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Class overview
Name	Costa Sur class
Builders	Príncipe, Menghi y Penco, Argentina
Operators	Argentine Navy
Built	1977–1979
In service	1978–present
In commission	1978–present
Planned	3
Completed	3
Active	3
General characteristics
Type	Cargo ship
Displacement	10,894 tons full load
Length	119.9 m (393 ft)
Beam	17.5 m (57 ft)
Draught	7.49 m (24.6 ft)
Propulsion	2 Sulzer 6 ZL 40/48 diesel engines, 6,400 hp (4,800 kW), 2 shaft
Speed	16.3 knots (30.2 km/h) max 12 knots (22 km/h) cruise
Capacity	bulk cargo: 9,700 m (340,000 cu ft) or 6,800 tons refrigerated cargo: 210 m (7,400 cu ft)
Complement	40
Notes	characteristics from Argentine Navy official website.

The Costa Sur-class cargo ship is a class of three cargo ships designed and built in Argentina in 1975–1979 for servicing the Patagonic coast routes; capable of transporting bulk cargo, live cattle, and containers. The ships have been in service with the Argentine Navy since 1978. The class is named after the southern coastal area of Argentina which was designed to service.

Design

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The Costa Sur class was part of a program to replace cargo ships then in service and reaching obsolescence; three ships were ordered by the Argentine Navy in 1975, and designed and built by the Príncipe, Menghi y Penco shipyard, located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The design is optimised for Patagonic coastal service, which sometimes require them to beach on the shore.

The ships in this class have a steel hull and the superstructure at the stern, with a single mast and a single funnel atop, behind the bridge; the cargo area is located in the middle of the ship and three “Liebherr” cranes serve the three cargo holds: one 5 ton crane serves hold 1, one 12.5 ton crane serves hold 2, and one 12.5 ton crane serves hold 3; the latter can be used simultaneously to provide a 25-ton joint lifting capacity into either hold 2 or 3. The ships have a bulk cargo capacity of 9,700 m (340,000 cu ft) or 6,800 tons (e.g.: coal, cereals, live cattle), a refrigerated cargo capacity of 210 m (7,400 cu ft), and can carry up to 140 containers.

The ships are powered by two 6-cylinder Sulzer 6 ZL 40/48 marine diesel engines of 3,200 horsepower (2,400 kW) each, driving two variable-pitch propellers; with a maximum speed of 16.3 knots (30.2 km/h).

Service history

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With the ships then operating with “Naval Transport Service” ((in Spanish) Servicio de Transportes Navales) approaching obsolescence, the Argentine Navy was authorized (via decree 3/10/1975) to order the local construction of three cargo ships for the southern coastal service. The ships, with hull optimised for Patagonic coastal service, were designed and built by the Argentine Príncipe, Menghi y Penco shipyard, at Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the late 1970s and are denominated the Costa Sur class.

The first ship in the Costa Sur class, Canal Beagle, was laid down on 10 January 1977 and launched on 19 October 1977; she was commissioned on 29 April 1978 and assigned to the Argentine Navy’s Naval Transport Service with the pennant number B-3. The second ship, Bahía San Blas, was laid down on 11 April 1977 and launched on 29 April 1978; she was commissioned on 27 November 1978 and assigned to the Naval Transport Service with pennant number B-4. The third (and last) ship in the class, Cabo de Hornos, was launched on 4 November 1978; she was commissioned on 28 June 1979 and assigned to the Naval Transport Service with pennant number B-5.

In addition to coastal and riverine activities in Argentina, the Costa Sur-class ships also operated overseas. In 1981–82 Cabo de Hornos transported from France to Argentina the then new Super Étendard aircraft incorporated by the Argentine Naval Aviation. In 1989, Canal Beagle and Cabo de Hornos helped remove oil from the shipwreck of the polar transport ARA Bahía Paraíso, in an effort to reduce pollution in the Antarctic waters.

In 1991 Bahia San Blas was deployed to the Persian Gulf during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm carrying humanitarian aid and providing logistic support to the Argentine warships in the area. In 1992 the three ships were involved transporting to the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras, the four Baradero-class patrol boats used under United Nations mandate ONUCA; and then back to Argentina. Also in 1992, Cabo de Hornos transported troops, vehicles, and supplies of the Argentine Army to Yugoslavia, as part of the UNPROFOR peace mission.

