ARA Rosales (P-42)

Espora-class corvette ARA Rosales (P-42)
History
Argentina
Name:	Rosales
Namesake:	Leonardo Rosales
Owner:	Argentine Navy
Builder:	Río Santiago Shipyard
Laid down:	1 April 1981
Acquired:	14 November 1986
Commissioned:	24 March 1987
Homeport:	Puerto Belgrano
Status:	Active
General characteristics
Class and type:	MEKO 140A16 Espora-class corvette
Displacement:	1,560 tons (1,790 tons full load)
Length:	91.2 m (299 ft)
Beam:	11.0 m (36.1 ft)
Draught:	3.33 m (10.9 ft) (hull)
Installed power:	22,600 bhp (16.9 MW)
Propulsion:	2 × SEMT Pielstick 16 PC 2-5 V400 diesels, 2 × 5-blade props
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h)
Range:	4,000 nautical miles (7,410 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement:	11 officers, 46 petty officers, 36 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	Thales DA-05/2 air/surface search Thales WM-28, LIROD fire control Decca TM 1226 navigation Atlas AQS-1 hull MF sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	Decca RDC-2ABC Decca RCM-2 jammer 2 × Matra Dagaie decoys
Armament:	4 × MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles 1 × 76 mm/62 OTO Melara dual purpose gun 2 × DARDO twin 40 mm AA guns 2 × .50cal machine guns 2 × triple 324 mm ILAS-3 tubes (WASS A-244S torpedoes)
Aviation facilities:	Helideck for Eurocopter Fennec

ARA Rosales (P-42) is the second ship of the MEKO 140A16 Espora class of six corvettes built for the Argentine Navy. The ship is the fourth ship to bear the name of Colonel (Navy) Leonardo Rosales, who fought in the Argentine Navy during Argentina's war of independence and the Cisplatine War.

The Argentine Navy struggles to meet maintenance and training requirements because of financial problems and import restrictions. The operational status of Rosales is not clear, as of November 2012 she was waiting for spares.

Rosales 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.

Rosales was constructed at the Río Santiago Shipyard of the Astilleros y Fábricas Navales del Estado (State Shipyards and Naval Factories) state corporation. Her keel was laid on 1 April 1981 and was launched on 4 March 1983. The ship was officially delivered to the Navy on 14 November 1986 and formally commissioned on 24 March 1987. First captain was Capitan de Navio Manuel Augusto Iricibar.

In February 1991, as part of Task Group 88.1 Rosales along with ARA Bahía San Blas participated as part of the Coalition of the Gulf War 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 July 1991