With Argentine navy’ honour lying on her side, Minister Puricelli could be next official removed
The Argentine government has removed two top naval officers from their duties following the sinking, this week at her moorings pier-side of the destroyer “Santisima Trinidad” once the flagship of the service and which was actively involved in the invasion of the Falklands in 1982.
Defence minister Arturo Puricelli ordered the head of the Navy “the immediate removal from their posts” of the officers in charge of Maintenance and Arsenal, Alberto Garcia Grigioni and the head of the Decommissioning Group Marino Veccia.
However the incident could be the last straw of a very poor ministerial performance for Puricelli and his exit in a near future.
Puricelli in early statements last week did not discard that the destroyer which has been out of service since 2004 and now lying on her side at the Puerto Belgrano naval base could have been the target of a terrorist plot.
In the letter addressed to the navy’s command removing the officers, Puricelli said the sanctions had been taken “to favour the course of the investigation and ensure the transparency and objectivity of the procedure”.
Following the incident Puricelli who said he felt ashamed of what had happened with the vessel sunken at her moorings pier-side, and even more when having to explain what happened to the president, demanded from the Navy brass to determine the circumstances which led to the incident adding he had great doubts about the whole issue because the destroyer is not that old since it was commissioned in the seventies.
The 4.100 tons Santisima Trinidad, 124 metres long, 14.6ms beam and 5.2ms draught was equipped with sea-air missiles and was considered the flagship of the Argentine navy when the invasion of the Falklands in 1982 that led to the 74-day South Atlantic conflict.
Amphibious commandos and tactical divers were landed by the “Santisima Trinidad” on April first in the Falklands in anticipation of the main invasion that followed on April 2.
The British designed destroyer built in Argentina in the seventies is similar to the Type 42 destroyers “Sheffield” and “Coventry” which were sunk by the Argentines during the conflict.
The wireless message asking the surrender of the Falklands Governor Sir Rex Hunt and the Marines detachment was also radioed from the destroyer.
However despite the investigation, the removal of top naval officers, Minister Puricelli’s job could also be on the line given the string of errors and his complete lack of knowledge regarding armed forces terminology after two years in the ministry and before that as head of Military Industries.
On taking office he named a petty officer head of media and public relations which caused inconveniences with military protocol.
Last October in the midst of the ARA Libertad conflict with Ghana, Puricelli admitted his responsibility.
“The ministry of Defense planned the trip on suggestion from the Navy with a call in Ghana as a political approach to Africa” Puricelli told crew members who were flown out of Ghana while the vessel remained impounded.
As a consequence of the public commotion over the impounding of ARA Libertad Puricelli had to sacrifice the head of intelligence, Maria Lourdes Puente Olivera, apparently considered a brilliant officer, says the Buenos Aires media.
That same month Puricelli had to remove the head of the Navy he had named last February, together with the two other top ranking officers.
Likewise he had to support the street protests of the Coast Guard, Gendarmerie and Armed Forces petty officers complaining about salaries and contributions to pension funds. At the time he argued that “military personnel salaries are reasonable and adequate to the current economic reality”.
However the whole payments system and pensions scheme was reviewed and amended.
Puricelli had made President Cristina Fernandez sign Decrees 1305 and 1307, which were the cause of all the payments distortions that finally led to the protests.
Given the claims and proven errors in the calculi of the salaries the administration of President Cristina Fernandez had to back step and suspend the controversial decrees.
There is also the incident with the corvette Espora stranded for months in South Africa because of lack of spares, maintenance and refusal of the Germans to supply them until previous bills were honored.
ARA Espora was the third choice to participate in naval exercises with South Africa and Brazil because one of the vessels also had engine problems and couldn’t sail, the other was stranded in the subs naval base of Mar del Plata because of the sand silting in the exit canal.
Although previous to his time, the Argentine navy’s icebreaker “Almirant Irizar” which suffered heavy damages when she caught fire on return from Antarctica remains in out of service since 2007.
In other words the Puricelli could have to exit cabinet carrying in his pack the exposure of Argentina’s decadent navy.
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He may survive as the last thing KFC wants is someone with brains in her government showing her up. He is truly a total dickhead though....
Beyond Officers salaries, I am sure they simply have been starved by CFK for operating money.
I bet if they scrapped these ships, CFK would just grab the salvage money, rather than putting it back into the Navy.
No operational ships = nothing for the Officers to do = no dangerous missions or engagements either. Perhaps they spend their time polishing their brass buttons or cleaning their white uniforms for Welcome Home Victory Celebrations at Mar del Plata??
It really does show his ignorance if anything military up.
Yes the vessels isn't that old, but it has been sitting in dock rusting for years, without any servicing of any kind, and has been canalised for spare parts for other vessels.
This was always going to be the outcome for this vessel, it was just a matter of when it was finally going to give up the ghost and die.
No doubt many other Argentine vessels are in similar straits too.
I do wonder if the Argentine navy has any top brass left to fire. Didn't he get rid of most of them over the Libertad incident?
Is the head of the RG navy still that corpulent blanket folder who got his 'malvinas' gongs cleaning the bogs at Rio Gallegos?
Who needs anti ship missiles and aircraft when there ships sink themselves. Or are held hostage.
Absolutely the worst and most embarrassing navy in the entire world. I mean, forget even about taking the islands. If someone were to attack Argentina, they could not even defend themselves.
Didn't they lose their honour in 1982, when they fled leaving the crew of the Belgrano to the mercies of the South Atlantic waters?
I don't recall the Argentine Navy doing anything since that would've allowed them to regain their honour.
Let's not forget their greatest feat of arms. Sneaking up in the dark to invade and subjugate an island of 2.500 peaceful people.
No she said......
No he said......
They said.......
Someone said........
Veeeeeery little personal responsibility being taken here!
Fortunately they did so I asked if they could put it on one side for me...
Boom Boom (c) B Brush
Compare and contrast with the ship that was originally called HMS Elephant when it was laid down. 34 years after it was launched (which was another nine years after it was laid down), it was still not only seaworthy, but was in a good enough state of repair to still be active as INS Viraat 26 years after the Royal Navy sold it to the Indian Navy.
I can't remember exactly how many times during it's one notable campaign it was claimed to have been sunk. I wonder if anyone else could enlighten me.
That's not the real Hermes. That's a copy the British built on the Falklands, in three months, to hide the fact that the Argentines sank the real Hermes. You can read it in all the Argtenine literature. They have witnesses and actual footage of the attack, Ok it's only a cartoon, but it's real nevertheless.
Every Argentine knows this to be fact.
@14 What are the figures for how long their “ships” can spend at sea? Isn't it about 16 days a year?
@21 Wasn't it Invincible that the argies claimed to have sunk six times? Given that the war only lasted 74 days, doesn't that mean we could build an aircraft carrier every 12 days? We should get in touch with the Aircraft Carrier Alliance and tell 'em to get a move on. They've been at it for 3 years now. With another 3-4 years to go. What's holding them up?
Nearly right. It is in fact cutting edge stealth technology, with a lower radar cross section than a Type 45 Destroyer.
Rumour has it that CFK has also obtained RQ-170 sentinel stealth drone now reverse engineered by her Iranian chums.
clip2net.com/s/2KwBw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWvY1vz-Dzg
Honest to god, the fact the Muppets are singing it is pure coincidence, a very appropriate one though.
Navy ships on their sides,
Low in the water, perhaps this new way of sending ships to war, it this what argentina calls [ stealth ships]
Or is this a future looking multy roll submarine,
Still
Give em chips for trying,
Mind you, they would be better of just scrapping it now lolol.
.
A disgrace? Still you brits trying to make a tempest out of dew?
A disgrace is invading a country due to wrong information, killing tens of thousands of civilians because of a “mistake”. That's a real disgrace.
That's a real disgrace
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Invading an unarmed, peaceful, none aggressive islanders,
Abusing, threatening, intimidating ,
And being directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives,
That’s disgraceful.
and you did it all by yourselves,
and you still have not learned nothing .
“A disgrace is invading a country due to wrong information, killing tens of thousands of civilians because of a “mistake”. That's a real disgrace”
And what of the “Dirty War”??? Was that a “Disgrace” or a “mistake”?
And those Nun's that you threw out of a plane? Was that a “Disgrace” or a “mistake”?
And the 'war of the desert ' and the war of the triple alliance, what were they??
Take your time answering but I want an answer. Seems you are quick to point out the mistakes of Tony “call me the right hand of god” Blair, how about answering for your governments crimes?
Never mind the 'honour of the navy' with the Trinidad lying on her side.
What about the honour of Argentina, CFK lying on her back for Chavez, Iran, Vietnam, and China?
Not even “basketcase” Argentina you all yap about has had a triple dip!!!
But yes you people are booming... hahahah.
Have a full depression.
Default on debt.
