Both ships of the Humaitá class , the ARP Paraguay (C1) and the ARP Humaitá (C2) were built as river cannon boats (with the main armament 4 × 12 cm) in Italy from 1929 to 1931. They were developed according to plans by the Paraguayan naval engineer José Bozzano for river war operations in the Amazon basin and commissioned in 1931. They should also be suitable as a troop transport for a regiment (1400 soldiers). This played a major role in the subsequent Chaco War (1932-1935) with Bolivia , in which the two ships of the Humaitá class were used as troop transports on the Rio Paraguay and also dominated the river due to their superior firepower.
In 1947 both ships were used in the Paraguayan civil war. They received another upgrade in 1975. The ARP Humaitá was involved in the coup against Alfredo Stroessner on February 3, 1989 with the boats Capitán Cabral and Itaipú . The ARP Humaitá has been a museum ship since 1992 .
