Drummond-class corvette

The Drummond class are three corvettes designed and built in France based on the A69 D'Estienne d'Orves class. The ships were commissioned in the Argentine Navy between 1978 and 1982.

The ships currently serve in the "Atlantic Area of Operations" of the Argentine Navy, based on Mar del Plata Naval Base, province of Buenos Aires. Their mission is to patrol Argentina's EEZ and to enforce fishing regulations, but according to reports in November 2012 they “hardly sail because of lack of resources for operational expenses”.

Design
Although its designers consider the A69 D'Estienne d'Orves class to be avisos, Argentina classifies the ships as corvettes. They are equipped mostly with German and Dutch electronic systems (instead of French) for better compatibility with the two MEKO classes in Argentine service, integrated with the indigenous Miniaco combat system.

History
The first two ships of the class were built in 1977 in France for the South African Navy. The sale was embargoed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 during sea trials and the ships bought by Argentina instead on 25 September 1978. A third ship was ordered and entered service as ARA  Granville  on 22 June 1981, in time for the Falklands War (Guerra de Malvinas) the following year. There are minor differences in equipment fit compared to her sisters, for instance the Granville has French Degaie decoys rather than the British Corvus chaff launchers.

On 28 March 1982 the Granville and Drummond sailed from Argentina and took up station northeast of Port Stanley to cover the main amphibious landings on 2 April. Meanwhile the Guerrico covered the assault on South Georgia, sustaining significant damage from the Royal Marines in the process. After repairs she joined her sister ships north of the Falklands as Task Group 79.4, hoping to catch ships detached from the British taskforce. On 29 April the corvettes were trailed by HMS Splendid whilst she was looking for the Argentine carrier ARA 25 de Mayo, but they managed to outrun the British submarine.

The Drummond class carried pennant numbers P-1 to P-3 until the introduction of the Espora class corvettes in 1985 when they became P-31 to P-33. In 1994, they participated in Operation Uphold Democracy, the United Nations blockade of Haiti. During this time, they were based at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico.

Specification

 * Displacement: 1,170 tons (empty); 1,320 tons (full load)
 * Length: 80 m
 * Beam: 10.3 m
 * Draught: 3.55 m
 * Propulsion:
 * 2 shafts / propellers
 * 2 SEMT Pielstick 12 PC2.2 V 400 diesel engines, 12.000 shp tot.
 * Max shaft horsepower: n/a shp max
 * Speed: 23.3 kn
 * Range: 4,500 nautical miles at 16 kn
 * Armament
 * 4 x Aérospatiale MM 38 Exocet SSM
 * 1 x 4in/55 (100 mm) Creusot-Loire CADAM turret DP automatic fast-firing gun
 * 1 x twin 40 mm 70-cal. OTO Melara (Breda Bofors) AA guns
 * 2 x 20 mm L/ 90 Oerlikon automatic guns
 * 2 x 12.7 mm machine guns
 * 2 x triple 324 mm ILAS-3 ASW torpedo tubes (Whitehead AS-244 torpedoes, quantity n/a)
 * Aircraft: None
 * Complement: 95
 * Radar:
 * Air/Surface Search: Signaal DA08 (equipped with IFF).
 * Surface Search & helicopter control: Signaal ZW06.
 * Fire Control: Signaal STIR
 * Navigation: Decca TM 1226
 * Sonar: Thomson Sintra Diodon
 * Electronic Warfare:
 * Decoys: (no details available)
 * Datalink: (no details available)
 * Weapons Control System: Thomson-CSF System Vega, CSEE Panda MK2 director (optical), NASA director (optronic, for the 40 mm gun).
 * Concept/Program: French designed and built general purpose avisos (classified as "corvettes" by the Argentine navy).
 * Builder: n/a shipyard, Lorient, France.
 * Designer: n/a, France.
 * Design: A69 type.

Ships in the class

 * ARA  Drummond  (P-31)
 * ARA  Guerrico  (P-32)
 * ARA  Granville  (P-33)