ARA Parker (P-44)

ARA Parker (P-44) is the fourth ship of the MEKO 140A16 Espora-class corvette of six corvettes built for the Argentine Navy. The ship is the second ship to bear the name of Captain Enrique Guillermo Parker, who fought in the Argentine Navy as its second-in-command during the Cisplatine War.

The Argentine Navy struggles to meet maintenance and training requirements because of financial problems and import restrictions. The status of Parker was not clear, as of November 2012 she was waiting for spares. As of 2021, Parker was scheduled for repair work, and conversion to the offshore patrol role, at the Tandanor state-owned shipyard in Buenos Aires. The work to convert the ship to her new role was expected to last through 2023.

Origin
Parker and her sister ships were part of the 1974 Naval Constructions National Plan, an initiative by the Argentine Navy to replace old World War II-vintage ships with more advanced warships. The original plan called for six MEKO 360H2 destroyers, four of them to be built in Argentina, but the plan was later modified to include four MEKO destroyers and six corvettes for anti-surface warfare and patrol operations.

Construction
Espora was constructed at the Río Santiago Shipyard of the Astilleros y Fábricas Navales del Estado (State Shipyards and Naval Factories) state corporation. She was launched on 30 March 1984, but flooding on 2 October 1986 delayed completion. In 1988 her pennant number was changed from P-13 to P-44 in line with the rest of the class. She was officially delivered to the Navy on 2 April 1990 and commissioned on 17 April of that year.

Parker is the first ship of the class' second batch, and incorporated a telescopic hangar, allowing the ship to carry a helicopter. The first three ships of the class were fitted with a landing pad but did not have a hangar.

Service history
Between 1990 and 2000, Parker was effectively the last ship of her class, as budgetary cuts delayed and almost cancelled the construction of the final two ships, ARA Robinson and ARA Gómez Roca. Following her commissioning Parker participated in several naval exercises and conducted fishery patrol duties in the Argentine exclusive economic zone.

In 1995 she represented the Argentine Navy in the Naval Parade conducted in Cape Town as part of the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the South African Navy.

She is homeported at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base and is part of the 2nd Corvette Division with her five sister ships.

Parker is being converted to the offshore patrol role at the Tandanor shipyard. For that role, a hydraulic crane was installed to permit the deployment of 5.5 m semi-rigid fast boats while space, previously used for the storage of MM38 Exocet missiles, was converted into extra personnel accommodation space. The work had been scheduled for completion by the end of 2023. However, the work was reported as continuing as of early 2024.