ARM_Guanajuato_(C-07)
ARM Guanajuato (C-07)
Former Mexican Navy gunboat
The ARM Guanajuato (C-07), also known as Cañonero Guanajuato, was a gunboat that served for the Mexican Navy until 2001.[1] It has been located at the shore of the Jamapa River, in the municipality of Boca del Río, Veracruz, as a museum ship.
Cañonero Guanajuato in Boca del Río, 2021 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Mexico | |
| Name | Guanajuato |
| Builder | Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval del Ferrol |
| Laid down | May 1934 |
| Launched | 1936 |
| Out of service | 2001 |
| Status | Museum in Boca del Río, closed due to maintenance |
| Notes | The museum is currently named Museo Naval Interactivo Cañonero Guanajuato C-07 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Gunboat |
| Displacement | 1,300 t (1,300 long tons) |
| Length | 80.5 m (264 ft) |
| Beam | 11.5 m (38 ft) |
| Draft | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Speed | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Armament |
|
The ship was commissioned by the Mexican government between 1931 and 1933 from the Spanish shipyard Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval del Ferrol (also known as Astillero El Ferrol),[2] along with the transport ship Durango, gunboats Querétaro and Potosí and ten coastguards.[3] The Guanajuato was laid down in May 1934 and delivered into service in 1936. Although it was initially planned as a warship, during the Second World War the Guanajuato served as a convoy escort in Central America.[4]
During 1966 and 1967, the gunboat was used as sail training for the Heroica Escuela Naval Militar.[4][5] Along the two years, the ship travelled to Mexico, Brasil, Argentina, Chile and Peru.[5] The Guanajuato's last navigation with the Navy was in 1997,[2] being retired from service in 2001.[4]
Present day
In 2007, the Guanajuato was opened to the public as the Museo Naval Interactivo Cañonero Guanajuato C-07 (Naval Interactive Museum Cañonero Guanajuato C-07), the first floating museum of Veracruz and Latin America.[4] The museum included 16 different exhibits, presenting how the ship looked and worked during the 1920s and 1930s.[1]
Lack of maintenance and a possible sinking of the Guanajuato led to the closing of the museum and the beginning of a maintenance project of the gunboat.[6] Among the proposed repairs were the installation of concrete base that would settle the Guanajuato in the river, rather than floating in the shore. The maintenance came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
According to some reports, the ship, in worsening condition, was scrapped in December 2022.[8]
- "Museo Buque Cañonero C-07 Guanajuato". Veracruz Turismo (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-27.
- "MUSEO CAÑONERO GUANAJUATO - MEXICO". www.histarmar.com.ar. Archived from the original on 2008-04-14. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
- Armada de México, Secretaría de Marina (2018). Logros y Transformaciones de la Secretaría de Marina-Armada de México 1821-2018 (PDF). p. 82. ISBN 978-607-8148-27-1.
- "Museo Naval Interactivo Cañonero Guanajuato C-07". Secretaría de Cultura/Sistema de Información Cultural (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-27.
- "Buques Escuela de la Secretaría de Marina" (PDF). Armada de México. 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-01.
- Xalapa, Diario de. "Se hunde el buque Guanajuato; cerraron su acceso al público". Diario de Xalapa | Noticias Locales, Policiacas, sobre México, Veracruz, y el Mundo. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
- "Un enorme reto, el rescate del buque Guanajuato". INFO7 (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-28.
- jwh1975 (2022-12-11). "Mexico's cañoneros after WWII". wwiiafterwwii.
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