I've done the aircraft. Now the surface warships!
In the "real world" Argentina purchased the following destroyers, frigates and corvettes between 1970 and 1980.
- 2 British Type 42 destroyers were ordered on 18.05.70. ARA Hercules built by Vickers at Barrow was laid down on 16.06.71, launched on 24.10.72 and completed on 10.05.76. ARA Santísima Trinidad built in Argentina by AFNE was laid down on 11.10.71, launched on 09.11.74 and completed in July 1981. Their entry in Conway's 1947-95 (from which I got the dates) says that Santísima Trinidad was sabotaged by terrorists on 22.08.75. Did that contribute to its exceedingly long construction time of nearly 10 years?
- 6 German MEKO360H2 frigates were ordered from Blohm & Voss on 11.12.78, but this was reduced to 4 ships which were laid down 1980-81 and completed 1983-84. These ships had the same Olympus-Tyne CODOG machinery as the 2 Type 42 destroyers.
- 3 French A69 corvettes joined the fleet 1978-81. The first 2 were ordered by South Africa, but delivered was prevented by the UN arms embargo adopted on 04.11.77. They were purchased by Argentina on 25.09.78 and delivered on 02.11.78. The third ship ordered by Argentina, was laid down on 01.12.78, launched on 28.06.80 and completed on 22.06.81.
- 6 German MEKO140 corvettes were ordered from AFNE on 02.10.80. The first 4 were laid down 1981-82 and completed 1985-90. The last 2 were laid down 1985-86 and completed 2000-04.
I wanted the pair of French guided missile destroyers ordered instead of the British Type 42s to be a hybrid of the French C70AS and C70AA. That is it would have the C70AS machinery of 2 Olympus gas turbines and 2 diesels in the CODOG configuration and the C70AA armament. Except that the ships would have "Mascura Junior" instead of the Mk 13 GMLS firing Standard MR missiles. "Masurca Junior" was the standard Mascura missile without the booster, which made it the French equivalent to Standard MR. The C70AA frigates built for France in this timeline would also be armed with "Mascura Junior" instead of the Mk 13 GMLS firing Standard SM-1 missiles removed from T47 destroyers that armed the ships in our timeline.
This resulted in Argentina ordering 6 C70AS frigates in 1978 in place of the 6 MEKO360H2 ships ordered in our timeline. One of the reasons why the French bid was successful was there was a great degree of standardisation with the C70AA frigates purchased instead of the Type 42s. Another reason was that in common with the C70AA order half the ships were to be built in France and the rest were to be built in Argentina by AFNE.
A trio of British Vosper-Thornycroft or Yarrow corvettes should have been acquired instead of the A69s. However, I decided that the Argentines would still buy 3 A69 and then order another 6 to be built by AFNE instead of the MEKO140s. However, the German corvettes were larger, faster and better armed so the 6 ships built instead of the MEKO140s might be a "Super A69" with a larger hull, more powerful engines for a higher maximum speed and the French equivalent of the MEKO140 armament.
There were two problems with that scenario which make it impossible.
- The C70 design wasn't ready in 1970. The first C70AS wasn't laid down until 1974 and the first C70AA wasn't laid down until 1982.
- "Mascura Junior" proved to be a figment of my imagination.
Therefore, the two ships ordered in 1970 would have to be built to the FLE60 design (Suffren class) with the result that the Argentines would still buy the MEKO frigates and corvettes. Argentina would still buy the 3 A69 frigates. This was because South African couldn't buy VT or Yarrow corvettes due to the British Government banning the sale of arms to South Africa in the 1960s.
