The ''Sierra''-class corvettes are

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 of the

Mexican Navy The Mexican Navy is one of the two independent armed forces of Mexico. The actual naval forces are called the ''Armada de México''. The ''Secretaría de Marina'' (''SEMAR'') (English: Naval Secretariat) includes both the ''Armada'' itself and ...

intended mainly for interception of drug smugglers, exclusive economic zone (EEZ) patrol, and countering terrorism. The class comprises four ships with the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

ARM ''Sierra'' commissioned by the Mexican Navy in 1998. One ship, ARM ''Benito Juárez'', was sunk as a

target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammuniti ...

in 2007 after being wrecked by fire in 2003. The other three vessels remain in service.

Design and development

Originally, this project was designated Holzinger 2000 because it is a further development of the ships introduced in the early 1990s. The ''Sierra'' class has a different

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

than the preceding ''Holzinger'' class. The ''Sierra'' class as built had a full load

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of and measured long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . According to the

, the vessels have a length of , a beam of , a draught of and a normal displacement of . The corvettes are powered by two Caterpillar 3616 V16

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s turning two

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection, ...

creating total. This gave the vessels a speed of or . The vessels have two and one generators for power production. The ''Sierra'' class mount a

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

EOS 450

optronic director A director, also called an auxiliary predictor, is a mechanical or electronic computer that continuously calculates trigonometric firing solutions for use against a moving target, and transmits targeting data to direct the weapon firing crew. Na ...

for fire control, and

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

s operating on the E/F and I-bands for navigation, surface and air search. They are equipped with the Alenia 2 combat data system. These ships have an aft

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

and

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

for one MBB Bo 105C helicopter. The corvettes are armed with one Mk3 naval gun on the fore deck to engage air and surface targets. The 57 mm gun is capable of firing 220 rounds per minute to a distance of . ''Matias Romero'' alone is also equipped with an

SA-N-10 The 9K38 Igla (russian: Игла́, "needle", NATO reporting name SA-18 Grouse) is a Russian/Soviet man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. A simplified, earlier version is known as the 9K310 Igla-1 (NATO: SA-16 Gi ...

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

with a range of . The ships carry an interceptor craft capable of . The corvettes have a complement of 75 including 10 officers.

Construction and career

Four vessels were ordered by the Mexican Navy in 1997 from shipyards in

Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...

and

Salina Cruz Salina Cruz is a major seaport on the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is the state's third-largest city and is the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the I ...

. The

''Justo Sierra Mendez'' (shortened to ''Sierra'' by the Mexican Navy) was commissioned on 1 June 1999 and the last, ''Guillermo Prieto'' (shortened to ''Prieto'') on 17 September 1999. On 24 October 2003 a fire broke out aboard ''Juárez'' while operating in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. The fire quickly engulfed the ship, leading to the crew abandoning ship. The fire was brought under control with the aid of the

Petróleos Mexicanos Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and ex ...

(PEMEX)

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''Avila Karisma'' and the Mexican Navy vessels ARM ''Sierra'', and while the crew were evacuated to Mexican naval facilities in Ciudad del Carmén, Campeche. To allow for the corvette to be towed, the heat on the deck had to be reduced. Instructed by a PEMEX specialist firefighter, the vessels coordinated their efforts and brought the temperature down enough for the PEMEX tugboat ''Adee Tide II'' to begin towing operations on 25 October and brought the vessel to Dos Bocas, Tabasco. ''Juárez'' was decommissioned and used as a

Design and development

Construction and career

Ships in class

Notes

Citations

References

Further reading