One of the class was docked in Asunción in 2009 with the intention of converting the vessel to a museum ship The Bouchard-class minesweepers were the first large warships built in Argentina.

They were intended to complement and eventually replace the Argentine Bathurst-class ships purchased from Germany after World War I.

They were powered by 2-cycle MAN diesel engines turning two shafts rated at 2,000 brake horsepower (1,500 kW).

The ships in the class were used in exercises with the main fleet, and very frequently assigned to the Patagonian seas where conditions are very rough.

The stability problem of this design was worsened in those seas, which eventually led to the loss of Fournier with all hands during a storm in the Straits of Magellan on 22 September 1949.

[3] Three ships were transferred to the Paraguayan Navy after being decommissioned by Argentina, and remained in service as of the late 1990s.