ARA Puerto Deseado (Q-20) is an oceanographic survey ship in service in the Argentine Navy. She has a reinforced hull in order to operate in waters around Antarctica.

ARA Puerto Deseado in Mar del Plata
History
Argentina
NamePuerto Deseado
NamesakePuerto Deseado
Ordered7 December 1971
BuilderAstarsa
Launched8 December 1976
Commissioned11 December 1978
Identification
Statusin service as of 2018
General characteristics
Displacement2400 tons (full)
Length76.8 m (252 ft)
Beam15.8 m (52 ft)
Draft3.5 m (11 ft)
Propulsion2 MAN AG 9L20/27 Diesel-electric 900 KW each

2 motores eléctricos de corriente alternada marca ABB de 380 V, 120 kW para propulsión auxiliar • sistema de hélice de paso variable BERG • 4 alternadores Stamford modelo MHC 534 C2 de 380 V, 50 Hz, accionados por motores diésel marca MTU-Mercedez Benz de 12 cilindros en "V"

• 1 alternador auxiliar Siemens de 400V 50 HZ, accionados un motor diésel Deutz de 6 cilindros en línea
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
Range12,000 mi (19,000 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h), 90 days
Complement60 + 20 scientist
Sensors and
processing systems
navigation radar Decca 1629
Armamentnone

History

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Puerto Deseado was built by Astilleros Argentinos Río de la Plata (Astarsa) shipyard in Tigre, Buenos Aires and commissioned into the Argentine Navy in 1978. She was the first navy ship to be named upon the city of Puerto Deseado in the patagonian Santa Cruz province.

During the 1982 Falklands War she served as hospital ship.

On 2003 she participated on the unsuccessful attempt to find the sunken cruiser ARA General Belgrano along with a National Geographic team on the vessel Seacor Lenga.[1][2]

Puerto Deseado serves the CONICET, the Argentine government agency that directs and co-ordinates scientific and technical research. The ship actively participated on the summer Antarctic campaigns.[3] Her scientific equipment includes a gravimetric sensor, magnetometers, seismic systems, high frequency sound sonar and a geological laboratory.

In 2007, Puerto Deseado and Comodoro Rivadavia, were reequipped by Kongsberg Gruppen with bathymetric systems in a program sponsored by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programs).[4] Since then, Puerto Deseado was involved in the investigation of the continental shelf of the Argentine Sea that was finally submitted on 22 April 2009 to the United Nations (UN) for 1,700,000 square kilometres (660,000 sq mi) of ocean territory to be recognised as Argentina's as governed by the Convention on the Continental Shelf and Convention on the Law of the Sea.[5][6][7]

In March 2010 she began studies on behalf of Repsol YPF.[8]

She is homeported at Mar del Plata.

References

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  1. ^ "Llegó a puerto el Seacor Lenga". Archived from the original on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  2. ^ No hallaron al ARA General Belgrano
  3. ^ El buque oceanográfico "Puerto Deseado" zarpó hacia la Antártida
  4. ^ KONGSBERG installs echo sounders on Argentine Navy survey ships
  5. ^ "Argentina claims vast ocean area". BBC News. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  6. ^ El buque Oceanográfico ARA" Puerto Deseado", inicia la CAV 08-09
  7. ^ El Senado bonaerense resalta el aporte del buque oceanográfico "Puerto Deseado" Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ elabora estudios en el marco de un convenio entre YPF y el CONICET en procura de realizar una utilización de los recursos del lecho marino Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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