Corbeta Uruguay base



Corbeta Uruguay base was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on Thule Island, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands.

History
The base was established by the military dictatorship governing Argentina to reinforce its territorial claims on British-held territory in the South Atlantic. The British government became aware of the base in December 1976 but sought a diplomatic solution to the issue until 1982.

Early in the Falklands War, 32 special forces troops from Corbeta Uruguay were brought by the Argentine Navy ship Bahía Paraiso to South Georgia and landed at Leith Harbour on March 25, 1982.

Corbeta Uruguay remained manned by Argentine personnel until June 20, 1982, when British forces, fresh from victory over Argentina in the Falkland Islands, sent a task force to Thule Island to end the Argentine presence. After the Argentine garrison at Corbeta Uruguay surrendered, Thule Island was emptied and the facility left unmanned. In December 1982, it was mostly demolished by the Royal Navy after a patrolling warship (HMS Hecate) discovered that someone had taken down the Union Flag from the base flagpole and run up the flag of Argentina.

The name honoured the Argentine corvette ARA Uruguay that rescued Otto Nordenskjöld and his crew in 1903 in the Antarctic Peninsula, near the present-day Esperanza Base. This ship is now a floating museum, permanently berthed in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires.