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Falklands' war “ARA Santisima Trinidad” refloated in Puerto Belgrano

Wednesday, December 23rd 2015 - 08:58 UTC
Full article 55 comments

After almost three years tilted and sunken in Argentina's main naval base, Puerto Belgrano, the British built missile destroyer, 'ARA Santisima Trinidad' was finally refloated. The plan is to recondition the unit which was involved in the 1982 Falklands conflict and convert her into a museum. Read full article

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  • SebaSvtz

    A museum dedicated to SHAME, where they will show how this country was ruined since the middle 40s.
    A museum to remember one of the two worst decisions ever made in this country.
    A museum dedicated to explain how we became defenseless, because of domestic decisions.

    Poor ship, she didn´t deserve that fate.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 10:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • falklandlad

    Better a museum than an ocean-rushing piece of hardware. Turning into scrap would be a cheaper option for the Arg economy.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 10:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    So the Argys are going to make this once proud British ship, turned into a rust bucket by sheer neglect into a museum piece?

    That makes as much sense as the losers medals for the wistfully named 'Malvinas veterans'.

    What a ridiculous waste of money.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 11:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    @3. Not really ever “British”. Built by AFNE Rio Santiago. Damaged by an improvised limpet mine planted by the Monteneros. Cut holes in the bottom, then see how HMS Victory is supported.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 12:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    'non authorized'

    don't they need our permission to do this,

    After all, they seem to think we need theirs to do anything.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 01:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • yankeeboy

    The Rgs do waste a lot of money. I guess it all goes in other people's pockets.
    Any update on their magical ice breaker?
    Gosh knows how much $ was stolen out of that project alone...

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 02:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Jay Buchan

    Argentine Built “AFNE Rio Santiago”

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 02:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Lagow

    @5
    They do not need permission since it is a ship built in Argentina. Anyway they don't have money for that museum project so it is almost sure that it will be scrapped.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 02:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • HughJuanCoeurs

    Ooh! The Falkland Islanders could give them back ‘La Sanmartiniana’ as a goodwill gesture and the Argentinians could turn that into a museum instead. It would probably be cheaper to do, but might be a bit more of an embarrassment.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 06:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    .cheers

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 07:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    We're taking wagers on how long it will be before the newly acquired old Russian vessels also roll over at their piers and ignominiously sink. The real question would then be whether to have them all be exhibits of the same museum.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 07:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    They would probably sink the first time they met an Atlantic storm.

    safer to keep them in port to roll over as you say..
    evens at best..

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 08:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Captain Byron

    If they need any tips on how to set her up as a museum ship they can call the team preparing HMS Conqueror. Even our museum ship (or boat to be more accurate) is more technologically advanced than the current RG navy.

    Dec 23rd, 2015 - 08:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Frank

    Strange I know as there is money in scrap but the RGs don't scrap ships or trains or planes. I have seen at least two large 'marshalling yards' in BA full of derelict locomotives and rolling stock dating from maybe the 1950s, the waters around San Fernando and Tigre are full of abandoned hulks. Even next to the Naval College at La Plata there are 3, maybe 4, quite large cargo ships owned by the navy but lying derelict up a cutting. You can see them on Google Earth just the same as you can see the abandoned Aerolineas 'planes around Ezeiza which shall never fly again..... weird.

    I hate to imagine what the cost of restoring a ship that has been open to the sea for this time would be. Never going to happen....

    Dec 24th, 2015 - 04:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    Fill it with concrete & use it as a breakwater somewhere.
    l think that it would cost too much to actually get it to a scrap yard.
    As yankeeboy says, RGs seem to like wasting money.

    Dec 24th, 2015 - 12:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    @14 -- the nostalgia of the argentos for the perceived, however inaccurately, glory of their largely fanciful past is part of what drives the collection and preservation of old junk here. Ford Falcons from the 1960s are still very much in evidence here, mostly inoperative among the weeds in back patios in the style of gap-tooth Arkansas. But there are a few on the streets, smoking furiously for want of unavailable piston rings. For some, it is fortunate that old junk is not scrapped and made up into something useful, since it provides a sort of an uncurated-museum air to so much of the country.

