Port Belgrano Naval Base ( es, Base Naval Puerto Belgrano - BNPB) is the largest naval base 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 ...

, situated next to Punta Alta, near

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: White Bay) is a city in the southwest of the provinces of Argentina, province of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the seat of government of the Bahía Blanca Partido. It had 3 ...

, about south of Buenos Aires. It is named after the

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older ...

''General Belgrano'' (named after Manuel Belgrano) which sounded the area in late 1824. SLR2931

Home of the Argentine Seas Fleet ( ''Flota de Mar''), it concentrates the major ships and arsenals; and is close to the main bases of other Argentine Navy organisations:

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

's camp ''Baterías'' and Naval aviation's air base ''Comandante Espora'' ( es, Base Aeronaval Comandante Espora - BACE) .

History

Luis Luiggi Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish language, Spanish form of the originally Germanic language, Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese language, Portuguese and ...

, Puerto Belgrano opened on November 30, 1896, under the name Puerto Militar ( en, Military Port). In 1911, the French-owned railway company Ferrocarril Rosario y Puerto Belgrano opened a broad gauge () line between Puerto Belgrano and

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

. The harbor was renamed Puerto Belgrano in 1923. D11ARALaArgentina

The base grew in importance with the size of the fleet. During World War I and World War II the s and were docked here, and during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

the aircraft carriers and were docked at this base. The shipyard continues doing maintenance and refits of vessels and

submarines 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 o ...

. In April 2006, the Royal Navy's Antarctic patrol vessel entered Puerto Belgrano for repairs after damaging its rudder while in Antarctica in February. It was the first time since the end of the 1982

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 ...

( es, Guerra de las Malvinas) that a British Royal Navy ship had entered the Argentine naval base.

Facilities

The base contains a naval hospital, specialized workshops, six middle and tertiary level military schools, a banking headquarters and seven residential neighborhoods for naval personnel.

Based ships

Destroyers

* ARA ''Almirante Brown'' (D-10) * ARA ''La Argentina'' (D-11) * ARA ''Heroína'' (D-12) * ARA ''Sarandí'' (D-13)

Corvettes

* ARA ''Espora'' (P-41) * ARA ''Rosales'' (P-42) * ARA ''Spiro'' (P-43) * ARA ''Parker'' (P-44) * ARA ''Robinson'' (P-45) * ARA ''Gómez Roca'' (P-46)

Auxiliaries and Amphibious

* ARA ''Patagonia'' (B-1) * ARA ''Hércules'' (B-52) * ARA ''Canal Beagle'' (B-3) * ARA ''Bahía San Blas'' (B-4) * ARA ''Cabo de Hornos'' (B-5) * ARA ''Puerto Argentino'' (A-21) * ARA ''Estrecho de San Carlos'' (A-22) * ARA ''Islas Malvinas'' (A-24) * ARA ''Teniente Olivieri'' (A-2) * ARA ''Punta Alta'' (Q-63)

Antarctic Naval Command

* ARA ''Almirante Irízar''

Tugships

* ARA Querandí (R-2) * ARA Tehuelche (R-3) * ARA Mataco (R-4) * ARA Mocoví (R-5) * ARA Zeus (R-9)

Space launch pad

A launch pad was considered for the planned Argentine space launch vehicle "

Tronador II Tronador (Spanish for Thunderer) is a series of Argentine rockets, including the Tronador I and Tronador II vehicles, to develop a liquid-propellant rocket expendable launch system called ISCUL (''Inyector Satelital de Cargas Utiles Ligeras'', ...

". Land for the construction of the facilities were ceded to CONAE (Argentine Space Agency). The location was selected because of existing Navy facilities, security measures already in place, large enough available area, and a favorable location for launches into polar orbits.

References

Citations

Sources

*
Puerto Belgrano history
at Histarmar
HMS Endurance completes repairs in Puerto Belgrano

External links

{{Authority control Shipyards of Argentina Argentine Navy bases Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires Province

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Belg ...

Rocket launch sites in Argentina 1896 establishments in Argentina