ARA Cabo de Hornos

ARA Cabo de Hornos
Cabo de Hornos docked
Career (Argentina)
Name:	Cabo de Hornos
Namesake:	Cape Horn
Ordered:	1975
Builder:	Príncipe, Menghi y Penco shipyard, Argentina
Launched:	1978
Commissioned:	1979
Identification:	IMO number: 7229031
Status:	In service
General characteristics
Class & type:	Costa Sur-class 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 shafts
Speed:	16.3 knots (30.2 km/h) max; 12 knots (22 km/h) cruise
Capacity:	bulk cargo: 9,857 m3 (348,100 cu ft) or 6,800 tons
Complement:	40
Notes:	characteristics from Argentine Navy official website.

ARA Cabo de Hornos (B-5) is a cargo ship in service with the Argentine Navy since 1979, capable of transporting bulk cargo, live cattle, and containers. She is the second ship in the Argentine Navy to bear the name of the Cape Horn in the south of Tierra del Fuego.

Design

Cabo de Hornos (B-5) is one of three Costa Sur-class cargo ships ordered by the Argentine Navy in 1975, designed and built by the Argentine Príncipe, Menghi y Penco shipyard, at Buenos Aires, Argentina. The design is optimised for Patagonic coastal service.

Cabo de Hornos has 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 holds, one each. She has a bulk cargo capacity of 9,856 m³ (348,100 cu ft) or 6,300 tons (e.g.: coal, cereals, live cattle), and can carry up to 140 containers.

Cabo de Hornos is powered by two 6-cylinder Sulzer 6 ZL 40/48 marine diesel engines of 3,200 hp (2,400 kW) each, driving two variable-pitch propellers; with a maximum speed of 16.3 knots (30.2 km/h; 18.8 mph).

History

With the ships then operating with “Naval Transport Service” ((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.

Cabo de Hornos, the third ship in her class, was launched on 4 November 1978 as Bahía Camarones, being renamed later. She was commissioned on 28 June 1979 and assigned to the Argentine Navy’s Naval Transport Service with the pennant number B-5.

In addition to coastal and riverine activities in Argentina, Cabo de Hornos also operated overseas. In 1981–82 she transported from France to Argentina the then new Super Étendard aircraft incorporated by the Argentine Naval Aviation. In 1989, 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 1992 she transported to the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras, the four Baradero-class patrol boats used under United Nations mandate ONUCA. Also in 1992, she transported troops, vehicles, and supplies of the Argentine Army to Yugoslavia, as part of the UNPROFOR peace mission.^{[citation needed]}

In mid-2012 her hull underwent maintenance.^{[citation needed]}

As of late 2016, Cabo de Hornos remains in service with the Argentine Navy.

References

Bibliography

• Amendolara Bourdette, Ignacio (2005) (in Spanish, English). Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005–2006. Buenos Aires, Argentina. ISBN 987-43-9400-5. http://www.ipneditores.com.ar/product_info.php?products_id=142. Retrieved 2014-09-13. 

Further reading

• Rodríguez, Horacio; Arguindeguy, Pablo (in es). Buques de la Armada Argentina: Sus comandos y operaciones. Vol. III. Presidencia de la Nación, Secretaría de Cultura. 

External links

• Argentine Navy official site – Transportes Clase “COSTA SUR”
• Histarmar website – COMANDO DE TRANSPORTES NAVALES