San Juan (S-42)

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San Juan
The San Juan in 2017
The San Juan in 2017
Ship data
flag ArgentinaArgentina Argentina
Ship type Submarine
class TR 1700
Shipyard North Sea Works , Emden
Build number 465
Keel laying April 14, 1982
baptism June 20, 1983
Launch June 13, 1983
Commissioning November 18, 1985
Whereabouts Found on November 17, 2018 in the Atlantic near the Valdés peninsula at a depth of 907 meters.
Ship dimensions and crew
length
65.9 m ( Lüa )
width 7.3 m
Draft Max. 6.5 m
displacement surfaced: 2,150 m³
submerged: 2,350 m³
 
crew 29 men or 26 men + 6 free berths
Machine system
machine diesel-electric
Machine
performance 		4 × 1100 kW diesel engines
Machine
performance 		1 × 6600 kW - electric motor
propeller 1
Mission data submarine
Radius of action 15,000 nm
Duration of use 30 days
Diving depth, normal with 2.5-fold safety> 225 m
Top
speed
submerged 		25.0 kn
Top
speed
surfaced 		13.0 kn
Armament
Sensors
  • Radar : Thomson CSF Calypso
  • Sonar : Atlas Elektronik CSU 3/4
  • Sonar: Thomson Sintra DUUX-5

The ARA San Juan (S-42) was a submarine belonging to the Armada de la República Argentina (ARA) that disappeared in the South Atlantic in 2017 and the wreck of which was only located on the seabed a year later. It was the second unit of the submarine class TR 1700 built in Germany for Argentina . The class is also referred to as the Santa Cruz class after the type ship . The boat was named after the Argentine province of San Juan .

The San Juan disappeared on or after November 15, 2017 under previously unexplained circumstances off the Argentine coast in the South Atlantic on the way from Ushuaia to her home port Mar del Plata . In his last radio message, the commander reported a smoldering fire in the area of ​​the bow batteries. The Argentine government initially stopped the search in January 2018, but after protests by relatives, commissioned the US company Ocean Infinity to continue the search in August 2018. A diving robot pinpointed in November 2018 parts of the ARA San Juan in 907 feet of water off the Patagonia upstream Valdés Peninsula .

history

The San Juan was launched at Thyssen Nordseewerke in Emden in June 1983 . In November 1985 she was put into service with the Argentine Navy and transferred to Mar del Plata as her future home port. From there it served for over three decades. The range of the submarine was given as 15,000  nm at 5  kn using a diesel engine (snorkeling trip) and 300 nm at 10 kn and 70 nm at 20 kn using electric motors (deeply submerged). In November 2017, the boat disappeared under previously unexplained circumstances on a routine mission in the South Atlantic.

Disappearance of the San Juan 2017

Loss of contact before Argentina

In November 2017, the San Juan set out from Ushuaia on a routine voyage off the coast of Patagonia. The application was considered "illegal fishing at the outer edge of the economic zone of Argentina in the South Atlantic," reported on 25 November orf.at . The ship, with a crew of 44 on board, including Eliana Maria Krawczyk, the first female submarine officer in South America, last reported on November 15, 2017 at 7:30 a.m. from a position 240  nautical miles off the coast. It reported an appearance due to a short circuit in the power supply. The crew was then instructed to change course towards home base Mar del Plata, where they should have arrived on November 19. Since it had not reported again within 48 hours as prescribed, the Argentine armed forces announced the boat as missing on November 17, 2017 and an international search began. This was coordinated by the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO, German for International Liaison Office for Submarine Evacuation and Rescue ), a resident of England after the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk 17 years earlier department of NATO .

Find the boat

The search was made difficult in the first few days by poor visibility and weather conditions (wind and waves) in the sea area to be investigated. Three ships with radar probes left and followed the route the San Juan should have traveled. As of November 19, more than a dozen planes and ships from Argentina, the United States, Great Britain, Chile and Brazil had participated in the search. On the part of the USA, a Lockheed P-3 -Orion from NASA and a Boeing P-8 -Poseidon from the US Navy were used. The support of the United Kingdom that the icebreaker HMS Protector and the Falkland Islands stationed C-130 Lockheed Hercules sent to search, provided a certain amount of attention, as Argentina and the United Kingdom both claim the Falkland Islands for himself and in 1982 a short, but had waged a bloody war for them.

