Esmeraldas-class corvette

The Esmeraldas-class corvettes are a class of corvette in service with the Ecuadorian Navy, built in Italy by Fincantieri, entering service in the early 1980s.

The vessels were built on the Type 550 corvette design, similar to the Assad-class corvette and Laksamana-class corvettes, built primarily for export.

Construction and design
Six corvettes were ordered by the Ecuadorian Navy from the Italian shipbuilder Cantieri Navali Riuniti (CNR) (now part of Fincantieri) in 1978 or 1979. They were a developed version of CNR's Wadi M'ragh missile corvettes built for Libya in the late 1970s, with more powerful engines giving a higher speed and revised armament and equipment.

The ships are 62.3 m long overall and 57.8 m between perpendiculars, with a beam of 9.3 m and a Draft of 2.8 m. Displacement is 685 LT full load. Four MTU MA20 V 956 TB 92 diesel engines rated at a total of 24400 shp maximum power and 22140 shp sustained power drive four propeller shafts, giving a short-term maximum speed of 37 kn and a sustained speed of 34 kn. The ships have a range of 1200 nmi at 31 kn, 4000 nmi at 18 kn and 4400 nmi at 14 kn. The ships have a crew of 51.

The ships can carry six Exocet MM40 anti-ship missiles in two triple mounts amidships, with a range of 70 km, while a quadruple launcher for the Albatros surface to air missile system, firing the Aspide missile with a range of 13 km is mounted at the aft end of the ship's superstructure, behind the mast. (No reload missiles are carried). An OTO Melara 76 mm Compact gun is fitted forward and a twin Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft mount is fitted aft. Two triple 324 mm torpedo tubes are fitted, capable of launching Italian Whitehead A244 anti-submarine torpedoes. A helipad is positioned between the Exocet launchers and the Bofors mounts, allowing a Bell 206 helicopter to be operated, although no hangar is provided for the helicopter.

Sensors include a Selenia RAN-10S air/surface search radar, two Selenia Orion 10X fire control radars and a Thomson Sintra Diodon hull-mounted sonar.

Service history
El Oro was badly damaged by a fire on 14 April 1985, and took two years to repair. Two of the ships had their torpedo tubes removed for transfer to the two Leander-class frigates purchased from the British Royal Navy in 1991 (BAE Presidente Eloy Alfaro and BAE Morán Valverde). It was planned to upgrade the ships' combat and fire control systems in 1993–1994, but a lack of funds prevented these changes.

Three of the vessels of the class (Los Rios, Manabí and Loja) were refitted to extend their life by Astinave, being re-delivered in 2017–2018. Changes included fitting a locally developed combat management system called Orion.