ARA Comodoro Somellera

ARA Comodoro Somellera (A-10) was a Sotoyomo-class rescue tug that served in the Argentine Navy from 1972 to 1998 classified as an aviso. She previously served in the US Navy as USS Catawba (ATA-210) from 1945 to 1972. After being damaged beyond repair in 1998, she was sunk on purpose as a weapons target in November 2017.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Catawba.

USS Catawba
History
United States
NameCatawba
NamesakeCatawba River
BuilderGulfport Boiler & Welding Works
Launched15 February 1945
Commissioned1945
Decommissioned1972
Fatetransferred to Argentine Navy, 1972
Stricken1 February 1972
Argentina
NameComodoro Somellera
Acquired10 February 1972
Commissioned10 February 1972
Out of service1998
FateSunk during storm in Port of Ushuaia in 1998, hull recovered and stored before use as a target in 2017
General characteristics
Class and typeSotoyomo-class tugboat
Displacement835 tons (848 t) (full)
Length143 ft (44 m)
Beam33 ft 10 in (10.31 m)
Draft13 ft 2 in (4.01 m)
Propulsion
  • Diesel-electric engines,
  • 1,500 shp (1,100 kW) single screw
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement45–49
Armament

Description

The tug was 143 feet (44 m) long, with a beam of 34 feet (10 m). She had a displacement of 835 tons.[1]

US Navy service

Catawba was laid down as ATR-137 at Gulfport Boiler & Welding Works shipyard in Port Arthur, Texas and reclassified ATA-210 on 15 May 1944. The ship was launched on 15 February 1945 and commissioned by the United States Navy on 18 April 1945. The third ship of the United States Navy to carry the name, she was named after the Catawba River, in North Carolina. In 1959 she served in Operation Inland Seas.[1] She was decommissioned in 1972 and transferred to the Argentine Navy.

Argentine service
Antonio Somellera

The ship was named after Commodore Antonio Somellera, who joined the Argentine Navy in 1828 with his brigantine General Rondeau to fight in the Cisplatine War. She was acquired in 1972 along with her sister ship ARA Alférez Sobral, departing together from Mayport, Florida on 6 March 1972 and arriving at Puerto Belgrano on 18 April.

Both ships served during the 1982 Falklands War where they were involved in a confused episode. The British claimed to have sunk Comodoro Somellera with a Sea Skua missile,[2] but this claim was subsequently dropped when the British re-evaluated claims after the war. Comodoro Somellera spent the period of the war in the opening of the Strait of Magellan. From 1988 she was assigned to Ushuaia naval base until 1995, when she was transferred back to Puerto Belgrano.

In 1997, she participated in Operacion Calypso, an attempt to locate German U-boats sunk along the Patagonian coast.[3]

The ship continued to serve in the Argentine Navy until 19 August 1998 when, after finishing an exercise with the Chilean Navy, she sank in the port of Ushuaia during a storm following a collision with the patrol tug ARA Suboficial Castillo.[4][5] The ship was later refloated,[6] but the hull was considered too old to be repaired and was finally retired from the naval service, being expended as a target ship in November 2017, when Comodoro Somellera was sunk by an Exocet missile fired by the destroyer ARA La Argentina.[7]

References

Notes
  1. "Catawba". DANFS. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  2. "Air and naval actions between 2nd May and 16th May". Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  3. Reflotan la hipótesis sobre la presencia de submarinos nazis en la costa patagónica Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  4. "ARA Comodoro Somellera 1995 picture". Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  5. Sunk in Ushuaia port during a storm after collision with ARA Suboficial Castillo (A-6) (in Spanish)
  6. Comienzan los trabajos para reflotar el aviso Somellera (in Spanish)
  7. Con un misil hundieron el Aviso Somellera

Online sources

Further reading
  • Guia de los buques de la Armada Argentina 2005-2006. Ignacio Amendolara Bourdette, ISBN 987-43-9400-5, Editor n/a. (Spanish/English text)
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