In 1997, Endurance made the first visit to Argentina by a Royal Naval vessel since the Falklands War, calling at the capital, Buenos Aires, en route to her Antarctic deployment.

In July 2007, the United Kingdom offered Endurance to supply Argentina's Antarctic bases after their ARA Almirante Irizar icebreaker suffered extensive damage in a fire.

[5][6] Although she enjoyed a varied, purposeful career as the UK's sole ice patrol vessel, Endurance's later years were problematic and ended in ignominy.

Without hotel services on board, the ship's company moved to shore-side accommodation in the city of Bahía Blanca, some twenty kilometres west of Puerto Belgrano.

Picket lines formed at the gates of the naval base, preventing the ship's company from relieving the stranded duty watch on board.

In December 2008, while on an 18-month deployment, Endurance suffered extensive flooding to her machinery spaces and lower accommodation decks resulting in the near loss of the ship.

[12] The Royal Navy inquiry found that the flood happened while a sea-water strainer was being cleaned, in an attempt to improve the production of fresh water.

[9] The inquiry also found that, due to manpower constraints, the ship did not have a system maintainer and that clarity of engineering command had been lost, with no-one clearly in charge of risk-management.

It was fortunate that, without propulsion, Endurance had drifted over an area shallow enough for anchors to be let go and to hold the ship in position, otherwise, "there was a very real possibility that she would have been lost either by running ashore or by succumbing to the flood."

[16] On 22 March 2011, it was announced that the Royal Navy intended to hire MV Polarbjørn, to be renamed HMS Protector, for three years whilst a final decision on whether to repair or scrap Endurance is made.