ARA Spiro (P-43)

ARA "Spiro" (P-43) is the third ship of the MEKO 140A16 Espora series of six corvettes built for the Argentine Navy. The ship is the second ship to bear the name of the Greek-born Captain Samuel Spiro, who fought during the Argentine War of Independence and blew himself up with his ship rather than surrendering to the Spanish forces following the battle of Arroyo de la China, in 1814.

She was constructed at the Río Santiago Shipyard of the Astilleros y Fábricas Navales del Estado (State Shipyards and Naval Factories) state corporation.

Origin

"Spiro" 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.

Construction

"Spiro"'s keel was laid down on October 2, 1982 and was launched on June 24, 1983. The ship was officially delivered to the Navy on November 26th, 1987 and formally commissioned on May 9th, 1988.

Service History

On September 25th, 1990, "Spiro" and the destroyer "Almirante Brown" participated as part of a multinational task force in the United Nations-mandated blockade of Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait. She participated in patrol and escort missions as part of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, returning to Argentina on May 30th, 1991.

"Spiro" also participated in several naval exercises and conducted fishery patrol duties in the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone, capturing three illegal fishing ships between 1991 and 1994.

She is homeported at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base and is part of the Navy's 2nd Corvette Division with her five sister ships.