On November 18, 2017, seven short attempts at satellite phone calls to various military stations were recorded over a period of five hours , which were initially suspected to have come from the submarine. The use of a satellite phone would have been a sign of the submarine's appearance. The Navy tried together with the operator Iridium Communications Inc (IRDM.O) to trace the origin of the signals; on November 20, she announced that the signals did not come from the satellite phone of the missing submarine.

On November 23, 2017, a spokesman for the Argentine Navy announced that information had been received from the USA about an explosion noise, the origin of which is believed to be in the area of ​​the planned route of the lost submarine. Two and a half hours before this event, there was a final radio contact with the submarine, in which it was announced that there had been a short circuit in the battery system. The damage had already been repaired. The wording of the radio message from November 15th was only published on November 28th. "Sea water has penetrated the ventilation system in the battery tank no. 3 short circuit and smoldering caused," it says in the published transcription at orf.at . The bow batteries are out of order, the submarine continues to navigate with the stern batteries.

On November 25, international media reported that Russia had sent the submersible Pantera Plus with a diving depth of up to 1000 meters below the sea surface and the reconnaissance ship Jantar (with two immersion bodies) to search at an even greater depth in the search area. At this point in time, the USA already had two underwater vehicles in use for sonar searches. One of them, the Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System (SRDRS), has a maximum diving depth of 600 m. Brazil participated with the rescue ship Felinto Perry (K-11). Around 27 ships, including the Argentine oceanographic ship Victor Angelescu (IMO 9798820, built in 2017, length 53 m) and more than 30 aircraft from a total of 13 countries - in addition to Argentina from Chile, Great Britain and the USA - were involved in the search.

On November 30, 2017, the Argentine Navy ended the search for survivors and officially declared the crew of the San Juan to be dead. However, the search for the submarine was still ongoing to investigate the disappearance. The search for the wreck was stopped in January 2018.

Relatives of the 44 crew members have demonstrated in Buenos Aires every month since then for a continuation of the search. In the Argentine winter at the end of June 2018, some relatives chained themselves to the government palace to support their demands. In August 2018, the government accepted an offer from the specialist company Ocean Infinity to search for the boat for up to 60 days at your own financial risk. Only in the case of the location of the San Juan should Argentina pay 7.5 million US dollars to the company according to the agreement .

On November 17, 2018, two days after the first anniversary of the San Juan's disappearance and shortly before the 60-day deadline agreed for the search, the Argentine Navy announced that Ocean Infinity had located the submarine. The site is located about 460 kilometers from the Gulf of San Jorge and south of Mar del Plata , at a depth of 907 m. While relatives of the missing people demanded that the wreck be salvaged, Defense Minister Oscar Aguad pointed out that there was probably no technology that would allow the boat with an estimated weight of 2300 tons to be lifted.

Legal investigation and suspicion against German companies

On November 30, 2017, family members of crew members filed a lawsuit against the Navy. In their opinion the cause and cause of the sinking of the San Juan were covered up and the public disinformed. In addition, it should be clarified whether the boat, which was 34 years old at the time of the accident and had been overhauled several times, was still technically capable of carrying out a 3000 km long patrol.

The Tagesschau reported in December 2017 that German companies are said to have paid bribes during the general overhaul of the San Juan . According to information from the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation , the companies did not adequately document which work was carried out. The suspicion had been expressed by the chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee of the Argentine parliament. The boat, built in Emden in 1983, had been completely overhauled by 2011. German companies were involved in this repair; among other things, the batteries were replaced. In his last radio message, the commander of S 42, Pedro Martín Fernández, reported a smoldering fire in the area of ​​the bow batteries. Water had seeped in through the snorkel and shorted out. Three hours later, hydrophones recorded an explosion in the South Atlantic .

