ARA Santa Fe was an Argentine Balao-classsubmarine that was lost during the Falklands War. Built by the US during the Second World War, the ship operated in the United States Navy as USS Catfish (SS-339) until 1971 when she was transferred to the Argentine Navy. She served until 1982 when she was captured by the British at South Georgia after being seriously damaged and subsequently sank along a pier, with just her conning tower (sail) visible above the waterline. The submarine was raised, towed out of the bay and scuttled in deep water in 1985.
Catfish was launched 19 November 1944 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut; sponsored by Mrs. J. J. Crowley; and commissioned 19 March 1945.
Catfish sailed from New London 4 May 1945 for Pearl Harbor, arriving 29 June. After training and the installation of new equipment, she proceeded to Guam for special training, then departed 8 August on her first war patrol, a special mission to locate a minefield off Kyūshū. When the cease-fire order was given 15 August, she was ordered to the Yellow Sea for surface patrol and lifeguard duty. She returned to Guam 4 September, thence to the West Coast, arriving at Seattle 29 September.
Based at San Diego, Catfish operated locally on the west coast and made two cruises to the Far East during which she conducted simulated war patrols and provided services to the Seventh Fleet.
Catfish was extensively modernized in a GUPPY II conversion (August 1948–May 1949), giving her greater submerged speed and endurance. She was on another Far Eastern cruise when war broke out in Korea, already in the area, she made a reconnaissance patrol in support of the United Nations forces. Catfish returned to the States 20 October 1950 and was based in San Diego.
After that the submarine carried out training exercises with the Naval Reserve off the west coast, operated with the Canadian Forces in joint antisubmarine warfare exercises, and made several cruises to the Far East.
Catfish was decommissioned and transferred to the Argentine Navy on 1 July 1971.
Catfish was renamed ARA Santa Fe (S-21), after she was acquired by Argentina in 1971, along with her sister ship USS Chivo (SS-341) which was renamed ARA Santiago del Estero (S-22), a Balao-class GUPPY 1A submarine.[7]
Chile conflict
In the 1978 conflict between Argentina and Chile, the Argentine Submarine Force deployed all four submarines, including Santa Fe and her sister ship Santiago del Estero, which made several patrols in the conflict area. Peace was achieved on 21 December, in part due to the visit of the Pope and the diplomatic intervention of both countries, and war was avoided. All Argentine ships returned to port without any incident.[citation needed]
Falklands War
In 1982, the ship's commander was Captain Horacio Bicain.[7] In March 1982, Santa Fe participated in an exercise called Cimarron, together with the Uruguayan Navy. Her sister ship, Santiago del Estero, was no longer in operation. She took part in the Falklands War (2 April–14 June 1982) alongside San Luis, a German Type 209, which was the other operational Argentine submarine.[8]
Santa Fe supported the landings on 2 April as part of Operation Rosario, transporting divers from the Agrupacion de Buzos Tacticos to Playa Roja - Yorke Bay - and marking the beach for the main amphibious force, completing this objective at 3am; the main assault at Playa Roja began at 6.30am. As part of Operation Rosario, the ARA Santa Fe divers also seized the lighthouse at Cape Pembroke. Once the mission was complete, the submarine returned to Argentina, arriving on 7 April.[8]
On 12 April, Santa Fe was ordered to ferry a party of Argentine marines and supplies to Grytviken, in South Georgia. The island of South Georgia is situated 784 NM southeast of Falklands, 1,300 NM east of South America, 2,600 NM west of Africa and 720 NM north of Antarctica. Santa Fe departed from Mar del Plata in the early hours of 16 April, being armed with WWII-vintage Mk 14 and Cold War Mk 37 torpedoes, and also carrying supplies for the Argentine garrison that had been in the island since 3 April.[9] On 24 April, the submarine reached the island and began unloading supplies. Members of the Argentine garrison had salvaged a crippled BAS launch, which was used to unload the cargo.[10] Among other supplies were Bantam anti-tank missiles and a recoilless rifle; heavy equipment that had to be maneuvered through the hatch by hand, and then to the small boat, which carried out three trips ferrying troops and supplies. This part of the mission ended at 5:44am on 25 April, and then Santa Fe quickly departed, trying to reach ocean depth deep enough to safely submerge.[11]
