Espora Class frigate ARA Gómez Roca (P-46) |
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| Career (Argentina) | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Astilleros y Fábricas Navales del Estado, Ensenada, Buenos Aires Province |
| Laid down: | June 7, 1983 |
| Launched: | November 14, 1984 |
| Commissioned: | 2005 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Espora-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,790 tons |
| Length: | 91.2 m |
| Beam: | 11.1 m |
| Draught: | 4.5 m |
| Propulsion: | 2 Diesel engines 20,400 shp (15,200 kW) 2 shafts/propellers |
| Speed: | 27 knots (50 km/h) |
| Range: | 4,000 nautical miles (7,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 100 |
| Armament: | 4 Exocet anti-ship missiles 1 76 mm dual purpose gun 4 40 mm anti-aircraft guns 2 .50cal machine guns 6 324 mm torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 helicopter |
ARA Gómez Roca (P-46) is the sixth and last ship of the MEKO 140A16 Espora series of six corvettes built for the Argentine Navy. The ship is the first ship to bear the name of Lieutenant Commander Sergio Gómez Roca, who commanded the Argentine patrol ship ARA Alferez Sobral during the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) and died in combat when the ship was attacked by Royal Navy helicopters. Originally the ship was to have been named Seaver after Captain Benjamin Seaver, a US-born naval hero of the Argentine War of Independence.
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Gómez Roca 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-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.
Gómez Roca was constructed at the Río Santiago Shipyards of the Astilleros y Fábricas Navales del Estado (State Shipyards and Naval Factories) state corporation. Her keel was laid down on June 7, 1983 and was launched on November 14, 1984.
Budgetary concerns effectively suspended the construction of the ship for almost a decade, until it was decided to finish her and her sister ship Robinson. Following the resumption of construction, the ship was delivered to the Navy in 2004 and commissioned in 2005.
Both Robinson and Gómez Roca benefitted from their construction delay by incorporating more advanced electronics than their four sister ships. As with Parker and Robinson, Gómez Roca is fitted with a telescopic hangar.
Following her commissioning Gómez Roca participated in several naval exercises and conducted fishery patrol duties in the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone.
She is homeported at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base and is part of the Navy's 2nd Corvette Division with her five sister ships.
In March 2010, operates with the USS Carl Vinson during Gringo-Gaucho / Southern Seas 2010 manoeuvers during the aircraft carrier transit around South America to her new home base at San Diego.
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