ARA Bahía San Blas

ARA Bahia San Blas in Gonaïves, Haiti
History
Argentina
Name	ARA Bahía San Blas
Namesake	San Blas Bay, Buenos Aires
Builder	Astillero Príncipe, Menghi y Penco
Commissioned	November 1978
Status	Active in service
General characteristics
Type	Costa Sur-class (modified)
Displacement	10.894 Ton full load
Length	119.9 m (393 ft)
Beam	17.5 m (57 ft)
Draught	7.49 m (24.6 ft)
Propulsion	2 Diesel Sulzer 6 ZL 40/48, 6.400 hp (4.772 kW), 2 shaft
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h)
Capacity	120 containers
Complement	40
Notes	cargo 9,856 m^3, 6,300 Tons

ARA Bahía San Blas is an Amphibious cargo ship of the Argentine Navy, capable of discharging landing craft, troops, vehicles and cargo. Is the first ship to bear the name of the Bay of San Blas in the south of Buenos Aires Province.

History

Bahia San Blas is a Costa Sur class vessel built at Astilleros Príncipe, Menghi y Penco at Buenos Aires in 1978 entering service on November of that year in the Transport Maritime service of the Argentine Navy. The other ships of the class are the ARA Canal de Beagle and ARA Cabo de Hornos.

In 1991 was deployed to the Persian Gulf during operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm carrying humanitarian aid and providing logistic support to the Argentine warships in the area.

In 1992 transported back from the Gulf of Fonseca the four Barradero-class patrol boats used under United Nations mandate ONUCA.

After the retirement of the ARA Cabo San Antonio, San Blas became the main vessel for use by the Argentine Marines receiving several modifications.

Since 2004, an Argentine contingent was deployed to Haiti under MINUSTAH mandate and the San Blas has been used for logistic support making several voyages to the Caribbean island.

External links

• official site
• Bahia San Blas at Histarmar