The Argentine committee asked the German Federal Ministry of the Interior for assistance. This forwarded the request to the Ministry of Economic Affairs responsible for foreign trade. According to information from Bayerischer Rundfunk, the focus is on the German companies Ferrostaal (formerly MAN group) in Essen and EnerSys- Hawker in Hagen . Argentine agencies signed a contract with them for the delivery of 964 battery cells for 5.1 million euros. According to Bayerischer Rundfunk, Argentine politicians are certain that bribes were paid because a few years earlier the same companies had negotiated the delivery of speedboats to Argentina and Chile. This deal did not materialize, but bribes were paid anyway. These payments are on record with the German judiciary. Ferrostaal rejected all speculations about corruption in the rehabilitation of the San Juan and, in turn, attacked the Argentine Ministry of Defense. The company stated that in 2005 it only brokered a contract for the delivery of spare parts and technical support services for the batteries, while Hawker GmbH from Hagen had supplied the batteries. Hawker was the supplier of the batteries for the first product. In order to save costs, according to Ferrostaal, at the request of the Argentine Navy, the batteries were not completely replaced, only individual cells. The Navy carried out the work largely independently at its own Tandanor shipyard .

In Argentina, charges of corruption in connection with the batteries were filed as early as 2010, but the investigation was not pursued. In addition to the payment of bribes, it was obviously not documented which work the German companies carried out. It is also uncertain whether the Germans monitored and approved the battery replacement themselves.

On December 15, 2017, the Argentine Defense Minister retired the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces, Admiral Marcelo Srur.

Cause of loss and final report

The final report of the Commission of Inquiry of the Argentine Congress was published in mid-2019. It came to the conclusion that on November 14, 2017, seawater had already entered the boat's ventilation system and this triggered a short circuit in battery No. 3, which caused a fire. Although the crew reported on November 15 that the fire was under control and that they wanted to continue to periscope depth, this was the boat's last sign of life.

Commanders of the San Juan

The following table shows the commanders of the San Juan :

Rank Surname from to
Capitan de fragata Carlos Alberto Zavalla November 1985 February 1987
Capitan de fragata Alberto Valerio Pico February 1987 March 1988
Capitan de fragata Horacio Carlos Michelis March 1988 August 1989
Capitan de fragata Jorge Martin August 1989 March 1991
Capitan de fragata Rubén Pirra March 1991 February 1992
Capitan de fragata Horacio Gustavo Fusoni February 1992 February 1993
Capitan de fragata Rolando Bergallo February 1993 December 1993
Capitan de fragata Gustavo Adolfo Trama December 1993 February 1995
Capitan de fragata Ricardo Alessandrini February 1995 February 1996
Capitan de fragata Enrique Alfredo Perez February 1996 February 1998
Capitan de fragata Tomas Merino February 1998 January 2000
Capitan de fragata Guillermo Barrionuevo January 2000 February 2002
Capitan de fragata Guillermo Tibaldi February 2002 February 2003
Captain de navío Ricardo Luis Alessandrini February 2003 ?
? ... ? ? ?
Capitan de fragata Pedro Martín Fernández 2015 November 2017 (lost)

See also

literature

  • Werner Globke (ed.): Weyers Flottentaschenbuch 2011/13 , Bonn (Bernard & Graefe) 2012. ISBN 978-3-8273-2749-9 .
  • Matthias Rüb , São Paulo : Diving robots are on the move. The desperate search for the lost submarine in the Atlantic is intensified , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung v. November 27, 2017, p. 7.
  • Matthias Rüb, São Paulo: Short circuit and fire in the “San Juan” submarine. Argentine Navy veiled cause of the accident , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung v. November 29, 2017, p. 9.
  • Matthias Rüb, São Paulo: Search for submarine crew stopped , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung v. December 2, 2017, p. 9.
  • Sunken submarine located. Relief, anger and grief in Argentina , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung v. November 19, 2018, p. 7.

