Drummond-class corvette of the Argentine Navy
ARA Granville (P-33) is a Drummond -class corvette of the Argentine Navy named after Guillermo Enrique Granville, who fought in the 1827 Battle of Juncal against Brazil.
As of 2021[update] she was based at Mar del Plata ,[ 3] and had for many years been conducting fishery patrol duties in the Argentine exclusive economic zone where she captured several trawlers.[ 4] [ 5]
According to reports in November 2012 the Drummond class "hardly sail because of lack of resources for operational expenses".[ 6] As of 2020, only Granville was reported to be operational, having undergone a refit in mid-2019, with the other ships of the class in reserve.[ 7]
Service history
The first two ships of the Drummond class were built in 1977 in France for the South African Navy . The sale was embargoed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 during sea trials , and the ships were sold to Argentina instead. A third ship was ordered and entered service as ARA Granville on 22 June 1981,[ 1] in time for the Falklands War the following year. There are minor differences in equipment fit compared to her sisters , for instance Granville has French Degaie decoys rather than the British Corvus chaff launchers .[ 1]
On 28 March 1982 she sailed with her sister ARA Drummond and took up station northeast of Port Stanley to cover the main amphibious landings on 2 April.[ 8] After the attack she operated north of the Falklands with her sister ships as Task Group 79.4, hoping to catch ships detached from the British task force.[ 9] On 29 April the corvettes were trailed by the submarine HMS Splendid while she was looking for the Argentine aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo , but they managed to outrun the British submarine.[ 10]
Granville carried the P-3 pennant number until the introduction of the Espora -class corvettes in 1985, when she became P-33. In 1994, Granville and her sisters participated in Operation Uphold Democracy , the United Nations blockade of Haiti. During this time, she was based at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico .[ 11]
According to British reports, in 1995 Granville harassed a number of trawlers around the Falklands and confronted and illuminated the British forward repair ship RFA Diligence with her radar.[ 12]
References
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wertheim, Eric (2007). The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems (15 ed.). Naval Institute Press. p. 9. ISBN 9781591149552 .
^ "Proyectos de Investigación y Desarrollo en la Armada Argentina" . 13 October 2020.
^ "ARA Granville Returns to Mal del Plata – SeaWaves Magazine" . SeaWaves Magazine . 2 March 2021.
^ Gallo, Daniel (2 January 2021). "Pesca ilegal. Vigilan los movimientos de una flota extranjera de 250 barcos" [Illegal fishing. Watching the movements of a foreign fleet of 250 ships]. La Nación (Argentina) (in Spanish).
^ "La depredación del Mar Argentino" [Pillage of the Argentine seas]. La Nación (Argentina) (in Spanish). 10 March 2006.
^ "Argentine navy short on spares and resources for training and maintenance" . MercoPress. 22 November 2012. Archived from the original on 28 December 2012.
^ Bettolli, Carlos Borda (2020-08-03). "Informe a diputados - Medios insuficientes para las Patrullas de Control de Mar" . Zona Militar (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-04-19 .
^ Freedman, Lawrence (2005). The Official History of the Falklands Campaign: The 1982 Falklands War and Its Aftermath . Vol. 2. Routledge. p. 7. ISBN 9780714652078 .
^ Freedman (2005), p. 272
^ Freedman (2005), p. 274
^ "con el propósito de asegurar el cumplimiento del embargo comercial, dispuesto por el Consejo de Seguridad, por medio de las corbetas ARA Grandville, ARA Guerrico y ARA Drummond" . .tau.ac.il. Retrieved 2012-02-12 .
^ Falkland Islands Information Portal – Time Line , by Jason Lewis. 28 November 2006
Further reading
Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005–2006 . Ignacio Amendolara Bourdette, ISBN 987-43-9400-5 , Editor n/a. (Spanish/English text)
External links