Base Naval Puerto Belgrano (English: Port Belgrano Naval base) is the largest naval base of the Argentine Navy, situated next to Punta Alta city, near Bahía Blanca, some 700 km south of Buenos Aires. Home of the Argentine Fleet, it concentrates all major ships and arsenal, and is close to the main bases of the other Navy organisations: Marine's camp Baterias and Naval Aviation's air base Comandante Espora. Opened November 30, 1896 under the name Puerto Militar (Military Port), it was renamed to Belgrano in 1923. In 1911 the French-owned railway company Ferrocarril Rosario y Puerto Belgrano opened a broad gauge (5ft 6in) line between Puerto Belgrano and Rosario. The base grew in importance and as the size of the fleet did; World War I era Rivadavia class battleships ARA Moreno and ARA Rivadavia and the aircraft carriers ARA Independencia and ARA 25 de Mayo were docked at this base. The shipyard continues doing maintenance and refits of vessels and submarines. On April 2006, the Royal Navy's Antarctic patrol vessel HMS Endurance (A171) entered Puerto Belgrano for repairs after damaging its rudder while in Antarctica in February. It was the first time since the end of the 1982 Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) that a British Royal Navy ship had entered the Argentine naval base.
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