On 23 April, the Royal Navy ships HMSBrilliant, HMSAntrim, HMSPlymouth and the ice patrol ship HMSEndurance had been sent to retake the island of South Georgia, with a detachment of Royal Marines and Special Boat Squadroncommandos. This was Operation Paraquet. Around 6am on 25 April, after leaving Grytviken, Santa Fe was detected on radar by Lieutenant Chris Parry, the observer of the Westland Wessex HAS.3 anti-submarine helicopter from Antrim, and attacked with depth charges. This attack caused extensive internal damage, including the splitting of a ballast tank, the dismounting of electrical components and shocks to the machinery. As the submarine struggled to return to Grytviken on the surface, Plymouth launched a Westland Wasp HAS.1 helicopter, and Brilliant launched a Westland Lynx HAS.2. The Lynx dropped a Mk46 torpedo, which failed to strike home, but strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted 7.62mm L7 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG). The Wessex also fired on Santa Fe with its GPMG. The Wasp from HMS Plymouth and two other Wasps launched from Endurance fired AS-12air-to-surfaceanti-ship missiles at the submarine. Due to the fiberglass material of the ship's sail, the missiles passed from side to side. Corporal Alberto Macias was severely wounded, later having a leg amputated. MG fire was used to respond the attack from the ship as it retreated back to Grytviken. Santa Fe was fitted with doors at the sail, from which to shoot while navigating on the surface. It was a feature that most American submariners considered unnecessary, as it was unlikely to be used in modern warfare.[7]
Once ashore, Santa Fe's crew and the Argentine garrison at South Georgia, still under attack, attempted to fire their rifles and machine guns and a Bantam anti-tank missile at the aircraft, which missed. The Argentine boat was damaged badly enough to prevent her from navigating. The British aircraft decided to end the attack and retreat to their ships. The crew abandoned the listing submarine at Grytviken pier.[12][13] At 5pm on 25 April the Grytviken garrison commander surrendered, after being warned by the main guns of the ships HMS Plymouth (F-126) and HMS Antrim (D-18); there were also several helicopters in the area, transporting SAS and SBS commandos to strategic points. Lt. Alfredo Astiz and fifteen of his men, at Port Leith, initially refused to surrender on April 25, but did so on the morning of 26 April.[14][15]
Reclamation and disposal
A Royal Navy officer told the Santa Fe's captain, Cpt. Horacio Bicain, that they would have to work together to move the submarine from the main pier in Grytviken to a whaler quay, about 2,000 yards away. To accomplish the move, a reduced crew was assigned, Cpt. Bicain being one of them. The British assigned some guards. While under guard on the submarine by a British Royal Marine, Argentine Navy Petty Officer Felix Artuso was mistakenly shot dead on 26 April while a prisoner of war. His body was buried at Grytviken Cemetery.[16][17] Artuso was shot because it was believed that he was trying to sabotage the vessel.[14] According to some members of her crew, in the middle of the confusion that followed the incident, a number of valves and hatchways were left open, the submarine flooded and sank alongside the pier, with only her combat-damaged conning tower showing above the surface.[18][19] Artuso is the only Argentine buried in the Georgias, and the only Argentine submariner who died in a war.[7]
Before the conflict ended on 14 June, the crew of ARA Santa Fe had been taken as POWs to Ascension Island, from where a Red Cross-chartered airliner flew them to Uruguay. The half-sunken submarine remained in Grytviken. During June 1982, tugs dragged it to a shallow inlet called Moraine Fjord, with part of the sail still visible. The submarine was considered to be worthless as a war prize because she was non-standard, obsolete, badly damaged and too expensive to repair. In 1983, a first attempt to dispose of the ship was made, but a storm came on and it sank completely in slightly deeper water, where it remained for over a year. However, the submarine was still loaded with torpedoes, there was oil leaking from it, acidic electrolyte in the batteries, and lead-based paint flaking off. As a result, in 1985, the British Ministry of Defence arranged the final disposal of the ship, Operation Okehampton. This costly operation involved the specialist ship MV Salvageman and the government-owned ship RMAS Goosander, divers and special equipment in order to lift the submarine to the surface. The submarine was temporarily raised on 11 February, the contaminating elements were removed over a period of eight days, and the submarine was towed into deep water and scuttled north of South Georgia, about 5 miles out, on 20 February 1985.[7]
HMS Battleaxe was a Type 22 frigate of the British Royal Navy. She was sold to the Brazilian Navy on 30 April 1997 and renamed Rademaker.
HMS Brilliant was a Type 22 frigate of the Royal Navy.
