Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy or Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic ( — ARA , also " Armada Argentina " ) is the navy of Argentina . It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic , together with the Army and the Air Force . Each ship of the Argentine Navy is designated with the prefix " ARA " before its name . The Argentine Navy day is celebrated on May 17 , anniversary of the victory achieved in 1814 in the Battle of Montevideo over the Spanish fleet during the war of Independence . History . 19th century . The Argentine Navy was created in the aftermath of the May Revolution of May 25 , 1810 , which started the war for independence from Spain . The first navy was created to support Manuel Belgrano at the Paraguay campaign , but it was sunk by ships from Montevideo , and did not take part in that conflict . Renewed conflicts with Montevideo led to the creation of a second one , which captured the city . As Buenos Aires had little maritime history , most men in the navy were from other nations , such as the Irish admiral William Brown , who directed the operation . As the cost of maintaining a navy was too high , most of the Argentine naval forces were composed of privateer s . Brown led the Argentine navy in further naval conflicts at the War with Brazil and the Anglo - French blockade of the Río de la Plata . In the late 1800s , the Argentine Navy began modernizing itself . At the close of the century , the force included : The most powerful ships ( counted in the list above ) included the Italian - built and her sister ships , the , , and the , each at over 6 , 000 tons . Three older ships , the , , and the dated from the 1880s and early 1890s . The navy ' s ships were built primarily in Italy , Britain , France , and Spain and were operated by over 600 officers and 7760 seamen . These were supported by a battalion of marines and an artillery battery . 20th century . Although Argentina remained neutral in both world wars . In 1940 , Argentina ' s navy was ranked the eighth most powerful in the world ( after the European powers , Japan , and the United States ) and the largest in Latin America . A ten - year building programme costing $ 60 million had produced a force of 14 , 500 sailors and over a thousand officers . The fleet in 1940 included two First World War - era ( but modernized ) American - built s , three modern cruisers , a dozen British - built destroyers , and three submarines in addition to minelayers , minesweepers , coastal defence ships , and gunboats . A naval air force was also in operation . In the postwar period , Naval Aviation and Marine Corps units were put under direct Navy command . With Brazil , Argentina is one of two South American countries to have operated two aircraft carrier s effectively : the and . The Argentine Navy has been traditionally greatly involved in fishery inspection helping the Coast Guard : most notably in 1966 a destroyer fired on and holed a Soviet trawler which had refused to be escorted to Mar del Plata , in the 1970s there were four more incidents with Soviet and Bulgarian ships and continued in recent years . The Navy also took part in all military coups through the 20th century . During the last dictatorship , Navy personnel were involved in the Dirty War of the late 1970s in which thousands of people were kidnapped , tortured and killed by the forces of the Military Junta . The Naval Mechanics School , known as ESMA , was a notorious centre for torture . Amongst their more well - known victims were the Swedish teenager Dagmar Hagelin and French nuns , Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet ( In October 2007 the Argentine Navy formally handed possession of the school to human rights groups to turn into a memorial museum ) . During this regimen , the Navy was also the main supporter of a military solution for the country ' s two long standing disputes : the Beagle Conflict with Chile and the Falklands Islands ( ) with the United Kingdom . Falklands War . During the 1982 Falklands conflict termed by the Argentines " Guerra de las Malvinas / Guerra del Atlántico Sur " the Main Argentine Naval Fleet consisted of modernised World War II era ships ( one GUPPY - type submarine , one British - built carrier , a cruiser , and four destroyers ) supported with new ones ( 2 Type 42 class destroyers , 3 French built corvettes and one German built Type 209 submarine ) . This fleet was supported by several ELMA tankers and transports as well as two ice breakers / polar ships . The new German design MEKO class destroyers , corvettes and Thyssen - Nordseewerke ( Type TR - 1700 ) submarines were still under construction . Despite leading the invasion of the Falkland Islands , in both strategic and tactical aspects the Argentine fleet played only a small part in the subsequent conflict with the Royal Navy . After sank the , the Argentine surface fleet did not venture from a 12 - mile ( 22 . 