Having found to my great dismay that the only Colombian vessels of any kind featured at SB are a collection of drug runners (why we should have those represented defies my comprehension, however...) I resolved to attempt to rectify that lack of representation by drawing the first modern warships for the Colombian navy, the super destroyers of the Swedish Halland-class.
These ships, easily the most powerful (though far from the biggest!) conventionally armed destroyers of their era (though the twenty-some earlier French Mogadors and Fantasques handsomely beat them with regards to fire power!) were derived from an order obtained by the two leading naval yards of Sweden, Kockums and Götaverken, in Aug. 1954 for the building of two units for the Armada de la República de Colombia (ARC). It concerned, at the time, the relatively small Landskaps-Class destroyer-type, but later was changed to the far more capable Halland-Class type.
The ARC required a third 120mm twin turret, which thus replaced the forward 57 mm twin mounting. Also the Rbot 315 SSM was deleted since it was not cleared for export. Further the Colombians were not overly concerned with fitting such a strong AA armament as the Swedish units had, so only four single 40 mm guns in open mounts were fitted. Lastly the ARC, to compensate for the additional weight of the extra 120mm turret omitted one quad TT mount and one depth charge unit at the prow.
The Vessels' forward superstructure was slightly enlarged to suit Colombian requirements; also the aft superstructure was completely rebuilt. Other visible changes compared to the Swedish half-sisters were also implemented, resulting in a balanced, handsome and most powerful profile.
The first unit, 20 de Julio (Veinte de Julio), D-05 was commissioned in September, 1958. The second unit, 7 de Agosto (Siete de Agosto), D-06 was commissioned one month later and both sailed to their new homeland with a mixed Swedish-Colombian crew. They served, largely unaltered for almost thirty years, till their decommissioning in 1986.
I thus present the class as represented by the ARC 7 de Agosto (D-06) as of 1958:
![[ img ]](http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx161/Bezobrazov/CO-DD-Halland-Class-20_de_Julio-0.png)