    You [Frank] had mentioned the old locomotives and we have a similar yard here in Río Gallegos which includes some specimens of coal-fired steam-driven locomotives from the 1950s, built in Japan since of course Argentina didn't and doesn't have the required level of technology and industry to design and build its own steam-powered, coal-fired 19th-century locos. Fortunately there was one Argentine engineer who employed French steam engineering technology concepts to maximise the potential for these locos that were forced to use the low-quality, high-ash coal that is all that is available in the country.

    There is talk, and in Argentina talk is plentiful and cheap, serving as it does to displace reality, of someday restoring some of these old locos to service as some sort of tourist attraction. Someday. By the way some of these old steam locos were built by one of the divisions of the Japanese firm Mitsubishi. Oh, and the old loco graveyard is just a few manzanas from the Kirchner household here. Another parable, methinks.

    Dec 24th, 2015 - 01:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Lagow

    @11
    Those ships they actually going to last quite a while, they actually do have a job to do and they bought other ships just like it to serve as part donors when it is needed. It is more probable that another weponized ship bites the dust before these two do.
    @12
    Those ships are made for bad weather and their job is to help others caught in an emergency due to bad weather. No matter the name given to the ship the ship is a Good Samaritan.

    Dec 24th, 2015 - 03:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    @17 The first time that one of those old Russian tubs is called upon to cross Drakes Passage in heavy weather we will see just what they and their crews are made of. And how long it takes the Chilean search and rescue vessels to find what is left of them.

    Dec 24th, 2015 - 03:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Lagow

    @14
    If the scrap yard (process center) is far from you the scrapping is very costly due to transportation,and now days you cannot sink a ship before paying quite a bunch of money to have it cleaned before hand; therefore some of this pieces stay where they are for a long time until there is money to dispose one way or the other of them. No long ago the US sold an aircraft carrier for one cent so they could avoid the transport fees from the pacific coast, where all systems were taken off, to the Gulf where the process center is located.
    @17
    That would be a tragedy, Chileans and RGs SHARE search and rescue efforts in that area (so there would not be any Chilean ship closer), also the ship that they would be rescuing would be doomed. These two ships have a very important role to fill; therefore I believe they are high in the survival hierarchy in the DoF of Argentina even higher than a frigate.

    Dec 24th, 2015 - 08:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    @19 Yes, in theory AR and CL share and coordinate SAR activities in the Drakes Passage area, but with Argentina's inability to effectively participate due to its declining capabilities, the bulk of the work has in recent years fallen upon the CL armada.

    Dec 24th, 2015 - 09:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Frank

    @19 It would be a simple matter to scrap that ship alongside where she is.... if the British can scrap warships at Pounds ( near Fareham) and the Chileans can scrap old Navimag ferries in Pto Montt then the Argentines could scrap that ship where she lies... if they had the will.

    How goes it with ARA Sarandi ? Still knackered??

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 02:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    @21 Frank, perhaps you could tell us the name of the Navimag ferry is being scrapped in Puerto Montt. The last Navimag ferry that was badly damaged (August 2014, the Amadeo I, about 30 percent of the starboard hull line seriously damaged ) was taken to deep water and sunk a few months ago. Actually, I think that all the Navimag ferries could be significantly improved by scuttling.

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 03:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Lagow

    @20
    100% correct AR and CL have a treaty to coordinate SAR activities, and with these two ships finally AR will be able to effectively participate and not put the bulk of the effort on the Chilean Armada. That is why I stated the importance of these ships over others in their keep. Chile main ship in Antartica is an icebreaker and its replacement is behind schedule, so they really need AR to work the area so they don't have to overwork the current icebreaker that has at best five years of life.
    @21
    -You are correct, since it is in a port already dismantling it there would be easy. The problem is that some nationalist don’t want to do so, but they don’t have the money or the political will to save the ship either. Just give it time and it will be quietly dismantle and scrapped. Just need to give time to time.
    -The Chilean did not want to scrap the Navimag ferry, they actually worked for almost a year to clean, raise and save it, but when they finally put it a float they discovered the hull damage was so extensive as not to allow for safe passage during towing to a port for scrapping. They had no other option to move it to the closest trench and scuttle it there.

