MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Destroyer ARA Heroina officially decommissioned

The Heroina was named after the corsair frigate reaching the Falkland/Malvinas Islands in Buenos Aires' name on Nov. 6, 1820.

During an event at the Puerto Belgrano Naval Base Friday, the Argentine Navy made official the decommissioning of the destroyer ARA Heroína of the MEKO 360 class after over 15 years of unseaworthiness due to the lack of a key spare part banned by the United Kingdom from being delivered.

 The decision puts an end to the history of a combat ship docked since 2008 due to problems with the vessel's so-called “slow wheel.” The faulty part was sent for repair to the UK-based David Brown Gear Systems Ltd. company and was subsequently retained by British authorities as a result of restrictions imposed on Argentina.

In 2018 Argentina tried once again to have the part delivered but dropped the idea given the astronomic safekeeping charges involved. Even if these costs had been met, it was still uncertain whether British authorities would release the item, the specialized website Zona Militar explained.

Without the ARA Heroína, the Argentine Navy's destroyer fleet has dwindled to the ARA Almirante Brown (D-10), ARA La Argentina (D-11), and ARA Sarandí (D-13), the latter two recently participating in Exercise Gringo-Gaucho II with the United States Navy featuring the nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier.

The ARA Heroína (D-12) was built at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, West Germany. She was launched in 1982 and commissioned in 1983. Her construction had been authorized under the “National Shipbuilding Plan” of the Navy General Command approved in 1974. In 1979 the contract with Blohm + Voss was approved. She arrived at the Puerto Belgrano Naval Base on Dec. 21, 1983, to join the 2nd Destroyer Division.

She was named after the corsair frigate Heroína which under Navy Colonel David Jewett reached the Falkland/Malvinas Islands on Nov. 6, 1820.

At any rate, the loss of the ARA Heroína heralds a new phase for the underequipped Argentine Navy.