ARA Heroína (pennant number D-12) is the third ship of the MEKO 360H2

Almirante Brown class destroyer

The Almirante Brown is a class of destroyers commissioned between 1983 and 1984 for the Argentine Navy. As of 2005, ARA Sarandí is the Argentinian fleet flagship.-Specifications:...

 series of four destroyers built for the Argentine Navy

Argentine Navy

The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....

. The ship is the third ship in the history of the Argentine Navy to bear the name of the corsair frigate Heroína

Heroina

The Heroína was a privately owned frigate that was operated as a privateer under a license issued by the United Provinces of the River Plate . It was under the command of American-born Colonel David Jewett and has become linked with the Argentine claim to sovereignty of the Falkland Islands...

, which claimed the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

 for the United Provinces of the River Plate on November 6, 1820.

Origin

Heroína and her sister ships were authorized under the Naval Construction National Plan of 1974, an initiative by the Argentine Navy to replace old World War II-vintage warships which were nearing the end of their operational lives. A contract was signed with the Blohm + Voss

Blohm + Voss

Blohm + Voss , is a German shipbuilding and engineering works. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; there were plans to sell 80% of Blohm + Voss to Abu Dhabi Mar Group, but talks collapsed in July 2011.-History:It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a...

 Shipyards in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 for the construction of four MEKO 360H2 destroyers.

Construction

Heroína was launched on February 17, 1982. The ship was delivered to the Argentine Navy on November 7, 1983 for her sea trials, following which the ship departed for Argentina, arriving at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base on December 21.

Service history

Heroina is to enter a major engine and structural overhaul in 2006, following her sister ship La Argentina

ARA La Argentina (D-11)

ARA La Argentina is the second ship of the MEKO 360H2 series of four destroyers built for the Argentine Navy. The ship is the eighth ship in the history of the Argentine Navy to bear the name of the corsair frigate La Argentina which conducted a privateer raid around the world against Spanish...

.

She is currently homeported at Puerto Belgrano

Puerto Belgrano

Base Naval Puerto Belgrano is the largest naval base of the Argentine Navy, situated next to Punta Alta, near Bahía Blanca, about south of Buenos Aires...

as part of the Navy's 2nd Destroyer Division, along with her three sister ships.