ARA Santa Cruz (S-41)
TR-1700 submarine ARA Santa Cruz in Ushuaia | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Argentina | |
| Name | ARA Santa Cruz |
| Builder | Thyssen Nordseewerke, Emden, Germany |
| Yard number | 463 |
| Launched | 28 September 1982 |
| Commissioned | 12 October 1984 |
| Status | Laid up |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | TR-1700-class submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 66 m (217 ft) |
| Beam | 7.3 m (24 ft) |
| Draught | 6.5 m (21 ft) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range | 12,000 nmi (22,000 km) at 8 kn (15 km/h) surfaced |
| Endurance | 30 days |
| Complement | 26 |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
| Armament |
|
ARA Santa Cruz (S-41) is a member of the TR-1700 class of diesel-electric submarines of the Argentine Navy.
Design
Santa Cruz was built by Thyssen Nordseewerke.[1][2] It has a single-hull design, with a lightweight bow and stern and a watertight superstructure in the central part. Its sister vessel, ARA San Juan was the only other one of its type, though the program originally sought to produce a larger number of submarines.[3]
The TR-1700-class was designed for long-range operations in the South Atlantic, with a strong emphasis on high submerged speed, endurance, and deep-diving capability compared to earlier Argentine submarines.
Santa Cruz was equipped with diesel-electric propulsion, allowing extended submerged operations using battery power, and was considered among the fastest conventional submarines of its era when submerged.
Santa Cruz received its mid-life modernization at Arsenal de Marinha, Rio de Janeiro Brazil between September 1999 and 2001.[4] The work involved the replacement of the engines, batteries, and sonar.
The modernization was intended to restore the submarine’s original performance levels and extend its operational life, enabling continued service into the 2010s.
History
Santa Cruz was built by Thyssen Nordseewerke and completed on 18 October 1984. [5] [2]
Following commissioning, Santa Cruz entered service with the Argentine Navy’s Submarine Force and was based at Mar del Plata, the navy’s principal submarine base.
During the late Cold War period, the submarine participated in routine patrols, training deployments, and multinational naval exercises, contributing to Argentina’s undersea warfare capability in the South Atlantic.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Santa Cruz was regarded as one of the most capable assets of the Argentine Navy, frequently used for crew training and operational readiness exercises.
On 15 June 2014, Santa Cruz ran aground in an accident near Buenos Aires.[6] She was being towed to Tandanor shipyard for maintenance, and was unlocked without damage.[7]
No injuries were reported as a result of the grounding, and the incident did not result in structural damage to the pressure hull.
Mid-life extension
In September 2016, Santa Cruz started a renovation and life extension program at the Tandanor shipyard in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The work was to include changing all 960 batteries, periscope and snorkel maintenance, revision of engines, and overall system upgrades.[8]
The refit was intended to return Santa Cruz to operational service and extend her service life by approximately 10 to 15 years.
Renovation work was halted on 15 November 2017 when sister ship San Juan imploded and subsequently sunk, to determine whether the cause of the incident was due to a failure that could be repeated on Santa Cruz.
The suspension formed part of a wider safety review of the TR-1700-class conducted by the Argentine Navy following the loss of San Juan.
Work was restarted in February 2019, from where it was expected to take two years to return Santa Cruz to service in 2021.[9] However, by the end of 2020 the refit of Santa Cruz had been reported cancelled leaving the navy without an operational submarine.[10][11]
As a result of the cancellation, Santa Cruz remained laid up at Tandanor, marking the effective end of Argentina’s operational submarine capability at that time.
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Latinoamericana, Comunidad Submarinista. "Reparación de Media Vida Submarino Tipo TR1700 ARA San Juan S-42 (Segunda Parte)". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ a b Miller, David (2002). The Illustrated Directory of Submarines. Zenith Press. p. 480. ISBN 0-7603-1345-8.
- ^ Castro, Pablo (5 March 2009). "Reparación de Media Vida Submarino Tipo TR1700 ARA San Juan S-42 (Primera Parte)". www.elSnorkel.com (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
- ^ "Santa Cruz class Patrol submarine". Archived from the original on 2008-10-14. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ^ Argentine submarines to Brazil and Chile, in Spanish Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Argentine Navy active duty diesel-electric attack submarine runs aground" Archived 2014-07-11 at the Wayback Machine, Asian Defence News. (accessed 22 June 2014)
- ^ "Un submarino de la Armada quedó varado en el canal de ingreso al puerto de Dock Sud" Archived 2014-07-11 at the Wayback Machine, InfoBae 17/06/2016 (in Spanish), Argentina.. (accessed 05 November 2017)
- ^ "http://www.telam.com.ar/notas/201609/161809-tandanor-renovacion-submarino-santa-cruz.html"Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, Telam 05/09/2016 (in Spanish), Argentina. (accessed 05 November 2017)
- ^ Rivas, Santiago (19 February 2019). "Argentina restarts work on ARA Santa Cruz". Jane's 360. Buenos Aires. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ "Estiman que la llegada del próximo submarino operativo para Argentina demoraría de cinco a seis años". 8 September 2020.
- ^ "A. Rossi (Argentina): "Argentina tiene que tener una Fuerza Aérea con aviones supersónicos" (2) - Noticias Infodefensa América". 23 December 2020.
Further reading
- Amendolara Bourdette, Ignacio (2005). Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005-2006 (in Spanish and English). Buenos Aires, Argentina. ISBN 987-43-9400-5. Archived from the original on 2014-09-13. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Burzaco, Ricardo (1999). SUBMARINOS DE LA ARMADA ARGENTINA 1933 - 2000 (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Eugenio B. ISBN 9789879676417.
External links
- Santa Cruz class Patrol submarine
- Submarino de ataque (SSK) classe Santa Cruz / TR-1700
- Classe TR-1700
- (in Spanish) Argentine Navy official website - Submarine Force page (Poder Naval - Fuerza de Submarinos - Unidades Archived 2017-11-21 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 2017-02-04)
- (in Spanish) Latin-American Submariners Community website (accessed 2017-02-04)