ARA Isla de los Estados

History

Argentina
Name	Isla de los Estados
Namesake	Isla de los Estados
Builder	Sociedad Metalúrgica Duro Felguera, Gijón, Spain
Yard number	122
Launched	1975, as Trans-Bética
In service	22 December 1980
Identification	IMO number: 7403718
Fate	Sunk, 11 May 1982
General characteristics ^[1]
Type	Cargo ship
Tonnage	3,900 GRT
Length	81.4 m (267 ft 1 in)
Beam	13.4 m (44 ft 0 in)
Draught	4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	Diesel engine, single screw
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	27
Service record
Part of:	Argentine Navy, Naval Transport Service
Operations:	Operation Rosario

ARA Isla de los Estados was an Argentine Navy supply ship sunk during the Falklands War.

Ship history

The 3,900-ton ship was built in 1975 by the Sociedad Metalúrgica Duro Felguera in Gijón, Spain, as Trans-Bética. She was acquired by the Argentine Navy, renamed after the island east of Tierra del Fuego, and commissioned into the Naval Transport Service on 22 December 1980, being used to maintain a regular transport service between the Falkland Islands and the mainland.^[1]

Falklands war

On 28 March 1982 she sailed from Puerto Deseado to participate in Operation Rosario in the Falkland Islands, arriving on 4 April, three days after the initial landings, to provide transport around the archipelago.^[1]

The ship, among many other things, transported troops to occupy Darwin, Goose Green and Fox Bay.^{[citation needed]}

Between 15 and 17 April^[2] she sowed mines in the waters surrounding Stanley. These mines had been carried by the ARA Bahia Buen Suceso.^{[citation needed]}

Sinking

Isla de los Estados was sunk by HMS Alacrity during the first hours of 11 May 1982 in a surface action north of the Swan Islands in Falkland Sound. Alacrity engaged Isla de los Estados with her 4.5-inch gun. The Argentine transport blew up after several hits ignited her cargo of jet fuel and ammunition.^[3] Only two of the 24 men aboard survived; 15 crew members and seven servicemen (from all three armed forces plus the coast guard) were killed or missing.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Historia y Arqueologia Marítima". histarmar.com.ar (in Spanish). 2011. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
^ Holloway, Martyn. "The Falklands Conflict". THE VERNON LINK. Retrieved 2023-08-09.
^ Mayorga, Horacio A.: No Vencidos. Ed. Planeta, Buenos Aires, 1998, page 320. ISBN 950-742-976-X (in Spanish)