Mothballed ARA Trinidad Sinks in Harbour

Pointblank

Senior Member
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina's defense chief expressed shame Wednesday after a navy destroyer sank at its moorings, putting on display the declining fortunes of a once-proud fleet.

The ARA Trinidad led Argentina's 1982 sea war against Britain, but has long been mothballed and used for spare parts to sustain what's left of Argentina's navy.

Apparently, a pipe burst on board and flooded the ship. The Navy thinks that lack of maintenance is the cause, but the Defence Minister thinks negligence or even sabotage.

Judging from the fact she's rolled over and the superstructure is also underwater, and the fact that she spent over 2 decades tied up and has been cannibalized for spare parts, she's heading to the scrappers.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
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Apparently, a pipe burst on board and flooded the ship. The Navy thinks that lack of maintenance is the cause, but the Defence Minister thinks negligence or even sabotage.

Judging from the fact she's rolled over and the superstructure is also underwater, and the fact that she spent over 2 decades tied up and has been cannibalized for spare parts, she's heading to the scrappers.

No way? That's sad to see. But than again she is quite old.
 

Pointblank

Senior Member
No way? That's sad to see. But than again she is quite old.

What's more shocking is the state of the Argentine Navy being reported; of a total of 70 navy ships, only 16 are in sailing condition and, even then, only barely. The Argentine Navy is in no shape or form for a war, and I can only imagine the condition the ships are in today and the amount of work necessary to bring them back to operational standards.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
No way? That's sad to see. But than again she is quite old.
Not that old. The vessel was commissioned in 1981, which makes her 32 years old.

The Indians operate a carrier that is almost 55 years old.

Numerous countries still operate old 1950s vintage vessels that they have upgraded amd maintained.

As long as you have the money to do the maintenance and upgrades, you can keep such platforms in some form of good condition and even make them a credible threat.

But it is clear that the Argentine Navy is falling into a serious state of disrepair where an internal pipe bursting sank this ship.

That is a very sad end to what at one time was a top rated fighting vessel. And a testament to where the Argentines are right now in terms of their Navy.

This is the same type of destroyer that their own A-4s sank two of in 1982. In fact, at that time, the Santísima Trinidad, was only a year old having been built for the Argentines in 1981.

To this day, one of the class, the last in service, is still operated by Royal Navy as a front line war vessel, D97, HMS Edinburgh. Of course that vessel was built after the War, in 1985, and benefitted from numerous upgrades at the time, and since, to ensure that she was better able to defend against low flying aircraft. In fact, starting in January of this year, the Edinburgh was on duty anchored off Stanley in the Falkland Islands, providing protection to the small community as the result of the Argentine warlike rhetoric once again being bandied about.

All of this just shows that the same vessels, operated by different navies, fair far differently depending on the budgets that allow them to be maintained and upgraded, and the quality of the training for that maintenance and upgrade.
 
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Miragedriver

Brigadier
I agree with you! The budget of the armed forces has been slashed to a point where over 70% of the budget goes to personnel (payroll, food, house, retirement, etc..) and the remaining portion of the budget is for maintenance. This is insufficient to even maintain the equipment operation let alone properly maintain all the equipment in inventory. There is also little or no money for training.
The government is made up of resentful anti-military junta types form the 1970’s and their loathing and hated for the armed services is evident in the horrible state of the all the military. This is exemplified in their progresive philosophy of peace by disarmament. They are only interested in advancing their own political future and agenda.

Any nation that will not provide for the defense of its citizenry is criminal.
 

Miragedriver

Brigadier
Additionally the Air Force is still operating the Mirage III and the Mirage V. They have the Cyrano II radar which is about as useful as taping a flashlight to the nosecone. They can launch the obsolete Magic I and that's it. No targeting pods, and only dumb bombs. They are (fucking) flying museum pieces. The only reason they're still in service is because without them, the squadron that flies them would be out of a job and they'd have no reason to keep the few pilots they have and all the support personnel around. They are basically target drones for the Chilean F-16’s

The Fightinghawks (A-4AR)are some of the best fighter-bombers in South America, with a good electronics suite, however they have no smart weapons and a lot of them are mothballed and stored (15 approximately). There's not enough money to operate all the types.
 
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