The ships, with hull optimised for Patagonic coastal service, were designed and built by the Argentine Príncipe, Menghi y Penco shipyard, at Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the late 1970s and are denominated the Costa Sur class.

[1][5] The first ship in the Costa Sur class, Canal Beagle, was laid down on 10 January 1977 and launched on 19 October 1977; she was commissioned on 29 April 1978 and assigned to the Argentine Navy’s Naval Transport Service with the pennant number B-3.

[6] In 1989, Canal Beagle and Cabo de Hornos helped remove oil from the shipwreck of the polar transport ARA Bahía Paraíso, in an effort to reduce pollution in the Antarctic waters.

[citation needed] In 1992 the three ships were involved transporting to the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras, the four Baradero-class patrol boats used under United Nations mandate ONUCA; and then back to Argentina.

[9] In 2005, Canal Beagle was part of the naval deployment contributing to the security of the 4th Summit of the Americas ((in Spanish) IV Cumbre de las Américas) hold in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata.