Cervera was a highly decorated veteran of the Spanish Navy, and served with some distinction during the Carlist Wars before retiring from the active service to act as head of Spain's Ministero de Marine, the bureaucratic body that governed the naval and merchant marine forces of Spain. During his tenure, Cervera attempted a number of far-reaching reforms to make right what he called the numerous evils of Spanish naval administration at the time. These included graft and corruption in the ordnance branches of the fleet, a terrible maintenance performance record, and criminal neglect of the fleet's needs by Spain's ineffecient parliament, the Cortes.
In 1896, Cervera resigned his position in disgust when a number of reforms put in place were overturned by vote-hungry politicians supported by syncophantic officers who were hungry for his job. After two years of isolation, Cervera was called back to service in the fleet, through the personal intercession of the Queen Regent and began a reorganisation of the vessels under his command, determined at least to bring the fleet to fighting shape before the now inevitable war with the United States of America erupted.
When war with America broke out, Cervera found himself given orders to sail immediately to the Caribbean and break the U.S. blockade. Despite a desperate plea for time to re-fit and to await the completion of badly needed reinforcing vessels, Cervera was immediately dispatched to Cuba. Despite a brilliant circumnavigation of U.S. naval forces, Cervera simply did not have the firepower to engage the might of the United States fleet. Foolish advertisement of his position in Cuba by the Spanish government of that island endangered a plan by Cervera to isolate the U.S. fleet in sections, and doomed his command to destruction.
On July 3rd, 1898, Cervera's fleet attempted to leave the safety of Santiago de Cuba and run the American blockade. The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was heroically fought by the Spanish sailors under Cervera's command, but the end result was a nearly foregone conclusion. After the destruction of his fleet, Cervera was briefly imprisoned in the United States with his surviving officers before being returned to Spain. Here, he stood trial for the loss of his command, but compelling testimony by Cervera's staff forced the court to recognize that the defeat of the fleet was not the fault of its men, but of politicians.
Thereafter, Cervera lived the rest of his life quietly. He remained loyal to the crown, and never held it responsible for his defeat, blaming instead the corrupting influence of "Parliamentary procedure" for his ultimate defeat. Cervera died in 1909, but remains a national hero in Spain. It is perhaps a mark of the great affection held by the Spanish people for Cervera that even the government of Republican Spain aknowledged him as a man of "great patriotic fervor".
Since Cervera's death, an active vessel in the Spanish fleet has always borne the name Almirante Cervera.