BAV Guanare (DD-1916)
Back to Venezuelan Navy page:
2023 - I do not know where the drawings came from
for these original ones (now dismissed to the bottom of the page), but they do
not resemble the ships drawn by more capable pixel artists.
The ex-Fidonisi class ships gave the Venezuelans destroyers that were as modern
as any other South American Navy possessed and better than most. Seven of these
useful ships arrived with Wrangel's fleet and were operated unchanged right
through till the late 1930's when they were surveyed and deemed in acceptable
condition to convert to escort destroyers.
The 4"/4.7" were replaced with 3.9" shielded guns on AA mountings to give them
a dual-purpose weapon. The torpedo tubes were upgraded to a 21" triple mount,
the four twin 17.7" being removed. Various light weapons were fitted for
AA purposes, firstly 0.5" Browning machine guns, then adding 28mm cannons,
before all of those were removed and replaced with 20mm Oerlikon's in single
mountings. The most major work was replacing the bridge superstructure to
something large enough to mount a dual purpose gunnery director.
The removal of the forward boiler room and funnel allowed for extra fuel tanks
that almost doubled the ships range. This also allowed for space for a full
medical suite to be built where the forward torpedo tube mountings had been. A
pair of twin 28mm cannons were placed in tubs on the roof of the hospital area.
Space for four single 0.5" machine guns was found in the new superstructure and
aft superstructure. The future would add electronic aids like Radar and asdic or
sonar, depending on where the ship of the class was refitted. The seven ships
spent their war on convoy escort duties, that is what they had been converted
for. Two were lost to U-Boats torpedoes and they were involved in sinking two
and a half U-boats (the half coming from where two ships were involved in
sinking the U-Boat, credited half each).
Displacement | 1,450 tons std 1,750 tons full load | |
Length | 333 ft | |
Breadth | 33 ft | |
Draught | 11 ft | |
Machinery | 2 shaft steam turbines, 35,000shp | 20,000shp |
Speed | 33 knots | 26 knots |
Range | 3500 miles at 12 knots | 6500 miles at 12 knots |
Armament | Original 1916-17. 4 x 4" or 4.7" (4x1) 2 x 47mm AA (2x1)
|
Upgraded from 1934 3 x 3.9" (3x1) 4 x 28mm (2x2) 4 x 0.5" mg (4x1) |
Torpedoes | 8 x 17.7" (4x2) | 3 x 21" (1x3) |
Complement | 170 | |
Notes | BAV Guanare (1916) ex-Fidonisi |
Original 4" gun fitted to the early Russian destroyers.
That does look strange - the drawings are different sizes? Must do better!