corvette Esmeralda, which closed the range and fire a full starboard broadside at Virgen de Covadonga.

After bringing aboard supplies from a newly arrived Spanish frigate, Méndez Núñez′s squadron began operations to find and recapture Virgen de Covadonga.

The Spanish frigates found the allied squadron anchored and immobilized in an inlet on the Chilean coast in the Chiloé Archipelago at Abtao Island on 7 February 1866.

In the resulting Battle of Abtao, the Spanish ships were reluctant to close with the allied squadron because of a fear of running aground in shallow water.

The Spanish frigates displayed good marksmanship but had little success and ultimately withdrew as darkness fell[10] to avoid wasting ammunition.

During the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Covadonga and Esmeralda, as the oldest and slowest ships of the Chilean Navy, were left behind to blockade the port of Iquique.

On 13 September 1880, while enforcing a blockade in the port of Chancay, Peru, Covadonga′s sighted a drifting, unmanned boat loaded with fresh fruit and produce.