And redominate the currency.
Argentina wishes it had had a triple dip recession.
And after the next crash, they'll all wish they had been lucky enough to have had a triple dip recession.
I thought so. Silence.
Not only that, even though our growth maybe down or even in a triple dip, our economy is still far bigger than yours. Therefore 1% decline has no effect on us, where on your country the effect would be felt much much more.
You only have to look at the fact your industrial production is down for the first time in an decade, your dollar clamps, protectionist policies (put in place to encourage growth in industry), to see that all of us here that have been warning you of a coming collapse were right!
How do you boil a frog? LMAO
Thought you claimed to be intelligent? Stop using hallucinagenic substances, or you will definately not overtake your parents salaries within the next 18 month, as you predict.
Of course the British refused to sell you parts for these ships. You INVADED sovereign BRITISH territory. What did you think the British would do? Pillock.
Next time Argentina declares war on someone, you'd better check that they aren't the main supplier of your military hardware first.
All of this is Argentina's FAULT. Argentina is to BLAME. Quite frankly I don't care if all your naval vessels sink. They probably will, because the Argentine government is too busy stuff money into their off-shore bank accounts, and not funding Argentina's armed forces.
Tell me PH. If the Argentine government can't even afford to repair and maintain the vessels that it has, AND it can't afford to send it's vessels to sea for more than 161 days between them (that's 10 days at sea for each of Argentina's 'sea-worthy' vessels), how do you think they're going to fund your “100% Argentine nuclear weapon” programme?
I mean that if your incompetent government can't even maintain vessels, what chance do you think they have of maintaining a nuclear weapon and it's delivery system assuming they could build one?
@47 - Nostril
That's right, keep your head buried in the sand while Argentina collapses around you. That'll really help, won't it?
This incident is a symptom of a disease. That disease is corruption. It's about time the people of Argentina did something about these corrupt politicians who don't give a damn about Argentina, as long as they can keep bleeding you all dry.
Wake up and act before they destroy Argentina for good.
Hence the name - triple dip.
What we're used to from Argentina is for the economy to crash, then go down a little more, then crash, then go down a little more, then crash and so on. This is largely because your politicians are more interested in lining their own pockets than helping your economy.
Give me a triple dip rather than a staggered death spiral any day...
25% payload it has, according to Putridjelli! The V2, the first successful LIQUID rocket managed 8%. But, there again, it did work and terrified the British during WW2.
I hope she keeps this prat in post; it can only speed up the total demise of the military.
Actually it will benefit the UK and the Falkland Islanders is CFK gets a third term.
Since taking office she has:
- Ruined Argentina's economy
- Starved Argentina's Armed Forces
- Ensured that no international company would invest in Argentina
- Humiliated Argentina on the world stage (on more than one occasion)
- Been caught out in outright lies by the world's media
- Her protectionist trade policies have isolated Argentina from the rest of South America
- Through her ever increasing attempts to divert the Argentine population she has brought the Falklands to international attention, which hasn't actually boded well for her
- She has p!ssed of the USA, and continues to do so
- She has destroyed Argentina's tourist industry
- She has p!ssed off the Unions
- She has p!ssed off the WTO, IMF and UN
I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Her continued epic mismanagement of Argentina means that the Falklands will be completely safe for decades, if not in perpetutity.
In fact her constant ranting about the Falklands has caused many Argentines to either look closer at the history (and found that they never owned the Islands), or made them so fed up of hearing about them that they no longer care.
So CFK in power is a win for the UK and the Falklands, and CFK in power is a lose for the people of Argentina.
LOL! You couldn't make this sh!t up! Truth really is stranger than fiction! Hahaha!!
Don't forget...CFK was elected by an important majority.
Isn't this an indicator to the IQ level of the majority of the RG's?
Or is democracy an out-dated elective system?
I have read somewhere...“You will sleep in the bed you have prepared”.
Jan 28th, 2013 - 03:25 pm
Not such an important majority, 54% of the total electorate, but only 32.6% of the total votes cast!!!!!!!
And what is her popularity rating now? I am sure according to that trustworthy agencia INDEC is over 80% of course
At least we can have one, and still come through it smelling of roses,
You Argies can’t even have a single recession, without going bang.
We are merely showing you fools how it done,
Just waiting for the right moment to start the engines again, and away we go.
lol.
Your post shows how ignorant you are...
In her last address to the nation, Mrs. Bottox (AKA CFK) said that this is how the newly RG government desgined battle ships suppose to float.
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