Mothballed ARA Trinidad Sinks in Harbour

Jeff Head said:

A sad statement and almost an eptitath...but true none the less...and so sad. Yet, there is always time, stretching forward, and with time, and new generations can come hope.

Perhaps new leaders will come to power by the voice and will of the people, whio will make wise use of the great resources Argentina still has, and some day things will turn around.

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Jeff, I hope your words come true. Personally I don’t see that happening. Maybe with the new Pope being from here people will begging to wakeup and be part of the world and not live in there own narcissistic bubble. I plan on using all I have to make sure my sons receive an American education and hopefully remain there.

Jeff Head said:

A sad statement and almost an eptitath...but true none the less...and so sad. Yet, there is always time, stretching forward, and with time, and new generations can come hope.

Perhaps new leaders will come to power by the voice and will of the people, who will make wise use of the great resources Argentina still has, and some day things will turn around.

Click to expand...

More bad news
The national deputy Alberto Asseff (UNIR) has called on the National Executive, through the Ministry of Defense, Report to the House of Deputies about the current state of the submarine "San Luis" principally to communicate if it will be scheduled for repair or demolition. It is the only 209-class submarine in the world, now out of service and with no clear future. The deputy also noted that information is required on the future of the submarine fleet and specifically how many hours / year navigation is planned for these vessels.

Regarding the recent sinking of the frigate Holy Trinity, Asseff noted that "The national government that talks so much about sovereignty remains undaunted by the loss of a vessel. The type 209 is mothballed, gradually deteriorating, instead of sailing the Argentine Sea."

Additionally the grounding of the "Beagle", which was carrying fuel from the port of La Plata to Ushuaia, as part of re-supply mission to Antarctica and, after suffering a problem with the propeller shaft, anchored off ended Bahia Blanca. The incident of this ship is one in a series of calamities suffered in recent months by ships of the Armada Argentina, as the breakdown of the Meko 140 class corvettes, for which they were taken out of service, and "Spore" , who was still in South Africa for three months for repair

Miragedriver said:

The national deputy Alberto Asseff (UNIR) has called on the National Executive, through the Ministry of Defense, Report to the House of Deputies about the current state of the submarine "San Luis" principally to communicate if it will be scheduled for repair or demolition. It is the only 209-class submarine in the world, now out of service and with no clear future.

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I am not sure I understand you correctly here. There are actually a lot of Type 209 subs still serving. Agentina itself still has the Salta (S-31) doesn't it? She completed an overhaul in 2004-2005 I thought.

S. Korea still operate 9 209s as the Chang Bogo class which they just completed upgrading in 2008. In fact, S. Korea is license building three brand new ones (to their Chang Bogo standard) for Indonesia to be delivered by 2016. Bolivia has 2, Turkey has 14, Peru has 6, South Africa has 3, Indonesia has 2 and will add three more, India has 4, Greece has 5, Peru and Ecuador and Chile each have 2, Brazil has 4...there are just a lot of 209s still out there and operational. 56 still in service with another 6 new ones planned.

Miragedriver said:

... a series of calamities suffered in recent months by ships of the Armada Argentina, as the breakdown of the Meko 140 class corvettes, for which they were taken out of service.

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I was not aware that the Mekos had been taken out of service. The 360s and the 140s? All of them?

As a side note, the MEKO design in its various configuations and sizes has been a VERY successful corvett-frigate design. In all, 68 have been built for eleven different countries since 1981. They continue to be modernized and put out as brand new vessels to this day. The German 124 and 125 Frigates are MEKO derivitives, the 125s will be built through 2018.

Jeff Head said:

I am not sure I understand you correctly here. There are actually a lot of Type 209 subs still serving. Agentina itself still has the Salta (S-31) doesn't it? She completed an overhaul in 2004-2005 I thought.

S. Korea still operate 9 209s as the Chang Bogo class which they just completed upgrading in 2008. In fact, S. Korea is license building three brand new ones (to their Chang Bogo standard) for Indonesia to be delivered by 2016. Bolivia has 2, Turkey has 14, Peru has 6, South Africa has 3, Indonesia has 2 and will add three more, India has 4, Greece has 5, Peru and Ecuador and Chile each have 2, Brazil has 4...there are just a lot of 209s still out there and operational. 56 still in service with another 6 new ones planned.

I was not aware that the Mekos had been taken out of service. The 360s and the 140s? All of them?

As a side note, the MEKO design in its various configuations and sizes has been a VERY successful corvett-frigate design. In all, 68 have been built for eleven different countries since 1981. They continue to be modernized and put out as brand new vessels to this day. The German 124 and 125 Frigates are MEKO derivitives, the 125s will be built through 2018.

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Hello Jeff, what I assume the article was eluding to is that of all the type 209 in service (around the world), it’s the only one having been mothballed and no longer in service. Apparently the overhaul was not 100% completed.

In regards to the Meko 140 (which is a very nice vessel) they are “still in service” but confined to port due to a lack of spare parts. The Navy is apparently under the mentality that if you don’t use it will not deteriorate any more.