ARA Espora (P-41)
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ARA ''Espora'' (P-41) is 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 ...
of the MEKO 140A16 of six corvettes built for the Argentine Navy. Commissioned in 1985, she is used for fishery patrol. She is homeported at
Puerto Belgrano Port Belgrano Naval Base ( es, Base Naval Puerto Belgrano - BNPB) is the largest naval base of the Argentine Navy, situated next to Punta Alta, near Bahía Blanca, about south of Buenos Aires. It is named after the brigantine ''General Be ...
Naval Base and is part of the Navy's 2nd Corvette Division with her five sister ships. The ship is the sixth ship to bear the name of Colonel (Navy) Tomás Espora, who fought in the Argentine Navy during the
Cisplatine War The Cisplatine War (), also known as the Argentine-Brazilian War () or, in Argentine and Uruguayan historiography, as the Brazil War (''Guerra del Brasil''), the War against the Empire of Brazil (''Guerra contra el Imperio del Brasil'') or t ...
. Generator failure left her stranded in South Africa for 73 days in late 2012.


Construction

''Espora'' and her sister ships were part of the 1974 Naval Constructions National Plan, an initiative by the Argentine Navy to replace old
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 opposing ...
-vintage ships with more advanced warships. The original plan called for six MEKO 360H2 destroyers, four of them to be built in Argentina, but the plan was later modified to include four MEKO destroyers and six corvettes for anti-surface warfare and patrol operations. ''Espora'' was built at the Río Santiago Shipyard of the Astilleros y Fábricas Navales del Estado (State Shipyards and Naval Factories) state corporation. She was launched on 23 January 1982, and officially delivered to the Navy on 5 July 1985. She was commissioned on 4 September 1985.


Service history

Following her commissioning ''Espora'' participated in several
naval exercises A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
and conducted fishery patrol duties in the Argentine exclusive economic zone, capturing four illegal fishing ships between 1991 and 1994. In August 2012 ''Espora'' left Puerto Belgrano to take part in the Atlasur IX naval exercise with South Africa, Brazil and Uruguay off
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
. This deployment was necessary after the original participant from Argentina, , had run aground as she left port. After completing Atlasur, ''Espora'' headed for South Africa and docked at Simonstown. The intention was to join the IBSAMAR III exercise with India, Brazil and South Africa, but ''Espora'' had made the unscheduled deployment with malfunctioning generators and these had got worse en route until they finally stopped working on 9 October. The generators needed a major overhaul, but their German manufacturer MTU refused to start work until they were paid US$450,000 to cover the cost of the work and previous invoices that had not been paid. Meanwhile, the South Africans had to reassure the Argentines that ''Espora'' would not be vulnerable like the sail training ship , which was seized in Ghana on behalf of holders of Argentina's defaulted sovereign debt. ''Espora'' finally sailed after 73 days in Simonstown, refuelled in Río de Janeiro on 4 January and arrived back in Puerto Belgrano on 10 January 2013. On 31 May 2016, ''Espora'' collided with the
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...
-flagged tanker off Puerto Belgrano. Both vessels were severely damaged. In 2021, ''Espora'' was reported active and, in September, participated in a sea exercise also involving her sister ships ''Spiro'', and , along with the destroyer . In 2022, she again participated in an exercise off the coast of Mar del Plata with ''Sarandí'', ''Robinson'', the corvette and the transport ship .


References

* ''Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005-2006''. Ignacio Amendolara Bourdette, , Editor n/a. (Spanish/English text) {{DEFAULTSORT:Espora (P-41) Espora-class corvettes Ships built in Argentina 1982 ships Corvettes of Argentina Maritime incidents in 2016