ARA San Luis (S-32)
The ARA San Luis (S-32) is a Type 209 diesel-powered submarine of the Argentine Navy. Built in Germany, San Luis has a displacement of 1,285 tonnes and was introduced to the ARA in 1978. She was struck in 1997 after an incomplete overhaul.
History
San Luis is most famous for serving in the Falklands War (Template:Lang-es) of 1982. Only one other submarine, the old Second World War era ARA Santa Fe was also operational at this time. After the Santa Fe was captured badly damaged and scuttled by the British in South Georgia on April 28, and the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror had sunk the ARA General Belgrano on May 2, the Argentine fleet retired to port for the duration of the war, with the exception of the San Luis, making her the only Argentine naval presence facing the British fleet. The San Luis was a major concern for the British as she presented a serious danger.
San Luis reported two attacks on Royal Navy ships during the war. On May 1, the ships HMS Brilliant and Yarmouth were sent to hunt down the San Luis operating north of Stanley. San Luis reported firing one German-made SST-4 torpedo at the ship which subsequently missed.
San Luis attacked again on the night of May 10. Alacrity had made passage up Falkland Sound, sinking an Argentine merchant navy ship on the way. As Alacrity left the channel before dawn, its sister ship Arrow was waiting to escort her back to the Task Force. San Luis detected the two ships and fired two SST-4 torpedoes upon them. But the first torpedo didn't leave its tube and the second one was fooled by the Arrow's torpedo decoy.[citation needed]
San Luis returned to Puerto Belgrano on May 17 in an attempt to fix her weapons system but the war ended before she could sail again.
During her intervention, San Luis was free to patrol and this caused the British task force to be on the defence at all times. The British expended most of their ordnance on suspected contacts - most of which were false contacts caused by the ocean's many anomalies. The British ships present to counter the Argentine submarine threat were: one carrier, eleven destroyers, five nuclear powered submarines, one diesel submarine, and over 25 helicopters. Even though no ships were sunk by the San Luis, this is an impressive amount of ships to be tied up by one diesel powered submarine. This is more impressive considering that she was not even hit by the British force.[1]
References
Template:Es La Nacion newspaper: La guerra que no se vió