Bombardment Garden

The Bombardment of Mar del Plata took place on 19 September 1955, when Argentine naval forces, led by the cruiser ARA 9 de Julio, along with four destroyers and a corvette, shelled multiple places around the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina, in the context of the Revolución Libertadora, a major uprising against the government of Juan Domigo Perón. The targets included the port, the barracks of the army's Escuela de Artilleria Antiaérea (Antiaircraft Artillery School) and the surroundings of Mar del Plata's naval base, which was besieged by troops of the Argentine Army and armed civilians loyal to the government. Stray gunfire also damaged some civilian property around the port. The naval action was conceived with the primary objective of destroying the fuel depots neighboring Mar del Plata's port, thereby seeking to impede the loyalist advance toward the Puerto Belgrano naval base. Nevertheless, the engagement resulted in the landing of rebel naval troops and the subsequent loyalist withdrawal, placing the city under rebel control. The majority of historians credit this event with Perón's decision to resign.