Puerto Belgrano

Base Naval Puerto Belgrano (English: Port Belgrano Naval base) is the largest naval base of the Argentine Navy, situated next to Punta Alta city, near Bahía Blanca, some 700km south of Buenos Aires.

Home of the Argentine Fleet, it concentrates all major ships and arsenals, and is close to the main bases of the other Navy organisations: Marine's camp "Baterias" and Naval Aviation's air base "Comandante Espora".

Opened November 30, 1896 under the name Puerto Militar ("Military Port"), it was renamed to Puerto Belgrano in 1923. In 1911 the French-owned railway company Ferrocarril Rosario y Puerto Belgrano opened a broad gauge (5ft 6in) line between Puerto Belgrano and Rosario.

The base grew in importance with the size of the fleet. During World War I and World War II the Rivadavia class battleships "Moreno" and "Rivadavia" were docked here, and during Cold War the aircraft carriers "Independencia" and "25 de Mayo" were docked at this base.

The shipyard continues doing maintenance and refits of vessels and submarines.

On April 2006, the Royal Navy's Antarctic patrol vessel HMS "Endurance" (A171) entered Puerto Belgrano for repairs after damaging its rudder while in Antarctica in February. It was the first time since the end of the 1982 Falklands War ( _es. Guerra de las Malvinas) that a British Royal Navy ship had entered the Argentine naval base.

References

* [http://www.mercopress.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=7614 HMS Endurance completes repairs in Puerto Belgrano]

External links

* [http://www.ara.mil.ar/La_Armada/OrganizacionyDespliegue/belgrano.htm Official Site]