ARA La Plata was the lead La Plata-class destroyer of the Argentine Navy. She was ordered in 1910 to keep pace with the Brazilian Navy and commissioned in 1912. She primarily operated as a torpedo boat, scout, and training ship for the next four decades. By 1955, the Navy had no use for the old ship and she was stricken two years later.
Development and design In 1910, Argentina ordered a dozen torpedo boat destroyers in response to a major expansion of the Brazilian Navy. As the nation lacked a major shipbuilding industry, it ordered the ships from experienced foreign shipyards in Europe. Only the four built in Germany were ultimately operated by Argentina, with the order equally split between two shipyards. The pair ordered from Schichau-Werke in Elbing were known as the La Plata-class destroyers. The two destroyersLa Plata and her sister ship Cordobahad an overall length of with a beam of and a maximum draught of . They displaced at normal load and at full load and carried a complement of 150. Propulsion was provided by two propellers powered by Curtis AEG steam turbines supplied by five Schulz-Thornycroft boilers, which produced and a maximum speed of . The destroyers carried of coal and of fuel oil, which enabled a range of at . Armament consisted of four caliber main guns, two anti-aircraft guns, and four torpedo tubes. The design featured three funnels and cost 124,360 per ship.
Service history La Plata was launched in 1911 and commissioned on 30 March 1912. During speed trials, she reached a top speed of . She was named after the city of La Plata and assigned the pennant number D-4. The destroyer reached Argentina in July and was initially assigned to the Scout-Torpedo Boat Group () and patrolled off Mar del Plata. Between 1912 and 1927, she would be intermittently placed in and out of commission, assigned to the training division or Scout-Torpedo Boat Group, and preformed exercises with other Argentine warships along the coast. Between 1927 and 1935, the destroyer was modernized by the Brazilian Navy Arsenal, which included converting the ship to burn fuel oil. She returned to service in 1935, and proceeded to operate with torpedo boat and reconnaissance squadrons before she was assigned to the river squadron in 1941. Five years later, she was transferred to the Río de la Plata Naval Force's torpedo boat division and became the flagship briefly, before she was again modernized between 1947 and 1951. She was reused as a training ship between 1951 and 1955; that year, the Navy had no use for the old destroyer and placed her in reserve. Due to administrative issues slowing the process, she was stricken on 10 January 1957.
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