''Ministro Portales'' was a purchased by
Chile in 1974 from the
United States that had been upgraded to
FRAM II
The Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program of the United States Navy extended the lives of World War II-era destroyers by shifting their mission from a surface attack role to that of a submarine hunter. The FRAM program also covere ...
. Built and commissioned as in 1944, the ship saw service during
World War II and the
Korean War. Between 1975 and 1976, the vessel was refitted with an extension on the flight deck for Alouette-III Helicopters.
'' Ministro Portales'' participated in the counteractive measures to the
Operation Soberanía
Operación Soberanía (Operation Sovereignty) was a planned Argentine military invasion of Chile due to the Beagle conflict. The invasion was initiated on 22 December 1978 but was halted after a few hours and Argentine forces retreated from the con ...
during the
Beagle conflict in 1978. In this period, all the Chilean navy ships were camouflaged.
The vessel served the navy of Chile until it was taken off active duty and towed from
Talcahuano to
Puerto Williams, arriving at the wharf on 18 September 1991. There, it was a static support vessel for the local torpedo boat fleet until their replacement by missile boats.
On 11 November 1998, ''Ministro Portales'' was used as a target and sunk during a practice exercise.
External links
navsource.org: USS ''Douglas H. Fox''(In Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministro Portales (DD-17)
Ships built in Seattle
1944 ships
Allen M. Sumner-class destroyers of the Chilean Navy
Ships sunk as targets
Maritime incidents in 1998