In January 2013 the ship capsized and sank at her moorings in the Argentine naval base of Puerto Belgrano due to lack of maintenance, being refloated in December 2015.

[1] Construction began in 1973, but commissioning was long delayed by an improvised limpet mine attack carried out by divers of the guerrilla organization Montoneros on 22 August 1975.

The date was chosen as a retaliation for the Trelew massacre three years before, when a number of leftist militants, most of them from the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), were executed inside Almirante Zar air base, operated by the navy.

The raid was allegedly planned in imitation of Operation Frankton, a British commando attack against German shipping in Bordeaux during World War II.

The attack involved the use of a folding boat, frogmen and a limpet mine with 375 lb (170 kg) of explosives, which was laid on the river bed below the destroyer after a failed attempt to attach the device to the hull.

[10] During the remainder of the Falklands War, along with her sister ship Hércules, the unit served as the main escort to the aircraft carrier Veinticinco de Mayo.

The carrier naval group was known as Grupo de Tareas 79.1 (Task Force 79.1), and was intended to search for and engage its British counterpart from waters north of the Falklands.

[17] Once the end of hostilities was declared, Santísima Trinidad escorted the British transport Canberra into Puerto Madryn with about 3,000 Argentine prisoners on board.

[18] The Argentine Minister of Defence considered selling the destroyers,[19] and as a consequence, the Navy placed Santísima Trinidad in reserve as a parts supplier for Hércules.

Santísima Trinidad was in poor condition before she sank; the ship had been cannibalized to keep her sister Hércules operational, as the British refused to sell spare parts to Argentina after the Falklands War.