Thread: Search continues for missing Argentine submarine with 44 crew members

I'm pleased it weren't named after the Belgrano, at least.

The ocean is a big place, and I'm afraid there is fading hope for this crew.

There have been a few false alarms, but it looks like today's the day the oxygen would run out if they hadn't suffered a catastrophic failure already.

Poor sods.

Submarine Disasters: Rare, Tragic

The disappearance this month of an Argentine navy submarine with 44 crew aboard showed the perils that submariners face. Although submarine disasters are rare, here are some of the worst of recent decades.



Kursk catastrophe


On August 12, 2000, the Russian guided missile submarine K-141 Kursk sank to the floor of Barents Sea after two explosions in its bow. All 118 men aboard the nuclear-powered sub died. After recovering the remains of the dead from the sub, officials determined that 23 crew members, including the Kursk's commander, had survived the initial accident before suffocating.



Sinking of the K-8


A fire that broke out aboard the Soviet attack submarine K-8 on April 8, 1970, disabled the nuclear-powered vessel in the Bay of Biscay, forcing the crew to abandon ship. The crew boarded the sub again after a rescue vessel arrived. But the sub sank while under tow in heavy seas, taking 52 submariners with it.


The Scorpion vanishes


In May 1968, the U.S. Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine Scorpion disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean with 99 men aboard. The wreckage was found in October about 400 miles (644 kilometers) southwest of the Azores islands, more than 10,000 feet (3,050 meters) below the surface. There have been several theories about the disaster: It may have involved the accidental release of a torpedo that circled back and hit the Scorpion, an explosion of the sub's huge battery, or even a collision with a Soviet sub.



The sinking of K-129


The K-129, a nuclear-powered Soviet ballistic missile submarine, sank on March 8, 1968, in the Pacific Ocean, taking all 98 crewmen with it. The Soviet navy failed to locate the vessel. A U.S. Navy submarine found it northwest of the Hawaiian island of Oahu at a depth of about 16,000 feet (4,900 meters). A deep-sea drill ship, the Hughes Glomar Explorer, was able to salvage part of the sub in a secret operation. The remains of six Soviet crewmen found in the sub were buried at sea.



The Thresher implosion


On April 10, 1963, the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered attack submarine Thresher was lost with all 129 men aboard. The sub broke apart in 8,400 feet (2,560 meters) of water during deep-dive trials southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. According to U.S. military reviews of the accident, the most likely explanation is that a pipe joint in an engine room seawater system gave way, shorting out electronics and triggering a shutdown of the vessel's reactor that left it without enough power to stop itself from sinking.



K-19: nuclear accident


The K-19, one of the first two Soviet nuclear ballistic missile submarines, had been plagued by breakdowns and accidents before its launch. During its first voyage, on July 4, 1961, the sub suffered a complete loss of coolant to its reactor off the southeast coast of Greenland. The vessel's engineering crew sacrificed their lives to jury-rig an emergency coolant system. Twenty-two of the 139 men aboard died of radiation exposure. The remaining 117 suffered varying degrees of radiation illness. The accident was depicted in the 2002 movie K-19: The Widowmaker.

https://www.voanews.com/a/submarine-...c/4130721.html

The Argentina navy spokesman, Capt. Enrique Balbi, said the “hydro-acoustic anomaly” was determined by the United States and specialist agencies to have been produced Nov. 15, just hours after the final contact with the ARA San Juan and could have come from the sub.
The sound originated about 30 miles north of the submarine’s last registered position, he said.
“It’s a noise. We don’t want to speculate” about what caused it, Balbi said.
He said Argentine navy ships as well as a U.S. P-8 Poseidon aircraft and a Brazilian air force plane would return to the area to check out the clue, even though the area already was searched.

In San Diego, U.S. Navy Lt. Lily Hinz later said the unusual sound detected underwater could not be attributed to marine life or naturally occurring noise in the ocean. She declined to speculate whether it might have been an explosion, saying experts did not know what it was.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.9c970e7b4a6a

Originally Posted by nidhogg

You might like to discuss that point with some of the merchant navy and merchant marine.

At the outset of both campaigns they caused havoc, agreed. They were sussed out pretty quickly afterwards though. Odds of survival for U-boat crews were less than 50%, I would have taken my chances topside any time.

No longer a rescue mission but a recovery one.

RIP.

Argentina's navy says it has called off a rescue mission for the crew of missing submarine ARA San Juan that went missing two weeks ago a few hundred kilometres off the coast of Argentina.
The search for the vessel itself will continue.
Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said that the rescue mission for the 44 crew members "extended for more than twice what is estimated for a rescue."

ARA San Juan: Argentina calls off rescue mission for missing submarine crew but continues search for vessel | The Independent

The best hope is that it’s up a creek in some west African rogue state.

Originally Posted by Switch

The best hope is that it’s up a creek in some west African rogue state.

With MH370 parked nearby, presumably.

A pretty fooked way to die i recon.

Originally Posted by mackayae

HMS Conquerer has been decommissioned, so she can't be blamed.

Did they ever find the logs?