ARP Tacuary The ARP " Tacuary " was a riverine gunboat in service on the Paraguayan Navy for almost a century . She was built in 1907 by T . & J . Hosking , Ireland , as the steel - hulled yacht " Clover " . The ship bore the name of another gunboat , which was the first Paraguayan naval vessel to cross the Atlantic in 1855 . Acquired by Paraguay . " Clover " arrived in Paraguay in November 1911 along with " Constitución " , a former ocean - going freighter converted into gunboat , and the transport " General Díaz " . The three ships had been bought to suppress an attempt in early 1911 to overthrow President Jara regime , but by that time the uprising was over . She was commissioned in the Paraguayan Navy as gunboat " Adolfo Riquelme " , after a politician killed in March 1911 during the revolt against Jara . Revolution of 1922 and upgrading . She was initially used as a training ship . During the revolution of 1922 , however , " Adolfo Riquelme " was the lead ship of the loyalist flotilla . She shelled the town of Encarnación , on the Paraná River , which had been occupied by the rebels . The gunboat was lightly damaged by return fire on July . In September she shelled Encarnación again , this time to support the landing of 150 soldiers , who engaged the rebels and destroyed a railway section and telegraph lines before falling back to the loyalist beachhead . On 5 September the aviso " Coronel Martínez " sank a torpedo - carrying canoe that was in the process of attacking " Adolfo Riquelme " . She supported another landing in Caraguatá , and the next week she shelled the railway system along the Paraná . In the course of the revolution , she endured the attack of two rebel aircraft to no effect . An upgrade in 1925 included modifications to her bridge and deck . Her funnel was also refitted in 1927 . She was renamed " Tacuary " on 30 July 1930 . She was laid up again in May 1931 for repairs to her keel and hastily relaunched on 28 July 1932 due to the beginning of the Chaco War with Bolivia . Chaco War . Her first trip to the north took place on 5 August 1932 escorting the barges " Irene " and " Bahía Negra " , ferrying troops of the 3rd Artillery Group to the battle front . " Tacuary " arrived back to Asunción on 13 August where pending repairs were finished . She sailed again on 18 August . " Tacuary " then came under the command of the 3rd Army Division Headquarters at Bahía Negra . Her commander during this deployment was Captain Rodrigo Machuca . Air defense of Bahía Negra . On 22 December 1932 at 11 : 00 AM , while at anchor at Bahía Negra ( ) with her boilers shut down , " Tacuary " was attacked by two Bolivian CW - 14 Osprey fighter bombers and one Curtiss P - 6 Hawk that took off from Fortín Vitriones . Some sources claim that the attacking planes were actually three Vickers Vespa . The aircraft launched three bombs , one of which exploded only 20 m away from " Tacuary " . They regrouped over Brazilian territory for a second airstrike . They strafed and dropped six small bombs . During a third attack , again with six bombs and cannon fire , " Tacuary " hit one Osprey with a 37mm round . The Osprey split from the package , and trailing black smoke , eventually crashed on Brazilian territory . Of the 15 bombs launched , 11 straddled the gunboat . The army commander of the Northern Sector , Colonel José Julian Sánchez , was killed during the attacks by a bomb splinter . " Tacuary " complement remained unscathed . The two surviving aircraft repeated the attack twice on 24 December , at 8 : 00 and 17 : 00 hrs , but were fought off without inflicting any damage on the ship , which this time took evasive manoeuvres . The strafing , however , resulted in several wounded . The raids of 22 and 24 December left 29 splinter holes and 45 bullet holes on " Tacuary " ´s hull . After these attacks , the crew used sheets and three branches to camouflage the gunboat . Tacuary was relieved from her station at Bahía Negra by the scout " Teniente Herreros " . She continued with supply missions until the end of the war . As transport ship , " Tacuary " ferried 6 , 602 troops , 230 passengers , 480 prisoners , 1 , 258 animals , and 1 , 653 t of cargo . After the War . " Tacuary " was used as transport ship up to 1938 , when she was laid up in order to converting her into a Presidential yacht . The death of President José Félix Estigarribia halted these plans , and the former gunboat became a barge in the Naval Transport Service . From 1949 to 1966 , the ship endured a lengthy refit , aimed to convert her in a passenger ship to operate between Asunción and Buenos Aires . In 1952 her old steam propulsion was replaced by two diesel engines . She was relaunched on 30 December 1966 . She was in service as a transport ship until 1978 . " Tacuary " was then re - listed as a cargo barge and was eventually stricken from the Paraguayan Navy list on 30 November 1999 .