ARA King (P-21)

For other ships with the same name, see ARA King.

ARA King in Ushuaia, circa 1947
History
Argentina
Name	King
Namesake	Juan King, Argentine naval officer in the Cisplatine War.
Builder	AFNE Rio Santiago, Argentina
Launched	1943
Commissioned	1946
Status	Active[1]
General characteristics
Type	Murature-class patrol boat
Displacement	1,030 tons
Length	77 m (252 ft 7 in)
Beam	9 m (29 ft 6 in)
Draft	4 m (13 ft 1 in)
Propulsion	2-shaft, 2 × Werkspoor diesel engines, 2,500 ihp (1,900 kW), 90 tons oil
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	9,000 nmi (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	130
Armament	3 × 105-millimetre (4 in) L45 Bofors DP guns 4 × 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors AA guns

ARA King is a World War II-era Argentine Navy warship, originally classified as minelayer and later as patrol ship. The vessel is named after Juan King, an Argentine naval officer that served in the Cisplatine War. It is the third Argentine naval ship with this name.

Design

King was as part of a program to build four minelayers during the Second World War. Two (Murature and King) were completed as patrol boats and the others (Piedrabuena and Azopardo) as antisubmarine frigates.

History

King was launched in 1943 and commissioned in 1946.

In 1955, the ship took part of rising against Juan Domingo Perón's government known as Revolución Libertadora, when she acted as a floating battery defending the rebel naval base at Río Santiago.

After the decommissioning of her sister Murature in 2014, King is the oldest still in service in the Argentine navy.^[2][3] She was overhauled from 2015 to 2018 and was still in service as of 2022.^[1]

In July 2023, the ship was involved in a collision with a floating bar on the Paraná River and a Naval Prefecture vessel. The damage was reported as minor.^[4]

See also

• List of ships of the Argentine Navy

References

Notes

1. "Video: la vida a bordo del ARA "King", el buque de río más emblemático de la Armada Argentina". Infobae (in Spanish). 3 September 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
2. "A.R.A. "Murature" - P 20". histarmar.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 September 2022.
3. "Un catamarqueño es el nuevo comandante del ARA 'King' - El Esquiu" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-11-17.
4. "Un buque de la Armada chocó contra un bar flotante en el río Paraná cuando intentaba acercarse al puerto de Corrientes". www.clarin.com (in Spanish). 9 July 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.

Bibliography

• Amendolara Bourdette, Ignacio (2005). Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005-2006 (in Spanish and English). Buenos Aires, Argentina. ISBN 987-43-9400-5. Archived from the original on 2014-09-13. Retrieved 2014-09-13.

Further reading

• Arguindeguy, Pablo (1972). Apuntes sobre los buques de la Armada Argentina (1810-1970) (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Comando en Jefe de la Armada.
• Burzio, Humberto (1960). Armada Nacional (in Spanish). Secretaria de Estado de Marina.
• Piccirilli, Ricardo; Gianello, Leoncio (1963). Biografías navales (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Secretaría de Estado de Marina..

External links

• Patrol ship ARA “King” - Histarmar website (Historia y Arqueología Marítima – Patrullero ARA King) (accessed 2015-12-24)
• Argentine Navy website - Patrulleros Clase "MURATURE" (in Spanish - accessed 2013-10-31)