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Argentinean Submarine ARA San Juan is lost with 37 men on board.

16K views 54 replies 27 participants last post by  DeepSeaDiver 
#1 ·
As per: https://www.clarin.com/politica/bus...o-armada-mantiene-hermetismo_0_H19WxynkG.html

I have translated the newspaper article in the link as follows:

Looking for the Submarine San Juan, Navy confirmed that this one has not been found, as leaked out

The ship would have suffered a technical failure Wednesday morning. There are 37 people on board.

A rescue operation arranged by the Naval Marine Traffic Command tried to locate an Argentine submarine since last night, with which contact was lost since Wednesday.

The ship "ARA San Juan", which carried out surveillance exercises in the exclusive economic zone, at the height of Puerto Madryn, would have suffered more than 36 hours ago a failure and subsequent fire in the battery bank, the system that stores the energy electric on board

That would be the reason why the contact between the crew was interrupted (37 people, including eight officers) and the Naval Base of Puerto Belgrano.

"The submarine was not found," Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said amid versions that said he was already located and being transported to a port.

The spokesman's statements broke the secrecy that remained since last night, when the news transcended. "The last communication was on Wednesday," he said and said a search plan for the submarine was deployed.

"The version of the fire is not official information, there could have been a technical failure," Balbi said. "We still do not have communication," he said.

In order to detect the location of the ship, a search and rescue procedure was arranged with the participation of two corvettes and an army plane to track the area.

The "ARA San Juan" (S-42) is a submarine type TR-1700 manufactured in Germany. It was incorporated into the national Navy in 1985. It is conventional electric diesel propulsion and snorkeling system, designed for attacks against surface forces, submarines, merchant traffic and mining operations.

From 2007 to 2014, the submarine abandoned its station at the Mar del Plata naval base for its so-called "half-life" repair, in order to extend its useful life for another 30 years.

Between the carried out works the replacing and integral repair of the 960 elements of their batteries was realized, area where this Wednesday could originate the fault.

My apologies for any mistaken made.

Regards

Tomi.
 
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#3 ·
For Exclusive Economic Zone, I take it to mean territorial waters.
If the boat was at the same latitude as Puerto Madryn then there would be no claimed 'extended area' of Las Malvinas to worry about.

Hopefully then not too far out in the ocean.

Days without contact does sound bad though.
 
#18 ·
And the following article appeared in the argentinean newspaper La Nación:

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/2084923-n...o-ara-san-juan

Submarino ARA San Juan: la Armada confirmó un "evento violento consistente con una explosión" y continúa la búsqueda

Submarine ARA San Juan: the Navy confirmed a "violent event consistent with an explosion" and the search continues

El vocero de la fuerza, el capitán Enrique Balbi, dijo que recibieron esa información a través del embajador argentino en Austria, Rafael Grossi

The spokesman of the force, Captain Enrique Balbi, said that they received this information through the Argentine ambassador in Austria, Rafael Grossi

A ocho días de la desaparición del submarino ARA San Juan, el vocero de la Armada Argentina, Enrique Balbi, aseguró hoy que el Gobierno recibió información a través del embajador argentino en Austria, Rafael Grossi, de que "hubo un evento anómalo, singular, corto, violento y no nuclear, consistente con una explosión" en la zona del último contacto del navío.

Eight days after the disappearance of the submarine ARA San Juan, the spokesman of the Argentine Navy, Enrique Balbi, assured today that the Government received information through the Argentine ambassador in Austria, Rafael Grossi, that "there was an anomalous, singular event, short, violent and non-nuclear, consistent with an explosion "in the area of the last contact of the ship.

"Se recibió una información sobre un evento anómalo, singular, corto, violento y no nuclear, consistente con una explosión", apuntó. Balbi dijo que la novedad "coincide" con el dato aportado ayer por la agencia internacional Ismerlo, especializada en el rescate de submarinos siniestrados, sobre el registro de un "ruido" a apenas 30 millas de la última localización del navío.

We received information about an anomalous, singular, short, violent and non-nuclear event, consistent with an explosion," he said. Balbi said the novelty "coincides" with the data provided yesterday by the international agency Ismerlo, specializing in the rescue of sinister submarines, on the record of a "noise" just 30 miles from the last location of the ship.

Balbi dijo que la novedad "coincide" con el dato aportado ayer por la agencia internacional Ismerlo, especializada en el rescate de submarinos siniestrados, sobre el registro de un "ruido" a apenas 30 millas de la última localización del navío.

Balbi said this news "matches" with the data provided yesterday by the international agency Ismerlo, specializing in the rescue of sinister submarines, abot the register of a "noise" just 30 miles from the last location of the ship.

El hallazgo de la "anomalía hidroacústica" obligó, anoche, al envío de buques con capacidad de sonares y telefonía subacuática y dos aeronaves de Estados Unidos y Brasil, para que verifiquen si allí se encontraba el ARA San Juan.