The Argentine Navy is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force.
Grytviken is a hamlet on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly a whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, considered the best harbour on the island. The location's name, meaning "pot bay", was coined in 1902 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition and documented by the surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson, after the expedition found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. Settlement was re-established on 16 November 1904 by Norwegian Antarctic explorer Carl Anton Larsen on the long-used site of former whaling settlements.
HMS Antrim was a County-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy launched on 19 October 1967. In the Falklands War, she was the flagship for the recovery of South Georgia, participating in the first ever anti-submarine operation successfully conducted exclusively by helicopters. In 1984, she was commissioned into the Chilean Navy, and renamed Almirante Cochrane.
This article describes the composition and actions of the Argentine naval forces in the Falklands War. For a list of naval forces from the United Kingdom, see British naval forces in the Falklands War.
ARA San Luis (S-32) was a Type 209 diesel-powered submarine of the Argentine Navy. Built in Germany, San Luis has a displacement of 1,285 tonnes and was commissioned in 1974. The submarine operated against the Royal Navy during the Falklands War without any noticeable success, but survived a number of anti-submarine sweeps carried out by British frigates. San Luis was struck in 1997 after an incomplete overhaul; as of 2020, its hull remained stored at Domecq Garcia Shipyard (Tandanor).
HMS Plymouth was a Royal Navy Rothesay-class frigate. In 1982, Plymouth was one of the first Royal Navy ships to arrive in the South Atlantic during the Falklands War.
USS Lamprey (SS-372), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the lamprey, any of certain eel-like aquatic vertebrates.
HMS Yarmouth was the first modified Type 12 frigate of the Rothesay class to enter service with the Royal Navy.
These are some of the key weapons of the Falklands War used by both sides.
Operation Paraquet was the code name for the British military operation to recapture the island of South Georgia from Argentine military control in April 1982 at the start of the Falklands War.
HMS Endurance was a Royal Navy ice patrol vessel that served from 1967 to 1991. She came to public notice when she was involved in the Falklands War of 1982. The final surrender of the war, in the South Sandwich Islands, took place aboard Endurance.
Leith Harbour, also known as Port Leith, was a whaling station on the northeast coast of South Georgia, established and operated by Christian Salvesen Ltd, Edinburgh. The station was in operation from 1909 until 1965. It was the largest of seven whaling stations, situated near the mouth of Stromness Bay.
Several ships of the Argentine Navy have been named ARA Santa Fe after the Santa Fe Province of Argentina:
USS Luiseno (ATF-156) was an Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named after the Luiseño peoples, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
British sovereignty of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is disputed by Argentina. The United Kingdom claimed South Georgia in 1775, annexed the islands in 1908, and has exercised de facto control with the exception of a brief period during the Falklands War in 1982, when the islands were partially controlled by Argentina. The dispute started in 1927 when Argentina claimed sovereignty over South Georgia, and subsequently expanded in scope with Argentina claiming the South Sandwich Islands in 1938. The islands have no indigenous population, and currently only have about 30 inhabitants.
The TR-1700 is a class of diesel-electric patrol submarines built by Thyssen Nordseewerke for the Argentine Navy in the 1980s, with two submarines completed. These ships are amongst the largest submarines built in Germany since World War II and are among the fastest diesel-electric submarines in the world. ARA San Juan was lost on 17 November 2017, leaving ARA Santa Cruz as the only remaining submarine of this class. As of 2020, the refit of Santa Cruz has been reported cancelled leaving the entire class inactive.
The invasion of South Georgia, also known as the Battle of Grytviken or Operation Georgias, took place on 3 April 1982, when Argentine Navy forces seized control of the east coast of South Georgia after overpowering a small group of Royal Marines at Grytviken. Though outnumbered, the Royal Marines shot down a helicopter and hit the Argentine corvette ARA Guerrico several times before being forced to surrender. It was one of the first episodes of the Falklands War, immediately succeeding the invasion on the Falkland Islands the day before.
↑ "La guerra que no se vió". La Nacion (in Spanish). 6 April 1997. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Luego de atracar, y aprovechando la distracción de los británicos por un incidente que le había costado la vida al suboficial Félix Artuso, tripulantes del submarino lograron burlar la guardia y abrieron disimuladamente válvulas y escotillas de la nave, provocando su hundimiento. No sólo el Santa Fe quedó así inutilizable: también el muelle.
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