Web links

Commons : ARA San Juan (S-42)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Eberhard Rössler: The German submarines and their shipyards , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1990, p. 310.
  2. ↑ a b c Hannes Ewerth, Peter Neumann: Silent Fleet , 3rd edition. Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG Kiel and Yacht-Photo-Service YPS, Hamburg 2003, p. 84.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Eberhard Rössler: History of the German submarine building , Volume 2. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, p. 541.
  4. ↑ a b Hannes Ewerth, Peter Neumann: Silent Fleet , 3rd Edition. Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG Kiel and Yacht-Photo-Service YPS, Hamburg 2003, p. 82.
  5. ↑ a b New details about the wreckage of the lost submarine. In: Spiegel.de . November 17, 2018, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  6. ^ Daniel Politi, Ernesto Londoño: Search Underway for Argentine Navy Submarine With 44. In: nytimes.com . November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017 .
  7. ↑ a b Russia joins hunt for missing submarine. In: bbc.com . November 25, 2017, accessed November 25, 2017 .
  8. ^ An officer of the Italian Navy at the head of ISMERLO. In: marina.difesa.it. Marina Militare , July 17, 2015, accessed November 25, 2017 .
  9. ↑ a b Argentina: Received distress signals from missing submarine. In: FAZ.net . November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017 .
  10. ↑ a b Marcos Brindicci, Luc Cohen: Stormy weather complicates search for missing Argentine submarine. In: reuters.com . Retrieved November 19, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Daniel Politi: signal Detected From Missing Argentine Submarine as a Foreign Navies Join Search. In: nytimes.com . November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Missing sub 'reported breakdown'. In: bbc.com . November 20, 2017, accessed November 20, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Lost submarine exploded? In: tagesschau.de. November 23, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Fire caused by water in snorkel: last radio message published. In: orf.at . November 28, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Note turns out to be wrong: Probably sunken fishing trawler. In: orf.at . December 3, 2017, accessed December 3, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Russian robot is looking for a missing submarine: Support from 13 countries. In: orf.at . November 25, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017 .
  17. ↑ Search officially stopped: Marine declares submarine crew dead. In: focus.de . November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017 .
  18. ^ Three Months of Mystery: Chronology of the Disappearance and Search of the ARA San Juan - Maritime Herald. In: maritimeherald.com. February 15, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Alejandro Sanchez: Ocean Infinity selected to assist in ARA San Juan search. In: Jane's 360. Jane's Information Group , August 15, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 .
  20. ^ Ocean Infinity Commences ARA San Juan Search. In: The Maritime Executive. September 11, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Submarine San Juan: Lost in the South Atlantic. In: deutschlandfunk.de . Retrieved November 11, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Message from the Argentine Navy on their Twitter account, November 17, 2018, accessed on November 17, 2018 (Spanish).
  23. ↑ Wreckage of lost submarine discovered. In: Spiegel Online . November 17, 2018, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Detected submarine wreck: Argentina rules out recovery. In: zdf.de . November 18, 2018, accessed November 21, 2018 .
  25. ↑ La jueza Yáñez se reunió con los familiares que pidieron ser querellantes. La magistrada de Caleta Olivia decidirá si acepta el pedido de los parientes que solicitaron ser parte de la causa que aún permanece bajo “secreto militar”. In: perfil .com. November 29, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017 (Spanish).
  26. ↑ Uki Goñi: Argentina's missing submarine: “No one will be rescued”. In: theguardian.com . December 1, 2017, accessed December 3, 2017 .
  27. ^ U-boat accident: German companies under suspicion. In: tagesschau.de. December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017 .
  28. ↑ a b Ivo Marusczyk: research by BR and ARD: the submarine drama before Argentina - German battery supplier under suspicion. In: br.de . December 9, 2017, accessed August 20, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Submarine "San Juan": Ferrostaal defends itself against criticism. In: tagesschau.de . December 13, 2017, accessed January 13, 2018 .
  30. ^ ARA San Juan: Argentina navy chief sacked after loss of submarine. BBC News, December 16, 2017, accessed December 17, 2017 .
  31. ↑ https://www.janes.com/article/90207/battery-fire-led-to-loss-of-ara-san-juan-argentine-commission-finds
  32. ↑ De Alguna Manera ARA San Juan (S-42) In: https://dealgunamanera1.blogspot.de Retrieved on November 27, 2017 (Spanish).
  33. ↑ Buenos Aires: Latin America's first female submarine officer, future husbands and family fathers. In: suedkurier.de . November 23, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2018 .