ARA Jaguar (ML-1916 (1937-mod))
Since the Las Malvinas had become a contentious issue betwween Argentina and Great Britain the Argentinians had wanted the islands back under their control, by force if necessary. Argentina had spent the 1920's and 30's making and refining plans, purchasing equipment, all to give them the chance to retake the Las Malvinas. When it happened it caught the Argentinians on the hop and their well laid plans went out the window.
Part of those plans was the mining of the Straits of Magellan, the coastal areas at the borders of Uruguay and Brazil, plus the landing areas around Las Malvinas. Central to these plans was the purchase of the ex-Germanic States minelayers Bremse and Brummer. For cruiser size vessels of their time they were fast, attaining 34+ knots in service. The ships had very active wars and proved themselves time and again. 1930 and the two ships were taken in hand to replace the engines, superstructure and alter the lay out of the guns.
Both ships returned to the fleet in 1932 with funnels reduced from three to two, superfiring 5.9" both forward and aft. The replacement of the old power plant with a new set of engines and boilers, producing 60,000shp enabled the ships to maintain their 34+ knot speed. Only six years later a new armament was to be fitted. This time a dual purpose armament. The twin 88mm L56 SK36 weapon system mated excellent high angle performance with high velocity for a decent range compared to the 4.5"-to-5" guns of their competitors. Two dual purpose gunnery controllers were fitted to point the guns in the right direction. This was a definite acknowledgement that these ships biggest danger came from the air rather than other ships.
To this end the ships still required the high speed they had originally been built for. With the advances made in propulsion systems in the 20 years since they had been built, a propulsion system was designed to fit into the same area as the original but of more power to actually increase the speed by a knot or so. The other competing powers of Chile and Brazil had built or had ships building that would have been able to have intercepted the ships at their original speed. So the increase in speed was kept a secret and the same horsepower and speed were given in releases after the ships refits.
| Displacement | 4,200 tons std, 5,400 tons full load | |
| Length | 461 ft | |
| Breadth | 44 ft | |
| Draught | 20 ft | |
| Machinery | 2 shaft Steam Turbines 60,000shp | |
| Speed | 35 knots | |
| Range | 4400 miles at 15 knots (1400 @ 32k) | |
| Armour | 1.6" side, 1" deck, 1" turrets | |
| Armament | 4 x 5.9" (4x1) 4 x 3.4" (4x1) 4 x 20mm (4x1) |
8 x 88mm (4x2) 8 x 37mm (4x2) 10 x 20mm (1x4 6x1) |
| Mines | 360 | |
| Torpedoes | nil | |
| Complement | 350 | |
| Notes | ARA Jaguar ARA Lince |
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Above: Bremse 1917. Below: my attempt at a rebuilt Bremse/Brummer.
