ARA Drummond (P-31)

Service history

Drummond was built in 1977 in France for the South African Navy to be named SAS Good Hope but was embargoed at the last minute by United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 over apartheid. The vessel was sold to Argentina instead and delivered on 9 November 1978.

She carried the pennant number P-1 until the introduction of the s in 1985 when she became P-31.

In 1982 she served with her sister ships in the Falklands War. On 7 October 1983, during a live fire exercise off Mar del Plata, she sunk the old destroyer with a MM38 Exocet missile.

On 1994, from her temporary base at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, she participated on the blockade of Haiti during Operation Uphold Democracy.

She had also served as support ship of the Buenos Aires-Rio de Janeiro tall ships races.

In 2019, she was reported in reserve and "in the process" of being decommissioned. However, she remained on the navy list until 2024 when it was reported that she would finally be auctioned off.

HMS ''York'' incident

On 25 February 2010 the British tabloid The Sun reported that Drummond had been intercepted and shepherded away by the Royal Navy destroyer in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands. The story was published in the middle of a diplomatic dispute between the United Kingdom and Argentina about oil drilling, escalating the crisis as the "first head-to-head of the Falklands row". The British Ministry of Defence quickly issued a denial. But a spokesman later said the encounter had occurred a month earlier, before the oil dispute began; both ships were in the same zone in international waters during rough weather at night, and, after a friendly dialogue by radio, each had continued on its own way.

References

Portions based on a translation from Spanish Wikipedia.

References

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2. (3 August 2020). "Informe a diputados – Medios insuficientes para las Patrullas de Control de Mar".
3. Germán Videla Solá, Mariano. (2024-09-01). "La Armada Argentina retiró del servicio a la ARA Granville, la última de sus corbetas A-69".
4. "Incendian y hunden un pesquero para evitar su captura".
5. (22 November 2012). "Argentine navy short on spares and resources for training and maintenance". MercoPress.
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8. "Colorida ceremonia por el aniversario de la histórica corbeta Drummond".
9. Solá, Mariano Germán Videla. (2024-09-04). "La Armada Argentina subasta cuatro buques en desuso, incluidos el aviso 'Alférez Sobral' y la corbeta 'Guerrico', veteranos de Malvinas".
10. "Londres desmiente información sobre la interceptación de un barco argentino".
11. [http://www.blogs.mod.uk/defence_news/2010/02/defence-in-the-media-25-february-2010.html UK MoD: Radio communication in the Falklands] {{webarchive. link. (5 March 2010)
12. "Reino Unido nega ter interceptado navio argentino nas Malvinas".
13. "Falklands: UK MOD denies naval incident with Argentine vessel".