Argentine Naval Ship Sinks While Moored, Investigation Ordered

Argentina's Defense Minister Arturo Puricelli ordered the Argentine Navy chief, Admiral Daniel Martin, to conduct an accountability inquiry around the sinking of the "Holy Trinity", at the base of Puerto Belgrano.

Apparently Santísima Trinidad suffered a broken valve which resulted in the flooding of six compartments. The flooding was beyond the capacity of the pumps and the crew were evacuated. The ship took on a 50 degree list and sank at the moorings.

Puricelli emphasized that "after the preliminary investigation, which should be completed quickly, no doubt there will be sanctions." In this regard, he said that "it is very rare that a vessel is disabled and could sink low duty within hours."

"This is a ship that generationally is not that old, it's from the seventies," the defense minister told the press. Against this backdrop, Puricelli said that "negligence in his custody, at best cases" and did not rule that this has been an attack in order to criticize the national government - especially after Argentina's president completed a successful tour of Asia.

He added: "It strikes me that the vessel has sunk while moored. Within hours the ship sank and was heeled quickly, so that the damage would have been very large or that someone has opened a valve to achieve its collapse."

Puricelli confirmed that Navy personnel is pursuing recovery efforts to attempt to put the ship afloat again. 

ARA Santísima Trinidad is a Type 42 destroyer of the Argentine Navy, the only destroyer of her class built outside Britain. She participated in the 1982 Falklands War. She was built at the Argentine AFNE Río Santiago shipyard and commissioned in 1980.