Drummond-class corvette
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The ''Drummond'' class are three
corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
s designed and built in France based on the A69 s. The ships were commissioned in the
Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
between 1978 and 1982. The ships, when operational, serve in the "Atlantic Area of Operations" of the
Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
, based on
Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...
Naval Base,
province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
. Their mission is to patrol Argentina's exclusive economic zone and to enforce fishing regulations, but according to reports in November 2012 they "hardly sail because of lack of resources for operational expenses". As of 2020 only ''Granville'', which had been refitted in mid-2019, was reported operational, with the other ships of the class in reserve.


Design

Although its designers consider the A69 ''D'Estienne d'Orves'' class to be avisos, Argentina classifies the ships as corvettes. The ''Drummond''-class ships are equipped mostly with German and Dutch electronic systems (instead of French) for better compatibility with the two MEKO classes in Argentine service, and integrated with the indigenous "Miniaco" combat system.


History

The first two ships of the class were built in 1977 in France for the
South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...
. The sale was embargoed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 during sea trials and the ships bought by Argentina instead on 25 September 1978. A third ship was ordered and entered service as on 22 June 1981, in time for the
Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
the following year. There are minor differences in equipment fit compared to her sisters, for instance ''Granville'' has French Dagaie decoys rather than the British
Corvus chaff launchers Corvus chaff launcher is a British shipborne chaff decoy launching system manufactured by Vickers Ltd Group. It is a lightweight, quick reaction system for the self-defence of surface vessels against surface-to-surface and air-to-surface missiles, ...
. On 28 March 1982 ''Granville'' and sailed from Argentina and took up station northeast of Port Stanley to cover the main amphibious landings on 2 April. Meanwhile, covered the assault on
South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east†...
, sustaining significant damage from the
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in the process. After repairs she joined her sister ships north of the Falklands as Task Group 79.4, hoping to catch ships detached from the British task force. On 29 April the corvettes were trailed by the
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
whilst she was looking for the Argentine
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
. The ''Drummond'' class carried
pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...
s P-1 to P-3 until the introduction of the s in 1985 when they became P-31 to P-33. In 1994, they participated in Operation Uphold Democracy, the United Nations blockade of Haiti. During this time, they were based at
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in
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. ARA ''Granville'' was reported as active in the South Atlantic following a maintenance period which concluded in 2019. However, in the same year it was also reported that all three ''Drummond''-class vessels could be decommissioned and that consideration was being given to the potential transfer of the ships to the
Uruguayan Navy The National Navy of Uruguay () is a branch of the Armed Forces of Uruguay under the direction of the Ministry of National Defense and the commander in chief of the Navy (''Comandante en Jefe de la Armada'' or COMAR). History Independence Unde ...
.


Specification

*Displacement: 1,170 tons (empty); 1,320  tons (full load) *Length: *Beam: *Draught: *Propulsion: **2 shafts / propellers **2 SEMT Pielstick 12 PC2.2 V 400 diesel engines, tot. **Max shaft horsepower: n/a shp max *Speed: *Range: 4,500  nautical miles at *Armament **4 ×
Aérospatiale Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ( ...
MM 38 Exocet SSM (In 2020, work was underway to maintain the missile's operational relevance) **1 × 4in/55 (100 mm)
Creusot-Loire Creusot-Loire was a French engineering conglomerate, formed from factories in Le Creusot and Châteauneuf, Loire. The Creusot-Loire subsidiary of ArcelorMittal also includes an Innovation, Research and Development centre for the group. History The ...
CADAM turret DP automatic fast-firing gun **1 × twin 40 mm 70-cal. OTO Melara (Breda Bofors) AA guns **2 × 20 mm L/ 90 Oerlikon automatic guns **2 × 12.7 mm machine guns **2 × triple 324 mm ILAS-3 ASW torpedo tubes (Whitehead AS-244
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
es, quantity n/a) *Aircraft: None *Complement: 95 *Radar: **Air/Surface Search: Signaal DA08 (equipped with
IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is bicon ...
). **Surface Search & helicopter control: Signaal ZW06. **Fire Control: Signaal STIR **Navigation:
Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...
TM 1226 *Sonar:
Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...
Sintra Diodon *Electronic Warfare: **Decoys: (no details available) *Datalink: (no details available) *Weapons Control System: Thomson-CSF System Vega, CSEE Panda MK2 director (optical), NASA director (optronic, for the 40 mm gun). *Concept/Program: French designed and built general purpose avisos (classified as "corvettes" by the Argentine navy). *Builder: n/a shipyard, Lorient, France. *Designer: n/a, France.


Ships in the class

* * *


References


Further reading

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External links


World Navies Today: Argentina
{{Argentina ship classes Corvette classes Corvettes of Argentina Ships built in France