Argentine Navy

The Argentine Navy (ARA; Armada de la República Argentina) 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 Argentine Navy day is celebrated on May 17, anniversary of the victory in 1814 at the Battle of Montevideo over the Spanish fleet during the war of Independence. The Argentine Navy was created in the aftermath of the May Revolution of May 25, 1810, which started the war for independence from Spain. The navy was first created to support Manuel Belgrano in the Paraguay campaign, but those ships were sunk by ships from Montevideo, and did not take part in that conflict. Renewed conflicts with Montevideo led to the creation of a second fleet, which participated in the capture of the city. As Buenos Aires had little maritime history, most men in the navy were from other nations, such as the Irish-born admiral William Brown, who directed the operation. As the cost of maintaining a navy was too high, most of the Argentine naval forces were composed of privateers. Brown led the Argentine navy in further naval conflicts at the War with Brazil and the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata. In the 1870s the Argentine Navy began modernizing itself. At the close of the century, the force included: 5 armoured cruisers 4 coastal defence ironclads 3 second-class, high-speed, British-built cruisers 7 modern small cruisers and gunboats 4 destroyers 22 torpedo boats The most powerful ships at this time included the Italian-built and her sister ships: , , and , each at over 6,000 tons. Three older ironclads, , , and dated from the 1880s and early 1890s. The navy's ships were built primarily in Italy, Britain, France, and Spain, and were operated by over 600 officers and 7,760 seamen. These were supported by a battalion of marines and an artillery battery. South American dreadnought race A naval arms race between Argentina, Brazil and Chile, the most powerful and wealthy countries in South America, began when the Brazilian government ordered three dreadnoughts, battleships.