ARA Santa Fe
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| |
| Career | Image:Naval Jack of Argentina.svg |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 1 January 1944 |
| Launched: | 19 November 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 19 March 1945 as USS Catfish; 1971 as ARA Santa Fe |
| Decommissioned: | 1982 |
| Fate: | captured by British during Falklands War and scuttled |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement, Surfaced: Submerged: | 1,526 tons (1550 t), 2,424 tons (2460 t) |
| Length: | 311.8 ft (95.0 m) |
| Beam: | 27.3 ft (8.3 m) |
| Draft: | 15.3 ft (4.6 m) |
| Depth limit: | 400 ft (120 m) |
| Speed, Surfaced: Submerged: | 20.25 knots (37 km/h) 8.75 knots (16 km/h) |
| Propulsion: | four 5400 hp (4.0 MW) diesel engines, four 2740 hp (2.0 MW) electric motors, two propellers |
| Submerged Endurance: | 48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) |
| Patrol Endurance: | 75 days |
| Range: | 11,000 nmi. (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 66 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 10 x 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes, (six forward, four aft), 24 torpedoes, 1 x 5 in (127 mm) 25 calibre deck gun, four machine guns |
The ARA Santa Fe was a submarine in the Argentine Navy from 1971 to 1982.
The submarine was built during the Second World War by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics and was launched on November 19, 1944. Commissioned into the US Navy, and named USS Catfish (SS-339), the submarine entered service in March 1945. As Catfish the submarine took part in the closing stages of the Pacific war against Japan. Afterwards she served in the US 7th fleet in the Pacific Ocean seeing service in the Korean War. In 1971, Catfish was decommissioned and sold to Argentina where she was renamed the ARA Santa Fe.
In 1982, the Santa Fe took part in the Falklands War<ref name="naming">The Falkland Islands are referred to by the ISO designation of Falkland Islands (Malvinas). Therefore the war is sometimes called Malvinas War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas)</ref> alongside the ARA San Luis, the only two submarines in the Argentine Navy. The Santa Fe supported the Argentine invasion of South Georgia by landing marines on the island and stayed on station in the area as a large British task force approached the South Atlantic.
On April 23 the Royal Navy ships, HMS Brilliant; HMS Antrim; HMS Plymouth; and the ice patrol boat HMS Endurance were sent to retake the island of South Georgia with a detachment of Royal Marines and Special Boat Service commandos. The threat of Santa Fe forced the British ships to keep a distance as they landed troops on the island.
However on April 25 the Santa Fe was spotted by Westland Wessex HAS.Mk.3 helicopter from HMS Antrim, and attacked with depth charges. HMS Plymouth launched a Westland Wasp HAS.Mk.1 helicopter, and HMS Brilliant launched a Westland Lynx HAS.Mk.2. The Lynx launched a torpedo, and strafed with its pintle GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun), the Wessex also fired on the Santa Fe with its GPMG. The Wasp from HMS Plymouth as well as two other Wasps launched from HMS Endurance fired AS-12 ASM anti-ship missiles at the submarine scoring hits. Santa Fe was damaged badly enough to prevent her from submerging. The crew abandoned the submarine at the jetty at King Edward Point on South Georgia and surrendered to the British forces.
Whilst under guard by a British Royal Marine, engineer Petty Officer Felix Artuso was mistakenly taken to be attempting to sabotage the vessel (due to a miss-communcation error) and was shot. He is now buried in Grytviken Cemetery.
Later on booby traps were disabled and removed, and Santa Fe was scuttled by the British.
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