Santa Fe-class submarine

The three Santa Fe-class submarines in Mar del Plata, in the background mother ship ARA General Belgrano, date unknown
Class overview
Name	Santa Fe class
Builders	Cantieri navali Tosi di Taranto, Taranto, Italy
Operators	Argentine Navy
Built	1928–1958
In commission	1933–1960
Planned	3
Completed	3
Retired	3
General characteristics
Type	Submarine
Displacement	920 long tons (935 t) surfaced 1,155 long tons (1,174 t) submerged
Length	69.20 m (227 ft 0.4 in)
Beam	8.68 m (28 ft 5.7 in)
Draught	5.05 m (16 ft 6.8 in)
Propulsion	2 shafts 2 Diesel engines, 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) 1 Electric motor, 1,399 bhp (1,043 kW)
Speed	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) surfaced 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range	7,100 nmi (13,100 km; 8,200 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced 80 nmi (150 km) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged
Test depth	262.5 ft (80.0 m)
Complement	40
Armament	1 × Cannon 102/35 1 × anti-aircraft gun 6 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow, 2 stern) 12 torpedoes

The Santa Fe-class submarines, also known as "Tarantinos" after the city in which they were built, were a class of three pre-World War II submarines, designed and built in Italy in 1928–1933, as part of an Argentine expansion plan for its navy. They were in service with the Argentine Navy from the early 1930s to the late 1950s. The class was named after Argentine provinces starting with "S", as traditional in the Argentine Navy.

Service History

All three ships in the Santa Fe class were built by the Franco Tosti Shipyard in Taranto, Italy. Santa Fe was launched 29 July 1931 and was affirmed the national flag on 26 October 1932. The submarine, along with its sister boats, Santiago del Estero and Salta, sailed to Buenos Aires where they arrived on 7 April 1933. Santa Fe received its combat flag in its namesake port of Santa Fe on 15 October 1933. It arrived in Mar del Plata on 1 September 1933 where it entered service. In a strong storm in July 1938, Santa Fe rescued a fishing boat in the waters off Cape Corrientes. Asides from this incident all three ships saw peaceful careers with little significance, The exception being Santiago del Estero participating in establishing a blockade on Río de la Plata during the Revolución Libertadora, and during which was attacked by a Gloster Meteor.

Design and Construction

The ships were ordered to fulfil the requirement of Article 2 of Law 11.378, which called for 6 submarines in two batches, However only one batch would be purchased. All 3 ships were ordered in October of 1927, All 3 ships would be built by Italian yards to the Cavallini hull configurations.

Ships in class

Ship name	Pennant number	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned
Santa Fe	S-1	Franco Tosi, Taranto	1928	28 July 1931	1932	1956
Santiago del Estero	S-2		1928	28 March 1932	1933	1959
Salta	S-3		1928	17 January 1932	1933	1960

See also

• List of ships of the Argentine Navy
• Submarine Force Command

References

Bibliography

• Arguindeguy, Pablo (1972). Apuntes sobre los buques de la Armada Argentina (1810-1970) (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Comando en Jefe de la Armada.
• Scheina, Robert L. & Smigelski, Adam (1995). "Argentina". In Chumbley, Stephen (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1947–1995 (revised ed.). Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.

Further reading

• Burzio, Humberto (1960). Armada Nacional (in Spanish). Secretaria de Estado de Marina.
• Burzaco, Ricardo (1999). SUBMARINOS DE LA ARMADA ARGENTINA 1933 - 2000 (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Eugenio B. ISBN 9789879676417.

External links

• “Tarantinos” class submarines - Histarmar website (Historia y Arqueología Marítima – Submarinos Clase “Tarantinos”) (accessed 2016-12-30)
• “Santa Fe” submarine S1 - Histarmar website (Historia y Arqueología Marítima – Submarino “Santa Fe” S1) (accessed 2016-12-31)
• “Santiago del Estero” submarine S2 later S3 - Histarmar website (Historia y Arqueología Marítima – Submarino “Santiago del Estero” S2 luego S3) (accessed 2016-12-31)

• “Salta” submarine S3 later S2 - Histarmar website (Historia y Arqueología Marítima – Submarino “Salta” S3 luego S2) (accessed 2016-12-31)

• https://web.archive.org/web/20241209030541/https://www.navypedia.org/ships/argentina/arg_ss_santa_fe.htm (accessed 2026-9-28)
• https://www.argentina.gob.ar/normativa/nacional/norma-120711/texto (accessed 2026-9-28)