The Argentine Navy announced this morning that the San Juan had been located after the submarine went missing a year ago. The vessel lies in 2,625 feet of the Atlantic off the coast of Patagonia. The suspected cause of the loss was an explosion of hydrogen gas after one of the sub’s batteries had been flooded with sea water. More
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Lol, I don’t mean to make light of it but the poster on the tree is hilarious.
The Argentine military is full of men suffering from MDS – Machismo Derangement Syndrome. There’s an old story, quite possibly apocryphal, about the pilot of a military troop transport plane. I’ll call him Capitán Pelotudo. He took off with a platoon in the back of the plane and shortly after takeoff the air traffic meteorologist reported a very wide, very high, very violent squall line (locally called a “pampero”) right across his path and that he must turn back.
To whick order he replied via radio, “Capitán Pelotudo never turns back! He flew straight into the storm, and in the air his plane was shredded so badly the debris and human remains field was something like 8 km². No survivors, duh.
The reason I bring this up is that I have a mental image of the sub skipper, ideological cousin to pilot Capitán Pelotudo, ignoring his techs and barreling along in time to get back to port to screw his mistress.
Sidebar:
My father, USNA ’42, fought in submarines in WWII and later had his own submarine command. While it was almost 60 years ago, he had a three-year stint in the U.S Naval Advisory Group in Buenos Aires. His job was to teach Argentine naval officers how to run, use. and fight with submarines. He taught at the Escuela de Guerra Naval (Naval War College, now infamous for being the center of the military dictatorship’s anti-insurgency). Cut to the chase, and as a kid I met Argentine naval officers for whom it would take not even a tiny stretch of the imagination to see a navy version of Capitán Pelotudo declaring, “What buildup of Hydrogen? My orders say to return to base with all possible speed. i WILL NOT ALLOW A LITTLE HYDROGEN TO CAUSE A DELAY IN MY BOAT’S ARRIVAL.
I feel so dumb for not looking in the Ocean first.
Who knows the details? Feel so sorry for Argentinian parents, wives, sweethearts, and kiddos. Maybe discovery will give them a little bit of closure? Sure makes a guy reflect upon our U.S. Navy’s porpoises. Real pleasure to hire and work with a hand full of these outstanding, yet humble, members of the USN, who did not want ANY of the recognition they so patriotically deserved. What happened to Argentinian sailors could have happened to U.S. sailors. May the peace of Christ be with them.
I couldn’t do it…I’d freak out.
One of my online friends was a boomer…had some great chats. A farmer from Wisconsin.
One day he went into emergency surgery for appendictis…died on the table.
The government better hurry, those guys probably can’t hold out much longer…
My brother was on subs for years {fast attack}. We’re both veterans and yet I still couldn’t pry certain answers out of him about missions etc even years after. I was just curious but he kept to his oath.
It’s a good thing because I’d have turned him in! Haha
@Uncle Al; I don’t think machismo was a problem in this disaster. Sub drivers the world over are taught to operate their boats using calculated risk theory and from what I gather they had a failure of the snorkel allowing water to flood the battery compartment (at least that’s the current theory). The crew fought the fire until a hydrogen gas bubble built up from degrading batteries and exploded. Argentina has allowed it’s military to degrade over the years and possibly that had a great deal to do with the accident but machismo? Don’t think so. May they rest in peace.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8OsZTJ5vfUs
My uncle was on subs, WWII, he was 6’8″. Walked hunched over as long as I can remember. I asked if that was from sub duty, he laughed, didn’t answer.
I did reserve duty in a sub base in San Diego, they were giving away diesel boats as fast as they could train a third world crew to man her.
Went on a checkout joy ride once,,, just once.
There but for the grace of God go I.
Fair winds, Shipmates!
I worked with a guy who was on the USS Miami. I often wondered how his shipmates kept from stuffing him into a torpedo tube and launching his ass into the abyss.