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 03:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    @23... Then we acknowledge that the latest wreck of a Navimag ferry (Amadeo I) was not scrapped in Puerto Montt as was intimated earlier, and so far we have no evidence of any Navimag ferry being desguasado in Pto Montt.

    According to the testimony of the Capitán de Puerto for the region (Captain Ortega in Puerto Natales), the possibility of scuttling that ferry was well known even before the Resolve group started work, though it was considered a less desirable option. Note that it was not the chileans but the Resolve Marine Group (of Florida, USA) that did the recovery work that enabled the patching for transport for the sinking to the northwest of Puerto Natales. This was contracted by the insurance carrier for Navimag. The decision to sink the Amadeo I was a technical one, based on the analysis and recommendation of the American company and approved by the Chilean Navy. It was never an option for the wishes of “some nationalist” (whatever that is). The salvage company had to clean and prepare the wreck to meet the international and Chilean Armada standards allowing deep-water scuttling. One of the other discarded options was to dismantle the Amadeo in place in the fjord, but there were strong objections to that due to the high costs and the environmental impacts. However, the Resolve company is quite capable of doing in-place dismantling and has demonstrated this on other wrecks.

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 12:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Livingthedream

    We have the USS Constitution that was used in the War of 1812 against the British.
    She is a museum now and never was a waste of money.

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 01:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Philippe

    A pirate ship masquerading with a Catholic holy name!

    Philippe

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 01:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Frank

    @22 Navimag ships Evangelistas ex Condor and the first Amadeo ex Miriam ( photo here http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/50354/title/navimag-ferry-2c-amadeo/cat/all ) were both broken up in Montt around 2004. Lots of other small stuff always getting scrapped there.

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 04:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    @ 27 - That is curious since the current Navimag Evangelistas is supposed to be running to Puerto Chacabuco next week. But it's quite possible that an earlier incarnation was broken a dozen or so years ago. Makes us wonder why Navimag can't use a few more names instead of repeating the same ones over and over again with “new” worn-out hulks. Supposedly the M/F Magallanes was renamed M/F Evangelistas after the ship became involved in too many accidents and breakdowns. Chile is a bit African in that respect: change the name to ward off the evil spirits.

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 09:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Frank

    @28 Same same with Amadeo and Amadeo 1 .... maybe they should put the cost of painting the new names towards newer ships.
    In 2012 they were breaking up an ex USN ex Armada de Chile ship down at Chinquihue ... a slow process....
    Shipbreaking in Chile is a bit of a cottage industry... Evangelitas ex Condor was broken up at the bottom of someone's garden next to Marina del Sur.

    Dec 25th, 2015 - 11:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Lagow

    @24
    I think you miss understood what you read and answer with information not concerning the conversation. Your answer doesn’t go with the topic. It looks like you want to do a Socrates and debate for the fun of debating. Obviously there where a GROUP of options known before raising the Amadeus 1, that is the reason why studies are made at the beginning of the project. ANYWAY the Amadeus 1 has NOTHING to do with the ARA Santisima Trinidad.

    @25 PLEASEEEEE! There is no way in hell that you can compare the USS Constitution to the ARA Santisima Trinidad.

    @28@29
    Repeating the name of ships is a sea custom all over the world. Humm I wonder who started that custom? All I know it was not the crew of the Santisima Trinidad or the Africans.

