ARA Espora (P-41)

ARA Espora (P-41) is the lead ship of the MEKO 140A16 Espora class of six corvettes built for the Argentine Navy. Commissioned in 1985, she is used for fishery patrol. She is homeported at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base and is part of the Navy's 2nd Corvette Division with her five sister ships.

For other ships with the same name, see ARA Espora.
ARA Espora (P-41)
History
 Argentina
Name: Espora
Namesake: Tomás Espora
Owner: Argentine Navy
Builder: Río Santiago Shipyard
Laid down: 10 March 1980[1]
Launched: 23 January 1982[1]
Commissioned: 4 September 1985
Homeport: Puerto Belgrano
Status: Active
General characteristics
Class and type: MEKO 140A16 Espora-class corvette
Displacement: 1,560 tons (1,790 tons full load)[1]
Length: 91.2 m (299 ft)[1]
Beam: 11.0 m (36.1 ft)[1]
Draught: 3.33 m (10.9 ft)[1] (hull)
Installed power: 22,600 bhp (16.9 MW)[1]
Propulsion: 2 × SEMT Pielstick 16 PC 2-5 V400 diesels, 2 × 5-blade props[1]
Speed: 27 knots (50 km/h)[1]
Range: 4,000 nautical miles (7,410 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)[1]
Crew: 11 officers, 46 petty officers, 36 enlisted[1]
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Thales DA-05/2 air/surface search
  • Thales WM-28, LIROD fire control
  • Decca TM 1226 navigation
  • Atlas AQS-1 hull MF sonar[1]
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • Decca RDC-2ABC
  • Decca RCM-2 jammer
  • 2 × Matra Dagaie decoys[1]
Armament:
Aviation facilities: Helideck for Eurocopter Fennec

The ship is the sixth ship to bear the name of Colonel (Navy) Tomás Espora, who fought in the Argentine Navy during the Cisplatine War. Generator failure left her stranded in South Africa for 73 days in late 2012.

Construction

Espora and her sister ships were part of the 1974 Naval Constructions National Plan, an initiative by the Argentine Navy to replace old World War II-vintage ships with more advanced warships. The original plan called for six MEKO 360H2 destroyers, four of them to be built in Argentina, but the plan was later modified to include four MEKO destroyers and six corvettes for anti-surface warfare and patrol operations.

Espora was built at the Río Santiago Shipyard of the Astilleros y Fábricas Navales del Estado (State Shipyards and Naval Factories) state corporation. She was launched on 23 January 1982, and officially delivered to the Navy on 5 July 1985.[1] She was commissioned on 4 September 1985.

Service history

Following her commissioning Espora participated in several naval exercises and conducted fishery patrol duties in the Argentine exclusive economic zone, capturing four illegal fishing ships between 1991 and 1994.

In August 2012 Espora left Puerto Belgrano to take part in the Atlasur IX naval exercise with South Africa, Brazil and Uruguay off West Africa.[2] This deployment was necessary after the original participant from Argentina, ARA Spiro had run aground as she left port.[2] After completing Atlasur, Espora headed for South Africa and docked in Simonstown. The intention was to join the IBSAMAR III exercise with India, Brazil and South Africa, but Espora had made the unscheduled deployment with malfunctioning generators and these had got worse en route until they finally stopped working on 9 October.[2] The generators needed a major overhaul, but their German manufacturer MTU refused to start work until they were paid US$450,000 to cover the cost of the work and previous invoices that had not been paid.[3] Meanwhile, the South Africans had to reassure the Argentines that Espora would not be vulnerable like the sail training ship ARA Libertad, which was seized in Ghana on behalf of holders of Argentina's defaulted sovereign debt.[3] Espora finally sailed after 73 days in Simonstown, refuelled in Río de Janeiro on 4 January[2] and arrived back in Puerto Belgrano on 10 January 2013.[4]

On 31 May 2016, Espora collided with the Marshall Islands flagged tanker Saturn off Puerto Belgrano. Both vessels were severely damaged.[5]

References
  1. 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.
  2. "Hacen arribar a la Espora junto a la fragata". Corrientes Hoy (in Spanish). Gestión Estratégica SRL. 4 January 2013. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013.
  3. De Vedia, Mariano (16 November 2012). "Por otra deuda, la corbeta Espora sigue retenida en Sudáfrica". La Nacion (in Spanish).
  4. "Arribó la corbeta Espora, luego de tres meses detenida en Sudáfrica". La Nacion (in Spanish). 11 January 2013.
  5. "Argentinean Navy corvette ARA ESPORA allided with mt SATURN: UPDAT". Fleetmon. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  • Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005-2006. Ignacio Amendolara Bourdette, ISBN 987-43-9400-5, Editor n/a. (Spanish/English text)


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