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On
March 20th, the Ecuadorian Navy
decommissioned the "BAE Eloy Alfaro"
frigate in order to maintain an
operative fleet according to the new
challenges and threats, as official
sources had mentioned to the media in a
press conference. This vessel will be
scrapped and sold as metal scrap after
17 years in service with the Navy. |
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This frigate was acquired in 1991 from
the Royal Navy as H.M.S. Penelope. This
name has been linked to many ships of
the Royal Navy even before World War II. |
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Actual H.M.S. Penelope was built by
Vickers Armstrong and initially
conceived as a Type 12 frigate and due
to be christened as H.M.S. Coventry but
during her built, plans were changed and
was finally finished and launched as a
Leander class frigate on August 17th
1962 and completed by October 1963 with
all the equipment of a frigate of that
class, with a 4.5" twin turret,
antisubmarine mortars and deep charges
launchers, a Wasp helicopter and finally
christened as H.M.S. Penelope. |
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During the Cold War in the 60s and 70s,
was operated satisfactory in the
interception role of soviet submarines
in the North Sea, in a game where both
parties tried to measure up the reaction
time of the Royal Navy fleet and the
attack capabilities of the soviet fleet. |
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Received more historical recognition as
part of the Task Force sent by Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher to recover
the Falkland Islands in the South
Atlantic, claimed and occupied by
Argentinean forces during the so called
Falklands War between the two nations in
1982. The mission assigned to this
frigate was to participate in the
islands blockade to prevent the
Argentineans from sending supplies to
their troops in the invaded islands.
Also participated in the interception of
enemy submarines that could become a
threat to the rest of their fleet. |
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On June 13th 1982 could repel an attack
of an Argentinean Super Etendard,
equipped with an Exocet missile.
According to British versions, they used
electronic counter measures. |
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While in service with the Ecuadorian
Navy, was commissioned to maritime
patrol and other appropriate tasks for
peace time. Did participate join naval
operations with friendly forces and was
on 24/7 patrol during the Cenepa War in
1995. |
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This news about the decommissioning and
further scrapping of the BAE Eloy Alfaro
generated some controversies and
opinions among people that would like to
see this frigate being preserved as a
floating museum. We at IPMS Guayaquil
have echoed on this proposal coming from
our friend Virgilio Aray and we support
his initiative to preserve our history
or transcendental matters. The proposal
is to place the frigate as floating
museum on river Guayas, where can be
visited by naval history fans. We hope
that naval and Guayaquil authorities
take a clear step on this and also
support this initiative. We include some
graphics about the proposal. |
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