ARA Santa Fe (S-21)

ARA Santa Fe was an Argentine Balao-class submarine which was lost during the Falklands War. Built during the Second World War, the submarine served in United States Navy as USS Catfish (SS-339) before being commissioned into the Argentine Navy in 1971. 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 sail visible above the waterline. The submarine was raised, towed out of the bay and scuttled in deep waters in 1985.

For other ships with the same name, see ARA Santa Fe.

USS Catfish sailing on surface
History
Argentina
Name:	ARA Santa Fe
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down:	6 January 1944[1]
Launched:	19 November 1944[1]
Acquired:	1 July 1971 from the United States Navy[1]
Fate:	Disabled and captured by British forces on 25 April 1982 at South Georgia Island during Falklands War and later scuttled
General characteristics (Guppy II)
Class and type:	Balao-class submarine
Displacement:	1,870 tons (1,900 t) surfaced[2] 2,440 tons (2,480 t) submerged[2]
Length:	307 ft (94 m)[3]
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)[3]
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m)[3]
Propulsion:	4 × diesel engines with a snorkel, driving electrical generators[2] GUPPY type batteries, 504 cells (1 × 184 cell, 1 × 68 cell, and 2 × 126 cell batteries)[2] 2 × low-speed direct drive electric motors[2] two propellers[2]
Speed:	Surfaced: 18 knots (33 km/h) maximum 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h) cruising Submerged: 16 knots (30 km/h) for ½ hour 9 knots (17 km/h) snorkeling 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h) cruising[2]
Range:	15,000 nautical miles (28,000 km) surfaced at 11 knots (20 km/h)[3]
Endurance:	48 hours at 4 knots (7.4 km/h) submerged[3]
Complement:	9–10 officers 5 petty officers 70 enlisted men[3]
Sensors and processing systems:	WFA active sonar JT passive sonar Mk 106 torpedo fire control system[3]
Armament:	10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes  (six forward, four aft)[3]

History

U.S. Navy service

Main article: USS Catfish (SS-339)

The submarine was built during the Second World War by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut and was launched on 19 November 1944. Commissioned into the US Navy as USS Catfish, 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 Seventh Fleet in the Pacific Ocean seeing service in the Korean War. After this period, the boat was given a Guppy II conversion.

In 1971, Catfish was decommissioned and sold to Argentina, where she was renamed ARA Santa Fe.

Argentine service

In 1982, Santa Fe took part in the Falklands War alongside San Luis, the Argentine Navy's only other operative submarine, Santa Fe supported the Argentine invasion by landing tactical divers at Yorke Bay, who marked the beach for the main amphibious force and seized the lighthouse. Later, she departed from the islands and stayed on station in the naval submarine base at the city of Mar del Plata as a large British task force approached the South Atlantic.

On 12 April, Santa Fe was ordered to ferry a party of marines, based at Puerto Belgrano, and supplies to Grytviken, in South Georgia. She departed from Mar del Plata in the early hours of 17 April.[4]

On 23 April, the Royal Navy ships HMS Brilliant, HMS Antrim, HMS Plymouth and the ice patrol ship HMS Endurance were sent to retake the island of South Georgia with a detachment of Royal Marines and Special Boat Squadron commandos.

Santa Fe accomplished the resupply mission and landed the marines on 25 April. Members of the Argentine garrison had salvaged a crippled BAS launch, which was used to download the cargo.[5] Some hours later, 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 Mk 46 torpedo, which failed to strike home, but strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted 7.62 mm 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-12 air-to-surface anti-ship missiles at the submarine, scoring hits. Santa Fe's men and the marines onshore attempted to fight off the attack by firing their rifles, machine guns, and an old Bantam anti-tank missile at the aircraft, but the Argentine boat was damaged badly enough to prevent her from submerging or even from sailing away. The crew abandoned the listing submarine at the jetty at King Edward Point on South Georgia and surrendered, along with the Argentine garrison, to the British forces.[6][7] Brilliant's diving officer, Lt. Chris Sherman, went down to place a charge to disable the submarine further, and blew off its rudder.

Whilst 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.[8][9] Artuso was shot because it was believed that he was trying to sabotage the vessel.[6] 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.[10][11]

After the conflict ended, Santa Fe was considered to be worthless as a war prize because she was non-standard, obsolete, badly damaged and too expensive to repair. As a result, the submarine was temporarily raised by the British, towed into deep water and scuttled on 10 February 1985.

See also

• Argentine Submarine Force

References

1. Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
2. Friedman, Norman (1994). U.S. Submarines Since 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 11–43. ISBN 1-55750-260-9.
3. U.S. Submarines Since 1945 pp. 242
4. Bóveda, Jorge (2007). La Odisea del submarino Santa Fe. IPN editores, pp. 79–90. ISBN 978-950-899-073-0 (in Spanish)
5. Bóveda, pp. 105–106 and 122
6. Yates, D. (2006). Bomb Alley – Falklands War 1982: Aboard HMS Antrim at War. Pen & Sword Maritime. pp. 95–105. ISBN 1-84415-417-3.
7. Bóveda, pp. 110–123
8. Evans, Michael (5 October 2007). "Marine killed Argentinian in Falklands war blunder". The Times. London. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
9. http://www.wildisland.gs/sgcems/gd09a.htm
10. 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. (in Spanish) La Nacion newspaper: La guerra que no se vió 6 April 1997 (in Spanish)
11. "Wreckage of the Santa Fe". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2008.