    Dec 26th, 2015 - 12:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    In Chile a lot of things are hard to distinguish from cottage industries. That is one of the reasons the CL Armada insisted on Resolve, the Florida/USA company, to do the righting/patching/towing/sinking of the Amadeo I. The contamination containment at the Amadeo I grounding site, however, was done by a Chilean company and it was done surprisingly well. They operated out of an old former Greek ferry that had also suffered some sort of mishap. We went to that site for photos of the arrival of the first Resolve convoy since one of my clients was involved.

    Dec 26th, 2015 - 01:21 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    marti llazo, the falcon are over and the trains are new then what your dumb intention to just show old stuff form man old past???? more cheapy propaganda mother fucker?? stick your dirty ass tongue in your ass piece shit, you hang arojund in this pedorro news paper all the fucjing time posting crap. either you are a dumb retired old crap or you are so idiot, or maybe both or you just are a fjucking chilote full of envy

    Dec 27th, 2015 - 04:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marti Llazo

    George-asaurus, we were wondering when someone would wake you up. Still haven't found the spellchecker, though. Pity. Stop by the British Club in Río Gallegos sometime and let's see if we can help you there.

    New trains? Well, let's see why they take so much longer to make inter-city runs then. In this case, the “new” train from Bs As to Córdoba TAKES LONGER than it did on the same route in 1890! And it takes twice as long by train as it does by driving. You don't suppose that La Yegua was spending all that infrastructure money on Futbol Para Todos ( duly laced with Kirchnerist propaganda) instead of making the railways efficient, do you?

    Article:

    El nuevo tren a Córdoba tardó media hora más que en 1890

    Un viaje interminable. La primera formación 0 KM de origen chino llegó ayer desde Buenos Aires a la terminal cordobesa. Demoró 19.36 horas, el doble de lo se tarda en ir en auto.

    Dec 27th, 2015 - 07:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    @32 george-toilet mouth,
    Wash your mouth out with disinfectant, you foul-mouthed creature.
    You also don't make a lot of sense.
    Go back to school.
    Moron.

    Dec 27th, 2015 - 08:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    llazo I wil stop there in rio gallego to slap your mouth mother fucker, if you got issues with spelling ask coronel rico , he will draw his sentiments in your teeth.LLAZO I GUES YOUR CLUB MUST BE IN THE FALKLANDS , YOU AREIN THE WRONG LAND DUMMY, YOU WANT ME TO HELP YOU WITH A MAP ????NEW TRAIN TOOK LONG CAUSE THE CHEKING OF THE TRACKS IGNROANTON SHIT, TRY TO USE BEETTER PROPAGANDA AND STOP READING CLARIN YOU DUMB FUCK APE......AS I SAID ILL CHACK YOUR FACE THERE , PUTO VENDE PATRIA Y LA RECONCHA DE TU REMALPARIODA MADRE, PEDAZO DE CHUPA PIAJA , YOU ALREADY GAEV UP YOUR ASS TO THE BRITS, FUCKING SLAVE ,M PIECE OF SHIT!!! ISOLDA 34 ILL WASH YOURS WIHT MY FIST YOU DUMB INGORANT PROSTI!!!FUCKING MONITO CRAP!!!!

    Dec 28th, 2015 - 03:49 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    Isolde,

    Any chance of putting a word in someone's ear to have a moderator shut down the likes of poo poo mouth Georgy?

    Hope you had a nice Christmas - have a Happy New Year!

    Dec 28th, 2015 - 07:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    @36 Troy,
    Reported him/her to the editor.
    When some of these malvinistas start losing it, their filth gets thicker.
    Great Christmas, thank you.
    Happy New Year to you too.

    Dec 28th, 2015 - 10:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    Cheers,

    T. Tempest

    Dec 29th, 2015 - 06:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    uyyyyy, TROY YOU ARE SO SOFT BOYYYY!!!!!!.ISOLDA THAST TIPICAL BRITS RUNNING AWAY, ARE YOU SCARE TONTITA?????, I DONT SEE WHERE WE LOOSING??? DID UN SAID IT??? JEEEEEEEEEE, RUN TO THE EDITOR ISOLDA......LLAZO, ESTAS??? JAAAAAA CHICKEN...

