ARA Paraná was a steam and sail corvette built in United Kingdom in 1873 which served as a gunboat with the Argentine Navy between 1874 and 1899.

[n 2] Paraná was ordered in 1872 as part of the so-called "Sarmiento’s Squadron", authorized by the Naval Law of 1872 to enhance the Argentine Navy after its performance in the Paraguayan War.

[2] She was ferried to Argentina by a British crew, departing Birkenhead in April 1874 and arriving in Buenos Aires at the end of that month; being commissioned into the Argentine Navy on 2 May 1874.

Between April and November 1884 she participated in the Argentine expedition to the South Atlantic to implement the Boundary Treaty of 1881, which concluded with the possession of Ushuaia on 12 October.

[1] From 1885 to 1889 she performed various tasks in the Paraná, Uruguay and de la Plata rivers, including carrying out hydrographic surveys.