FOUND - Argentine submarine goes missing with 44 crew members on board, November 2017

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Relatives of missing submarine crew chain themselves in protest

Families of the crew of an Argentine submarine that went missing in November chained themselves to the gates of the presidential palace in Buenos Aires in the hope of forcing the government to resume the search and investigate what happened to the ARA San Juan.
 
Relatives of missing submarine crew chain themselves in protest

Families of the crew of an Argentine submarine that went missing in November chained themselves to the gates of the presidential palace in Buenos Aires in the hope of forcing the government to resume the search and investigate what happened to the ARA San Juan.

How dreadful people have to resort to this to get the government to resume search and investigate what happened. It must be terrible to be left in limbo like this. Out of sight out of mind, springs to mind. What is it they don't want known?
 
One Year Later, Search For Missing Argentine Submarine Continues - USNI News

Starting in early October, Houston-based Ocean Infinity deployed its research vessel Seabed Constructor and an array of five autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to comb the South Atlantic off the Argentine coast for the missing attack boat and its crew of 44 sailors now presumed dead.

The firm had several clues to start with, such as San Juan’s location, roughly 240 nautical miles east of Argentina’s San Jorge Gulf, when the sub sent its final communication.
 
Found!

Argentine submarine found at bottom of Atlantic after year of searching

An Argentine submarine that went missing almost exactly one year ago has been found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Argentine Navy and Defense Ministry confirmed late Friday evening that the remains of the ARA San Juan submarine had been located in the south Atlantic Ocean at a depth of about 800 meters (approximately a half mile), about 700 miles due east of the Argentine city of Puerto Madryn.

The sub was discovered Friday by U.S. company Ocean Infinity, which was in charge of the search operation. The company sent out mini-submarines to the seabed and one returned with definitive photo evidence of the wreckage of the submarine. In the deal the Houston-based company made with the Argentine government, finding the wreckage of the submarine would trigger a payment of $7.5 million.
 
How dreadful people have to resort to this to get the government to resume search and investigate what happened. It must be terrible to be left in limbo like this. Out of sight out of mind, springs to mind. What is it they don't want known?
I think the situation described above stems from a "perfect storm" of unfortunate circumstances:

The background:

- Argentinian economy as a whole has declined from regional power house to "barely hanging on".
-This means smaller budgets and the military making do with older equipment.
-The submarine was past its planned operating life and the partial refit was done on a reduced budget.
- The crew had not sailed recently. Submarine crews must sail and train constantly because when things go bad, they go very bad, very fast.
-Argentina fought a war with the UK and almost fought a war with Chile (the two are not on speaking terms today). The Argentinian navy feels they need submarines as a credible deterrent.

Then finding the submarine:

- Submarines traditionally sail 'secret' courses. The navy command knows the general area, but the true course in known only to the captain and a few officers. This makes sunken submarines hard to find.
- Argentina does not have any high tech underwater search ships. They are very expensive to charter- and then might not be able to find the submarine. The money needs to come from somewhere (see first "storm cloud" about economy).... .
 
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Wow that's a surprise. It took them twice as long to find it, as it took to find the El Faro, and they almost gave up on that one, before they found it.

Well, they did essentially give up on this one. They weren't actively searching. It was only found because Ocean Infinity came in 10 months later and offered to search. Without them it would not have been found. I so wish they had been as successful with MH370.
 
Well, they did essentially give up on this one. They weren't actively searching. It was only found because Ocean Infinity came in 10 months later and offered to search. Without them it would not have been found. I so wish they had been as successful with MH370.

The El Faro was the same. It was found on the third search. They were not actively looking for it for four months.

MH370 is another matter. That will never be found. It was much smaller than a ship or submarine, and would have broken up on impact. There is likely very few recognizable pieces of it still floating around the Pacific Ocean.
 

I'm very glad that the wreckage was located, so that the families finally have some closure.

However, these headlines are very strange and extremely misleading to the general public.

"May" have imploded" = absolutely, positively imploded.

The wreckage is at nearly 3000 feet (2975). Typical "crush depth" for known U.S. subs (at least what is released to the public) is around 1500 feet.

No matter what happened to the sub during the accident, once it passed about 1800 feet as it sank, it imploded quite violently (and at extremely high internal air temperatures) as it sank.

Sadly, there are likely no remains to be recovered.

That doesn't mean that there is not valuable information to be gathered if the wreckage is brought to the surface, but recovering remains of the crew aren't likely.

May the 44 crew members rest in peace, and their families, friends, and loved ones find closure in this terrible accident.

Submarine depth ratings - Wikipedia

INTERESTING THINGS: Submarine Crush Depth
 
Its very difficult to see much from the few photos. I am sure experts can make out much more. As KZ indicated, it would almost certainly implode at that depth (unless it had totally flooded before then). But why was it down that far, what caused the disaster. Argentina doesn't have the technical ability to really investigate the wreck. So they will have to pay someone (another country or company) to do it for them. And money isn't something that Argentina has much of right now. So we may really never know what happened. Sadly, whatever did happen, would have been awful and their last minutes would have been terrifying.
 
I'm very glad that the wreckage was located, so that the families finally have some closure.

However, these headlines are very strange and extremely misleading to the general public.

"May" have imploded" = absolutely, positively imploded.

The wreckage is at nearly 3000 feet (2975). Typical "crush depth" for known U.S. subs (at least what is released to the public) is around 1500 feet.

No matter what happened to the sub during the accident, once it passed about 1800 feet as it sank, it imploded quite violently (and at extremely high internal air temperatures) as it sank.

Sadly, there are likely no remains to be recovered.

That doesn't mean that there is not valuable information to be gathered if the wreckage is brought to the surface, but recovering remains of the crew aren't likely.

May the 44 crew members rest in peace, and their families, friends, and loved ones find closure in this terrible accident.

Submarine depth ratings - Wikipedia

INTERESTING THINGS: Submarine Crush Depth

Thanks for explaining about the implosion that would occur even if they had a failure at the surface at first that caused it to sink. I was thinking the exact same thing about the pictures and seeing imploded metal.

The reporters need to be careful not to say the implosion was the actual cause because it may not have even imploded until it sank past the depth where it was even supposed to go. Some other failure could have caused it to sink down which could have been the real cause of the accident.

No matter how it went down I just feel sad for all on board and their families. Prayers for all of them.
 

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