ARA ''Santa Cruz'' (S-41) is a member of the of diesel-electric

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s of the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...

Design

''Santa Cruz'' was built by Thyssen Nordseewerke. It has a single- hull design, with a lightweight bow and stern and a watertight

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

in the central part. Its sister vessel, was the only other one of its type, though the program originally sought to produce a larger number of submarines. ''Santa Cruz'' received its mid-life modernization at Arsenal de Marinha, Rio de Janeiro Brazil between September 1999 and 2001. The work involved the replacement of the engines, batteries, and sonar.

History

''Santa Cruz'' was built by Thyssen Nordseewerke and completed on 18 October 1984. On 15 June 2014, ''Santa Cruz'' ran aground in an accident near

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

."Argentine Navy active duty diesel-electric attack submarine runs aground"
, Asian Defence News. (accessed 22 June 2014) She was being towed to Tandanor shipyard for maintenance, and was unlocked without damage.
, InfoBae 17/06/2016 (in Spanish), Argentina.. (accessed 05 November 2017)

Mid-life extension

In September 2016, ''Santa Cruz'' started a renovation and life extension program at the Tandanor shipyard in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The work was to include changing all 960 batteries, periscope and snorkel maintenance, revision of engines, and overall system upgrades."http://www.telam.com.ar/notas/201609/161809-tandanor-renovacion-submarino-santa-cruz.html"
, Telam 05/09/2016 (in Spanish), Argentina. (accessed 05 November 2017) Renovation work was halted on 15 November 2017 when sister ship imploded and subsequently sunk, to determine whether the cause of the incident was due to a failure that could be repeated on ''Santa Cruz''. Work was restarted in February 2019, from where it was expected to take two years to return ''Santa Cruz'' to service in 2021. However, by the end of 2020 the refit of ''Santa Cruz'' had been reported cancelled leaving the navy without an operational submarine.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* * * *
Argentine Navy official website - Submarine Force page (Poder Naval - Fuerza de Submarinos - Unidades
(accessed 2017-02-04) *
Latin-American Submariners Community website
(accessed 2017-02-04) {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Cruz TR-1700-class submarines 1982 ships Ships built in Emden