2 - km ) coastal limit imposed by the British due to the threat posed by the Royal Navy fleet of nuclear - powered submarines ( SSNs ) . The Argentine Navy ' s contributions to the war were , among the initial amphibious assaults , with naval aviation its Exocet armed Super Étendard s sinking and the , its A - 4Q Skyhawk s sinking ; and the Marines , with the 5th Marine Corps Battalion role at Mount Tumbledown . In addition , a landbased Exocet battery outside Port Stanley scored a direct hit on . Naval aviation also carried out intensive maritime patrol s searching to locate the British Fleet for the strike aircraft whilst their transports provided logistical support . The submarine also played a strategic role , although she scored no hits . The submarine , after a successful resupply mission , was attacked and disabled off South Georgia , where her crew then surrendered along with the Argentine detachment at Grytviken . She was later scuttled by the British . Aftermath of the Falklands war . The core of the fleet was reformed with the retirement of all the World War II era and s and their replacement with the MEKO 360 and 140 classes designed by the German shipyard Blohm + Voss . Also , the submarine force greatly reinforced their assets with the introduction of the Thyssen - Nordseewerke ( TR - 1700 ) class . Although the original programme called for six units with the last four to be built in Argentina , only the two built in Germany were delivered . The amphibious force was drastically affected with the retirement of their only LST landing ship and replacement by a modified cargo vessel , the . This situation was to be improved during 2006 with the delivery made by France of the first of the LPD s but the whole operation was placed in stand by the Argentine Government due to asbestos concerns . On 2010 France offered the instead . France also transferred the , now , multi - product replenishment ship ( AOR ) enhancing the capabilities of the fleet . In 1988 the A - 4Q Skyhawks were withdrawn leaving the Super Étendard as the only fighter jets in the navy inventory . The already paid for A - 4Hs bought in Israel as their replacement could not be delivered due the embargo imposed by the United States after the war . Instead IAI used the money to refurbish the S - 2E Trackers to the S - 2T Turbo Tracker current variant . In the 1990s , the embargo was lifted and the Lockheed L - 188 Electra s ( civilian aircraft converted for maritime patrol ) were finally retired and replaced with similar P - 3B Orions and civilian Beechcraft King Air Model 200 were locally converted to the MP variant . In 2000 the aircraft carrier was decommissioned without replacement , although the navy maintains the air group of Super Étendard jets and S - 2 Tracker s that routinely operates from Brazilian Navy aircraft carrier or United States Navy carriers when they are in transit in the south Atlantic during Gringo - Gaucho manoeuvers . Argentina was the only Latin America n country to participate in the 1991 Gulf War sending a destroyer and a corvette in first term and a supply ship and another corvette later to participate on the United Nations blockade and sea control effort of the gulf . The success of " Operación Alfil " ( " " ) as it was known , with more than 700 interceptions and 25 , 000 miles sailed on the operations theatre helped to overcome the so - called " Malvinas syndrome " . From 1990 to 1992 , the s were deployed under UN mandate ONUCA to the Gulf of Fonseca in Central America . In 1994 , the three s participated on Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti . In 2003 , for the first time , the Argentine Navy ( classified as major non - NATO ally ) interoperated with an United States Navy battlegroup when destroyer joined the Carrier Strike Group and Destroyer Squadron 18 as a part of Exercise " Solid Step " during their tour in the Mediterranean Sea . Today . The Argentine Navy participates in joint exercises with other friendly navies like Brazil , United States , Spain , France , Canada , South Africa , Italy , Uruguay , and since the 1990s , Chile . They are also routinely held , in order to develop a common operational doctrine . Every year in conjunction with the Chilean Navy the Argentine Navy participate in the " Patrulla Antártica Naval Combinada " ( ) to guarantee safety to all touristic and scientific ships that are in transit within the Antarctic Peninsula where the Navy is also directly responsible of maintaining the Argentine bases there . In 2010 the construction start of four 1 , 800 ton offshore patrol ships was announced , but no keel has ever been laid down . Also in May 2010 , Defence Minister Nilda Garre announced that the Navy would continue working on a system that would enable the launch of Exocet missile s from the Navy ’ s P - 3 Orion aircraft . In addition , the financing of the local development and construction of a coastal naval defence system that may also be based on the use of Exocet missiles similar to the Excalibur system . In October 2012 the Navy ' s sail training ship was seized under court order in Ghana by creditors of Argentina ' s debt default in 2002 . On 15 December 2012 the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled unanimously that the ship had immunity as a military vessel , and ordered that " Ghana should forthwith and unconditionally release the frigate ARA " Libertad " " Four days later " Libertad " was released from Tema and arrived to