ARA ''Hércules'' is a former Type 42 destroyer 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 ...

(Spanish: ''Armada de la República Argentina''), which was transformed into a multi-purpose transport ship with the pennant number B-52 (previously D-1) and assigned to the

amphibious force Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

in 1999.

History

The ship was ordered on 18 May 1970 and completed on 10 May 1976 at the

Vickers Shipbuilding Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Constructi ...

yard in Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom. During construction, an explosion on caused damage in the hull. The hull of ''Hércules'' replaced a section of the ship, as both were identical in build. She was delivered to Argentina and entered service on 19 September 1977. As built, ''Hércules'' was identical to the initial Type 42 units being commissioned by the Royal Navy. The Argentine Navy upgraded the warship by enhancing her offensive capabilities with MM-38 Exocet anti-ship missiles. The original boat decks by the funnel were modified in order to mount the launchers. Destructor ARA Hércules

In 1982, along with her newly built sister ship, , ''Hércules'' was part of the escort of the aircraft carrier during 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 ship had a major conversion at ASMAR in Talcahuano, Chile in 2000 that removed the anti-aircraft and anti-ship missile systems to allow the embarkment of a complement of 238 marine infantry troops, the flight deck and hangar were also enlarged to allow her to operate two Sea King helicopters. Each helicopter can also carry two AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles. As of 2020, ''Hércules'' was reported to be non-operational.

History

References

Notes

Bibliography

See also