ARA ''Bahía San Blas'' is an amphibious cargo ship 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 ...

, capable of unloading

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...

, troops, vehicles and cargo. She is the first Argentine Navy ship to bear the name of San Blas Bay of in the south of

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

Design

''Bahía San Blas'' (B-4) is one of three The other ships in the class are the ARA ''Canal Beagle'' and ARA ''Cabo de Hornos''. cargo ships ordered by the

in 1975, designed and built by the Argentine Príncipe, Menghi y Penco shipyard, at

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 ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The design is optimised for Patagonic coastal service. ''Bahía San Blas'' has a steel hull and the

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 ...

at the stern, with a single mast and a single

funnel A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening. Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its constructi ...

atop, behind the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

; the cargo area is located in the middle of the ship and three

Liebherr Liebherr () is a German-Swiss multinational corporation, multinational equipment manufacturer based in Bulle, Switzerland, with its main production facilities and origins in Germany. Liebherr consists of over 130 companies organized into 11 divi ...

cranes serve the three holds, one each.One 5-ton crane servers hold 1, and two 12.5-ton cranes serve holds 2 and 3; these can be used simultaneously to provide a 25-ton lifting capacity into either hold 2 or 3. She has a bulk cargo capacity of or 6,300 tons (e.g.: coal, cereals, live cattle), and can carry up to 140

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

. ''Bahía San Blas'' is powered by two 6-cylinder Sulzer 6 ZL 40/48 marine diesel engines of each, driving two variable-pitch propellers; with a maximum speed of .

History

The ship is a vessel built at Astilleros Príncipe, Menghi y Penco at

in 1978 entering service on November of that year in the Transport Maritime service of the

. The other ships of the class are and . In 1991 she was deployed to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

during operations Desert Shield and

Desert Storm , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

carrying humanitarian aid and providing logistic support to the Argentine warships in the area. In 1992 ''Bahía San Blas'' transported back from the

Gulf of Fonseca The Gulf of Fonseca (; ), a part of the Pacific Ocean, is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The waters of the gulf are shared among all three countries. History Fonseca Bay was discovered by European ...

the four ''Baradero''-class patrol boats used under

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

mandate

ONUCA ONUCA was a United Nations peacekeeping mission deployed in Central America in 1990 and 1991. ONUCA The United Nations Security Council formally created ONUCA ("United Nations Observer Group in Central America") when it approved Resolution 6 ...

. After the retirement of , ''Bahía San Blas'' became the main vessel for use by the Argentine Marines receiving several modifications. Since 2004, an Argentine contingent was deployed to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

under

MINUSTAH The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (), also known as MINUSTAH, an acronym of its French name, was a UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti from 2004 to 2017. It was composed of 2,366 military personnel and 2,533 police, supported by int ...

mandate and ''Bahía San Blas'' has been used for logistic support making several voyages to the Caribbean island.Operación Haití: misión de paz en el Caribe
(accessed 2017-01-14) As of late 2016, ''Bahía San Blas'' remains in service with the Argentine Navy.

Footnotes

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Argentine Navy official site, Costa Sur class page

at Histarmar {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahia San Blas Costa Sur class cargo ships Amphibious warfare vessels of the Argentine Navy Transports of the Argentine Navy Ships built in Argentina Gulf War ships of Argentina 1978 ships