Almirante Irízar's peacetime missions include annual campaigns to resupply and rotate the personnel assigned to the Argentine Antarctic outposts, as well as conducting and supporting scientific endeavors in Antarctica.

[8] In April 1982, while operating north of the Falklands, the boilers of tanker ARA Punta Médanos failed and she lost all propulsion; Almirante Irízar towed her back to Puerto Madryn (about 330 miles west) in rough weather, the trip took about 60 hours.

[18] The 296 persons aboard the icebreaker —including civilians of the Antarctic bases— were helped by the nearest ships, the Panamanian tanker Scarlet Ibis and a Uruguayan fishing vessel.

Buzos Tacticos and members of the Rescue Team (Spanish: Servicio de Salvamento) of the Argentine Navy boarded the ship and extinguished the fire.

[citation needed] Following this incident the British government offered to supply Argentine bases in Antarctica in support of scientific missions, using HMS Endurance.

[25] This offer was turned down by the Argentine government,[26] instead they leased the Russian icebreaking vessel Vasily Golovnin for the subsequent Antarctic summer campaigns[27][28] at a cost of US$2m/month.

[32] After a long period in Puerto Belgrano due to legal issues surrounding the incident, Irízar finally arrived in Buenos Aires on 3 September 2008 to be taken to Tandanor's shipyard for repairs.

After departing Buenos Aires, the vessel headed to a dry dock in the main base of Argentine Navy, Puerto Belgrano, where the icebreaker underwent tests and verifications prior to ice trials in the Antarctic and return to full service.

[40] In November 2017, the ship came back to Buenos Aires after successfully passing its "ice test", the last stage of its restoration work that left it ready for service again.

[41] The ship remained active in the early 2020s and was joined by the auxiliary vessels Puerto Argentino and Estrecho San Carlos for operations during the 2022/23 Antarctic re-supply mission.

The Polar Class 4 vessel intended to work alongside Almirante Irízar will be built by Tandanor in Argentina and enter service in the late 2020s.