The finding of the "hydroacoustic anomaly" forced, last night, the sending of vessels with sonar and underwater telephony capacity and two aircraft from the United States and Brazil, to verify if the ARA San Juan was there.

"Los dos informes dan casi el mismo punto y casi el mismo área. Estamos hablando de un área de 125 kilómetros de radio", precisó.

"The two reports give almost the same point and almost the same area, we are talking about an area of 125 kilometers of radius," he said.

La ubicación registrada del ARA San Juan en su última comunicación había sido el golfo San Jorge, a 432 kilómetros de la costa (240 millas náuticas), al sudeste de la península Valdés, en Chubut.

The registered location of ARA San Juan in its last communication was the San Jorge Gulf, 432 kilometers from the coast (240 nautical miles), southeast of the Valdés peninsula, in Chubut.

"No sabemos la causa que produjo en ese lugar, en esa fecha, un evento de estas características", remarcó el vocero de la fuerza.
"We do not know the cause that produced in that place, on that date, an event of these characteristics," remarked the spokesman of the force.

Balbi señaló que continúa el operativo para dar con el San Juan: "En consecuencia, seguimos buscando. Hasta tener evidencia concreta de dónde está el submarino y nuestros 44 tripulantes". Y añadió: "En cuando a cualquier hipótesis o conjetura, hasta que no tengamos evidencia certera, no podemos afirmar ninguna afirmación concluyente, valga la redundancia".

Balbi said the operation continues to find the San Juan: "As a result, we continue to search, until we have concrete evidence of where the submarine and our 44 crew members are." He added: "As for any hypothesis or conjecture, until we have accurate evidence, we can not affirm any conclusive statement, worth the redundancy."

El nuevo parte de la Armada generó indignación entre los familiares de los 44 tripulantes. "Son unos desgraciados, nos mintieron", aseveró Itatí Leguizamón, esposa del cabo primero Germán Oscar Suárez.

The new information of the Navy generated indignation among the relatives of the 44 crew members. "They are miserable, they lied to us," said Itatí Leguizamón, wife of Corporal Germán Oscar Suárez.



El ARA San Juan es un submarino de ataque construido en Alemania en 1985. En 2004 se le realizó una reparación denominada "de media vida". Un comunicado de aquel momento afirmaba que los arreglos extenderían la vida del navío por 30 años.

The ARA San Juan is an attack submarine built in Germany in 1985. In 2004 a repair called "half life" was made. A statement from that time stated that the arrangements would extend the life of the ship for 30 years.

Very sad news, if confirmed.

Tomi.
 
#19 ·
The sad fact is Argentina does not have the resources to operate a navy any more, hasn't for 30 years so all ships, subs and aircraft of their airforce if we're honest must be considered to be unsea/air worthy. They haven't for example, bought a single new aircraft for their AF since 1982..... Brave lads and lasses, god bless.
 
#25 ·
Ok, thanks for that. I would have thought opening up the pressure hull of an old submarine and then putting it back together was very specialised work. But I'm no expert on subs. Perhaps we should be grateful they didn't retro - nuclear it. But that's not much compensation for the bereaved families.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Las reparaciones y mantenimiento del submarino para prolongar por 30 años más su vida útil fueron efectuadas por un astillero en Buenos Aires por ser así mucho más económicas o lisa y llananamente más baratas, la pregunta del millón de dolares en esta situación es, vino personal técnico del astillero alemán a supervisar toda esta operación?

The repairs and maintenance of the submarine to prolong her useful life for 30 years were carried out by a shipyard in Buenos Aires for being so much cheaper that to carry out all this operation in Germany, the question of the million dollars in this situation is, did technical personnel of the German shipyard come to Argentina to supervise all this operation? I personly think that the answer is self explanatory.

Regards

Tomi.
 
#28 ·
I certainly don't want to question the quality of the work without more knowledge, but there is certainly little room for error with regard to submarines.

The Kursk, Thresher, Scorpion and a host of others over decades clearly shows the almost unimaginably difficult conditions these vessels operate under.

I can only feel heart break for the families of those lost. Without wanting to sound callous, let's hope it was quick.
 
#30 ·
Excellent film. I've always been fascinated by submarines. If you think about it, submariners are the first kinds of astronauts, although I suppose they should be called aquanauts (please substitute a better word for it if you can.)

They go into a totally hostile environment (which all those members of this site will be aware of, from the top anyway) where there is no room for error.

Modern nuclear subs are really quite frightening. Think about this, a modern strategic nuclear submarine carries more firepower than all the bombs and shells fired throughout World War Two and World War One combined. Whatever way you look at that, it is utterly mind boggling.

Remember that adage from the Cold War (which now seems a bit dated, there's a thought :eek: ) 'The three most powerful men in the world. The President of the USA, the Premier of the USSR, and the Captain of a strategic nuclear submarine.'

All this achieved in the space of less than a century. Pretty scary stuff in anybody's book.
 
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