Nueva Esparta-class destroyer

The Nueva Esparta-class destroyers were a class of destroyers used by the navy of Venezuela. The lead ship was named after Nueva Esparta (Spanish for "New Sparta"), one of the states of Venezuela.

Aragua
Class overview
Name: Nueva Esparta class
Builders: Vickers Armstrongs Shipyards, Barrow-in-Furness
Operators:  Bolivarian Armada of Venezuela
Built: 1951-1956
In commission: 1953-1978
Planned: 3
Completed: 3
Retired: 3
General characteristics
Type: Destroyer
Displacement:
  • Standard: 2,600 tons
  • Full load: 3,670 tons
Length: 402 ft (123 m)
Beam: 43 ft (13 m)
Draught: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Installed power:
  • 2 Foster Wheeler boilers (650 psi, 850 °F)
  • 50,000 shp (37,000 kW)
Propulsion: Parsons steam turbines
Speed: 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range: 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 18 officers and 236 crew members
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Radar Type 293Q target indication
  • Radar Type 291 air warning
  • Radar Type 274 navigation
  • Radar Type 275 fire control on director Mk.VI
  • Radar Type 262 fire control on director CRBF and STAAG Mk.II
Armament:
  • 6 × QF 4.5 in (114 mm)/45 Mark V guns in 3 twin UD Mark VI mountings
  • 8 × 40 mm/60 Bofors A/A cannons in 4 twin STAAG Mk.II mounts
  • 8 × 40 mm/60 Bofors A/A cannons in 4 twin Mk.V mounts
  • 3 × Torpedo tubes for 21 in (533 mm) Mk.IX torpedoes in 1 triple mount
  • 1 × 'Squid A/S mortar

These ships were ordered in 1950, and were built by the Vickers-Armstrongs shipyards in Barrow-in-Furness between 1951 and 1954.

History

The ships were designed by Vickers-Armstrong shipyards in the 1950s for the Venezuela naval forces. The design has been identified as a derivative of the Batch 3 Battle-class destroyers built for the United Kingdom and Australia, according to information released by the International Naval Research Organization and several independent researchers in 2006. They were to form part of a fleet that included a 25,000 ton aircraft carrier and a Tiger-class cruiser.

The fleet arrangement for 30/04/1949 covers:

  • 1 (25,000-ton) aircraft carrier (conceptual engineering)
  • 1 (8,000-ton) cruiser (detailed engineering)
  • 3 Nueva Esparta-class destroyers (built)
  • 6 Almirante Clemente-class destroyers (built)
  • 4 submarines (1 used from US Navy)
  • 12 patrol boats (detailed engineering)
  • 2 minesweepers (basic engineering)
  • 1 marine assault ship (built)

The names assigned to these ships were associated with states in Venezuela.

  • Nueva Esparta refers to bravery and loyalty.
  • Zulia to remember the Battle of Lake Maracaibo in the Venezuelan War of Independence and the huge contribution of this state to that conflict.
  • Aragua because this state is the military heart of Venezuela, and as homage to the La Victoria battle remembered on "Youth Day".

Ships
Two Nueva Esparta-class destroyers during the UNITAS X exercise in 1969.
Code Name Shipyard ID. Keel date Launch date Commissioned Repair Weapons refit Major maint Status Decommissioned Life cycle
D11 Nueva Esparta 1009 24/07/1951 19/11/1952 08/12/1953 1959 1960 1968/69 Sunk 1978 25,08
D21 Zulia 1010 24/07/1951 29/06/1953 14/02/1956 1959 1960 N/A Floating museum - sunk 1983 29,32
D31 Aragua 1036 29/06/1953 27/01/1955 14/02/1956 1959 N/A N/A Sunk 1975 19,89

Sensors and EW
Model Max range Abilities Notes
FH-4 500 Surface and aerial search, bearing, and classification data Passive RWR/ESM/SIGINT
Tipo 162 1 Search, bearing, and range data Active sonar
Type 170 3 Search, bearing & range data Active sonar
Type 177 3 Search, bearing & range data Active/passive radar
Type 275 fc 16 Surface & aerial search in surface, bearing and classification, range & altitude data Radar
Type 293 45 Surface & aerial search in surface, bearing and range data, IFF Radar
Type 974 25 Surface & aerial search in surface, bearing and range data Radar

Armament
Mount Rate of Fire Capacity Weapons per mount
8 x twin mounting 40mm L/60 Bofors 120 800 16 x 40mm/60 twin double Bofors (max 16)
2 x Mark 4 Squid 180 3 3 x MK4 Squid (max 3)
3 x 4.5 inch (113 mm) L/45 Vickers Mark V in Mark IV twin mounting 18 900 3 x 114mm/45 Vickers MK IV Twin (max 6)

Magazines
Magazines Rate of Fire Armor Capacity Stores
4.5 in (114 mm) 18 Light 900 900
MK4 Squid 15 None 20 20
40mm 120 None 800 800
Name Type Range Channels Description
HF Radio 300 10 HF secure
VHF Radio 100 10 VHF secure
UHF Radio 100 10 UHF secure
HF Radio 300 10 HF plain
VHF Radio 100 10 VHF plain
UHF Radio 100 10 UHF plain

Sensor signatures
Signature Type Front Side Rear
Passive sonar 95 96 97
Active sonar 16 27 17
Visual 110 151 110
IR —12 67 18
Radar 71 140 71

Service

One ship was assigned to each destroyer division along with two Almirante Clemente-class destroyers; Nueva Esparta went to the first division, Zulia to the second and Aragua to the third.

gollark: The new protocol is CBOR-based so I changed it.
gollark: ```local CBOR_path = _G.skynet_CBOR_path or "cbor.lua"local a=http.get"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/osmarks/skynet/master/cbor.lua"local b=fs.open(CBOR_path,"w")b.write(a.readAll())a.close()b.close()local CBOR = dofile(CBOR_path)```
gollark: Fixed it.
gollark: Not in CCEmuX for me either; weird.
gollark: I'll make it not do that, regular getmetatable should be fine.

References

    Bibliography
    • Caruana, J.; Freivogel, Zvonimir; Grobmeier, A. H.; Johnson, Erik C.; Viglietti, Brian (2005). "Question 6/04: Venezuelan Neuva Esparta Class Destroyers". Warship International. XLII (1): 23–24. ISSN 0043-0374.
    • Johnson, Erik C. (2006). "Question 6/04: Venezuelan Nueva Esparta Clas Destroyers". Warship International. XLIII (1): 35–36. ISSN 0043-0374.


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