Bouchard-class Minesweeper

The ''Bouchard''-class minesweepers were a class of nine minesweepers, designed and built in Argentina, in service with the Argentine Navy from 1937 to the late 1960s. One of the class was lost after running aground in the Straits of Magellan and the remaining eight were discarded. Three were transferred to the Paraguayan Navy and remained in service as of late 1990s. In Paraguayan service, they were used for river patrol work. One of the class was docked in Asunción, Peru in 2009 with the intention of converting the vessel to a museum ship

Design and description

The ''Bouchard''-class minesweepers were the first large warships built in Argentina. They were intended to complement and eventually replace the Argentine ''Bathurst''-class ships purchased from Germany after World War I. They were designed in the early 1930s and laid down in 1935–1937.

The ''Bouchard'' class was based on the ''Bathurst''-class design, with diesel engines instead of steam engines and larger calibre (99 mm Bethlehem-Vickers) main armament. However, these ships had poor stability, which eventually led to the loss of ''Fournier'' in 1949.

The minesweepers were long overall and between perpendiculars with a beam of and a draught of . The ''Bouchard'' class had a standard displacement of and at full load. They were powered by 2-cycle MAN diesel engines turning two shafts rated at . They had capacity for of fuel oil, a maximum speed of and had a range of at .Blackman, p. 126.Chesneau, p. 421.Chesneau has the maximum speed listed as .

The ships were armed with two single-mounted /47 calibre guns.The 47 calibre denotes the length of the gun. This means that the length of the gun barrel is 47 times the bore diameter. For anti-aircraft defence, the minesweepers were equipped with one twin mount. They also carried two machine guns and were initially equipped with two depth charges.McMurtrie, p. 115. The ''Bouchard'' class had a complement of 62.

Ships in class

Service history

The ''Bouchard'' class were all given names of famous Argentine naval commanders. They were commissioned by the Argentine Navy in the late 1930s and remained in service until the late 1960s. The ships in the class were used in exercises with the main fleet, and very frequently assigned to the Patagonian seas where conditions are very rough. The stability problem of this design was worsened in those seas, which eventually led to the loss of ''Fournier'' with all hands during a storm in the Straits of Magellan on 22 September 1949. ''Fournier'' had struck an uncharted rock at the entrance to the San Gabriel Channel.

Three ships were transferred to the Paraguayan Navy after being decommissioned by Argentina, and remained in service as of the late 1990s. The three ships included ''Bouchard'' and ''Seaver'', and ''Py''Some sources erroneously claim it was ''Parker'' that was the third ship. with ''Bouchard'' being renamed ''Nanawa'' and commissioned into the Paraguayan Navy on 14 March 1964. ''Seaver'' became ''Capitan Meza'' and commissioned on 6 May 1968. ''Py'' became ''Teniente Farina'' and commissioned on 6 May 1968.''Nanawa'' sported the pennant numbers M 1 then P 01, ''Capitan Meza'' sported the pennant numbers M 2 then P 02 and ''Teniente Farina'' sported the pennant numbers M 3, then P 03. In Paraguayan service they were used as river patrol craft and could carry naval mines. Their armament was modified to just one quad 40 mm mount and the two machine guns. ''Teniente Farina'' was berthed at Asunción in 2009 with the intention of converting the vessel to a museum ship.

See also

* List of ships of the Argentine Navy

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

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Further reading

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Ships built in Argentina
1937 ships
Ships of the Paraguayan Navy
Mine warfare vessel classes