MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine Navy Falklands War sloop sank as practice target

Eight crewmembers of the ARA Sobral died in combat on May 2, 1982

The Argentine Navy's sloop ARA Alférez Sobral, of the 1982 War action, was sunk as a firing practice target off the coast near Necochea due to insufficient funds for maintenance. Departing from Mar del Plata Naval Base, the ship, originally the USS Salish from World War II and later named after Argentine explorer José María Sobral, was towed to its final resting place at coordinates 39°54'S, 59°30'W.

During the Falklands/Malvinas War, the Sobral was attacked by British helicopters on May 2, 1982, while rescuing two pilots, resulting in the deaths of eight crew members, including Lieutenant Commander Sergio Raúl Gómez Roca. Former combatant Ricardo Abel Cuevas, a survivor of the attack, expressed deep sadness over the ship’s fate, describing it as a symbol of their wartime resilience.

Despite efforts by war veterans like Adolfo Schweihofer and Owen Grippa to preserve the Sobral as a museum ship in Santa Fe or other locations, financial constraints led to its dismantling and sinking.

The ship, which also aided Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso in 1972, was mourned by veterans who saw it as a “safety box” and a piece of Argentina’s naval heritage, now lost to the sea.

“Gómez Roca was the oldest sea officer who lost his life in combat,” recalls Cuevas, who was a second corporal electrician and was part of the Sobral's engine department.

“Just as they did with the ship Comandante Luis Piedrabuena, they are taking it to the high seas to target it and sink it,” he also lamented, recalling that it had been the Sobral herself in 1988 who towed the Piedrabuena to its final destination in 1988.

Schweihofer wanted the ship to have its permanent mooring in Santa Fe. “For 10 years, together with Owen Crippa, we have been taking steps to bring it back and create a ship-museum for people to visit her,” he lamented.

In addition to Santa Fe, other initiatives to preserve the ship were announced in Olivos, Ushuaia, Santa Cruz, Chubut, and Entre Ríos. But it required an investment of around US$ 250,000 to make her seaworthy again.