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

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that us ...

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 Punta Alta is a city in Argentina, about 20 kilometers southeast of Bahía Blanca. It has a population of 57,293. It is the capital ("cabecera") of the Coronel Rosales Partido. It was founded on 2 July 1898. The city is located near the Atlanti ...

, 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 Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. 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 Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano y González (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He ...

) 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 Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

's air base ''Comandante Espora'' ( es, Base Aeronaval Comandante Espora - BACE) .

History

Designed by Italian engineer Luis Luiggi, 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 The Rosario and Puerto Belgrano Railway (Spanish: Ferrocarril Rosario y Puerto Belgrano, and in French: Compagnie de Chemins de Fer Rosario-Puerto Belgrano) was a French-owned railway company which operated a broad gauge, , single track li ...

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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

's Antarctic patrol vessel entered Puerto Belgrano for repairs after damaging its rudder while in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

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". 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 Rocket launch sites in Argentina 1896 establishments in Argentina