    Dec 29th, 2015 - 10:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    @39 estupido georgelito,
    Shut up peon.
    l would have you flogged & enjoy watching it.
    You are a cowardly, loud-mouthed idiot.
    Certainly not frightened of morons like yourself.
    Happy New Year.♥

    Dec 29th, 2015 - 12:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    @39 georgelito

    I'd be frustrated too, if I lived in a shipping container and peed in the street.

    Merry Christmas!

    Dec 29th, 2015 - 11:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    peon?? tell us what is it??.flog my gun tontita.meet me someday soon and you will enjoy nature, looser. is that what happen today in the street of your hole nation troy?? too much deficit, no jobs/ and no troy you cant peed , your fat belly doesn't allow you to see your short limpdick. the only troy reflection you got is just the name tryyyyyyyy, jeeee

    Dec 30th, 2015 - 05:05 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    42 george
    I love you!

    Dec 30th, 2015 - 06:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    @42 gorgeous george,
    l love you too, george!(why didn't l think of this, Troy!).
    l'll bet you are so, well, manly, in a Neanderthal type way.
    And l'm not a looser, don't think that l qualify as a loser either.
    Bye bye georgy.

    Dec 30th, 2015 - 09:21 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    WELL YOU CONTRADICTING YOURSELF, FIRST YOU LOVE ME NOW , YOU SAID YOU ARENT A LOOSER TO THINK TO QUALIFY TO SOMONE LIKE ME....YOU BORNED LOOSER AS USUAL DICK BRIT.AND YOU LOVE SAVAGE NATURE OF A MEN !!!!. SEE YA SOON.DONT LIKE HOMOS TROY

    Dec 30th, 2015 - 02:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    @45 georgy sweet,
    promises, promises!

    Dec 30th, 2015 - 09:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    45. nino

    too bad. Why not?
    What's wrong with “homos” ?

    C'mon, we can talk anytime.

    I enjoy seeing you here - you're so interesting.

    What are you wearing?

    Dec 30th, 2015 - 09:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    WHERE YOU LIVE , YOU LESBIAN ISOLDA??YOU TELL ME HOMO TROY... WHATS WRONG WITH THEM. IM WEARING AN ANTI PAEDO FROM UK

    Dec 31st, 2015 - 07:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    48 Sussie

    Hugs to you!

    Dec 31st, 2015 - 11:02 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    troy, SUNSHINE!!!

    Dec 31st, 2015 - 12:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    Has Suzie been recycled?
    Or her stint on the roster come around again in the RG Ministry of Disinformation?
    Where you been Suzie babe?

    Dec 31st, 2015 - 12:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    51, Isolde,

    I find it hard to believe that more than one Troll with poor English has an obsession with describing graphic anal sex and paedophilia acts.

    Seems odd that Semper came and went and had the same predeliction for anal sex, and now Georgy is focusing on it, in turn.

    Just one more nasty sock that will get bored and go away

    Dec 31st, 2015 - 06:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • georgeneurus

    I WILL RECYCLE YOUR ASS AND MAKE OUT OF YOUR TITS TWO ROASTED NIPPLES.IM HERE TO LEARN HOW DUMB ASS BRIT PROPAGANDA INFUSE ITS DIAHRREA IN YOUR TWO SMALL CELLS, SUNSHINE.I JUST USE YOUR PAEDO QUEEN LANGUAGE .ANAL SEX .. NO BAD AT ALL, AND I DOUB IT YOU ARE THAT TIDE NEITHER

    Jan 01st, 2016 - 03:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    Suzie,
    l think that you've been released by mistake.
    Better get yourself back to the asylum, pronto.
    Remember Suzie-sweet, we all really love you!♥

    Jan 01st, 2016 - 06:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    53 Sussie

    We just want the best for you.

    You're off your meds.

    Calm down.

    Jan 01st, 2016 - 06:18 am - Link - Report abuse 0

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