In 1998, after the retirement of the tank landing ship Cabo San Antonio, Bahía San Blas was converted to an amphibious cargo ship and became the main vessel for use by the Argentine Marines. Since 2004, an Argentine contingent was deployed to Haiti under MINUSTAH mandate and she has been used for logistic support making several voyages to the Caribbean island.

In 2005, Canal Beagle was part of the naval deployment contributing to the security of the 4th Summit of the Americas ((in Spanish) IV Cumbre de las Américas) hold in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata.

Starting in late 2007, Canal Beagle took part in the Argentine Antarctic Program replacing the icebreaker ARA Almirante Irízar in the resupply of the Argentine bases in Argentine Antarctica.

As of late 2016, the three ships in the class remain in service with the Argentine Navy.

Specifications

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2017)

Ships in class

Three ships were built as part of this class.

See also

• List of ships of the Argentine Navy

Footnotes

1. For Canal Beagle, the cranes serving holds 2 and 3 have 20 ton lifting capacity individually and 40 ton when used together.
2. Cabo de Hornos was launched as Bahía Camarones, being renamed later.

References

Notes

1. ^ "Transportes Clase "COSTA SUR"". Armada Argentina – Poder Naval – Flota de Mar -Unidades (in Spanish). Argentina: Argentine Navy. Archived from the original on 2017-10-15. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
2. "COMANDO DE TRANSPORTES NAVALES – Transportes Navales desde 1970 hasta ahora". Histarmar – Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Argentina: Fundación Histarmar. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
3. ^ "CANAL BEAGLE". Histarmar – Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Argentina: Fundación Histarmar. Archived from the original on 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
4. ^ "BAHIA SAN BLAS". Histarmar – Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Argentina: Fundación Histarmar. Archived from the original on 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
5. ^ "CABO DE HORNOS". Histarmar – Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Argentina: Fundación Histarmar. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
6. "Gaceta Marinera Digital © | ARMADA ARGENTINA ::". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
7. "Buque Polar A.R.A. "Bahía Paraíso"". Histarmar – Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Argentina: Fundación Histarmar. Archived from the original on 2017-01-17. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
8. "COMANDO DE TRANSPORTES NAVALES – Operaciones de paz con la ONU". Histarmar – Historia y Arqueología Marítima (in Spanish). Argentina: Fundación Histarmar. Archived from the original on 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
9. Operación Haití: misión de paz en el Caribe Archived 2017-01-16 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 2017-01-14)
10. "Confianza en el operativo de seguridad". La Nación – Política (in Spanish). Argentina: SA La Nación. 4 November 2005. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
11. "Gaceta Marinera Digital © | ARMADA ARGENTINA ::". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
12. "La Armada Argentina subastará buques dados de baja".

Bibliography

• Amendolara Bourdette, Ignacio (2005). Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005–2006 (in Spanish and English). Buenos Aires, Argentina. ISBN 987-43-9400-5. Archived from the original on 2014-09-13. Retrieved 2014-09-13.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

• Gardiner, Robert (1996). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press. p. 675. ISBN 978-155-75013-25.
• Rodríguez, Horacio; Arguindeguy, Pablo. Buques de la Armada Argentina: Sus comandos y operaciones. Vol. III (in Spanish). Presidencia de la Nación, Secretaría de Cultura.

External links

• Argentine Navy official site, Costa Sur class page
• COMANDO DE TRANSPORTES NAVALES – Listado de Buques desde 1950 a 2005 at Histarmar

v t e Current and future ships of the Argentine Navy
Major surface combatants	Almirante Brown-class destroyer (4) Espora-class corvette (6) Drummond-class corvette (3)
Patrol/Fast attack ships	Murature class (1) Gowind class (4) Baradero class (4) Intrépida class (2) POM class (+4 planned)
Amphibious Force	Hércules Bahía San Blas
Submarine Force	Type 209 (1) TR-1700 class (1)
Avisos	Teniente Olivieri Francisco de Gurruchaga Suboficial Castillo Alférez Sobral
Multi-purpose auxiliary ships	Ciudad de Zárate Ciudad de Rosario Punta Alta
Support ships	Patagonia Canal Beagle Cabo de Hornos
Training ships	Libertad Luisito
Oceanographic/Survey ships	Almirante Irízar Puerto Deseado Comodoro Rivadavia Cormorán Petrel
List of ships of the Argentine Navy List of auxiliary ships of the Argentine Navy

• Costa Sur class cargo ships
• Transports of the Argentine Navy
• Ships built in Argentina
• Auxiliary transport ship classes