the port of Mar del Plata on 9 January 2013 . Current fleet . The Argentine Navy is under - funded and struggling to meet maintenance and training requirements , as a result only 15 out of a total of 42 navy vessels are in a condition to sail . The 2013 defence budget allowed for the 15 operational vessels to each spend less than 11 days at sea , whilst the submarines averaged just over 6 hours submerged in the whole of 2012 . spent 73 days in late 2012 stranded in South Africa for lack of spares . The s are short of spares and their ordnance has expired whilst the Antarctic patrol ship has been under repair since a fire in 2007 . On 23 January 2013 the Type 42 destroyer sank at her moorings having been mothballed for ten years . Submarine Force . The Argentine Submarine Force was first created when the Navy first started using submarine s in 1927 . As of 2013 the force is headquartered at Mar del Plata . The elite group Tactical Divers Group is also under the submarine force command structure - among its assets are three submarines and two auxiliary / support vessels . Naval Aviation . The Naval Aviation Command is abbreviated COAN ( ) and is one of two South American countries to have operated two aircraft carriers . Naval Infantry . The Infantería de Marina de la Armada de la República Argentina ( IMARA ) ( ) is the land warfare amphibious branch of the Argentine Navy . Argentine Marines have the same rank insignia and titles as the rest of the Navy and they are currently deployed abroad on UN mandates . Other branches . The Servicio de Hidrografia Naval provides the national hydrographics services . Ranks . Officers . Rank insignia consists of a variable number of gold - braid stripes worn on the sleeve cuffs or on shoulderboards . Officers may be distinguished by the characteristic loop of the top stripe ( in the manner of British Royal Navy officers ) . Combat uniforms may include metal pin - on or embroidered collar rank insignia . Rank insignia is worn on the chest when in shipboard or flying coveralls . Officers are commissioned in either the Command ( line ) Corps ( those who attend the Escuela Naval Militar - Naval College ) or the Staff Corps ( Professional Officers who only attend a short course in the Naval Academy after getting a civilian degree , except for the Paymasters who indeed attend the Naval College ) . The Line Corps is divided into three branches : the Naval branch ( including Surface Warfare , Submarine Warfare and Naval Aviation sub - branches ) , the Marine Corps branch , and Executive - Engineering - branch . Line Corps ' reserve officers are considered Restricted Line ( " Escalafon Complementario " ) officers in any of the Warfare Communities ( Surface , Submarine , Marines , Aviation and Propulsion ) , and can only raise to OF - 4 rank ( " Capitan de Fragata " ) . All Line Corps officers were distinctive branch / sub - branch insignia on the right breast . Some Staff Corps officers also wear specialisation badges ( Aviation , Surface , Submarine and Marines ) . Other common insignia is the Naval War College insignia , parachute wings , etc . , also worn on the right breast . Medals and Ribbons , if awarded , are worn on the left breast , just above the chest pocket . The rank insignia of Staff Corps ' officers is placed over a background colour denoting the wearer ' s field , such as purple ( Chaplains ) , blue ( Engineers ) , red ( Health Corps ) , white ( Paymasters ) , green ( Judge Advocate Officers ) , brown ( Technical Officers , promoted from the ranks ) and grey ( special branch ) . The background colour for Command Corps officers is navy blue / black . Following a global trend , Argentine armed forces have outlawed beard s since the 1920s . This was reinforced in the Cold War era when they were deemed synonymous with leftist leanings . The only exception were Antarctic service within the three armed forces as a protection from cold weather , and submarine service within the Navy as a way of saving water . However , shaving was mandatory upon return to headquarters . Before the end of 20th century the Navy became a singularity within the Argentine armed forces as Adm . Joaquín Stella , then Navy Chief of Staff allowed beards in 2000 for officers with ranks above " Teniente de Corbeta " ( Ensign ) , according to Section 1 . 10 . 1 . 1 of the Navy Uniform regulations ( R . A - 1 - 001 ) . Adm . Stella gave the example himself by becoming the first bearded Argentine admiral since Adm . Sáenz Valiente in the 1920s . Non commissioned officers can wear beards from " Suboficial Segundo " rank , and upwards . Protocol still requires officers to appear clean - shaved on duty , thus forcing those who choose to sport beards to grow them while on leave . Both full beards and goatees are allowed , as long as they proffer a professional , non - eccentric image . Nowadays , bearded Argentine naval officers and senior NCO ' s are a relatively common sight . Enlisted men and Non - Commissioned Officers . Other ranks ' insignia ( not including Seamen ) is worn on either shoulderboards or breast or sleeve patches . Seamen and Seamen Recruits wear their insignia on their sleeves . The shoulderboards denote the wearer ' s specialty .