Argentina designs a new polar ship together with Finland

The “Admiral Irízar” returns to Buenos Aires after four months in Antarctica

Photo: archive

The icebreaker “Almirante Irízar” returns this Monday at noon to the port of Buenos Aires after completing a four-month journey in the seas of Antarctica, where it completed the supply and relief of the personnel that operates the bases of Argentina in its territory of the white continent.

The ‘Irízar’ delayed its return for a few days to embark in Ushuaia the surviving veterans of the cruise ship ‘General Belgrano’ who, together with Defense Minister Jorge Taiana, led a tribute to that ship at the exact point in the South Atlantic where it was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands War at 4:02 p.m. on May 2, 1982.

On board the icebreaker, which has already left the port of Ushuaia in the direction of Buenos Aires, the commander of the “Irízar, the ship’s captain Carlos Musso Soler, stated in dialogue with Télam that “it can be considered that this Antarctic Summer Campaign was successful because all the planned objectives could be met and even more so because there were tasks that were not planned and were also carried out successfully; In these four months we have complied with all the points of the three stages that were designed to resupply the bases, relieve personnel and support scientific tasks.”

Musso Soler maintained that “for the icebreaker, the most complex tasks are carried out each summer with the supply of the Belgrano II base due to its remote position to the south of the Weddell Sea and that of the Marambio base, which due to its location on a plateau, all the loading and unloading falls on the helicopters; when those two points are fulfilled a he begins to consider that the most important part of the effort is solved ”.

“This year it was not difficult to get to Belgrano II, but it was very complex to operate there because we did not have good weather conditions, which led us to spend more days than scheduled for this task; In part, this delay also complicated the operations in Marambio, where we arrived at the end of March, when in general we do it at the beginning, there we find ourselves when entering with the frozen sea that we usually see when leaving with many trays of land ice, which is very hard enough to break it with the ship, which required greater precautions,” he added.

In this sense, he indicated that “as we are operating closer to winter than normal, we also began to have to adapt the work to the polar night hours, which delayed us a little more, but it was nothing that we could not solve with caution, patience. and perseverance.”

Photo Alejandro Santa Cruz archive
Photo: Alejandro Santa Cruz (file).

The sailor said that “this summer we were also able to carry out tasks that were not planned when we set sail, such as sanitary evacuations, the replenishment of the Petrel base that was in charge of another ship but due to the ice conditions in the area we resolved it with the icebreaker, or the tribute to the ‘General Belgrano’ cruise ship, which is something we are very proud of”.

In this regard, he commented that “all of us who sailed on the icebreaker embarked on December 28 to quarantine in the port of Buenos Aires and set sail on January 12, we were already thinking about reuniting with our families when the mission of sailing arose. to the point of sinking of the ‘General Belgrano’ and none of them wanted to lose it; yes, after the return was much faster than the departure because there is a great desire to meet again with the affections”.

“It can be considered that this Summer Antarctic Campaign was successful because all the planned objectives could be met and even more so because there were tasks that were not planned and were also carried out successfully”

“The tasks in the icebreaker do not end when we moor in Buenos Aires, those who participated in the Antarctic campaign enter a 30-day regulatory license, but those who come on a pass enter to begin conditioning the ship that in November has to be fully ready to set sail again for Antarctica,” he warned.

Musso Soler commented: “this year it is time to hand over command of the icebreaker, it is the sixth year of my career on board the ship in which I was first as a corvette lieutenant, then as a ship lieutenant and these last two years as commander; I am very happy because I fulfilled the goal with which I entered the naval school, which is to be a commander, and I was able to do so on this important ship that is the culmination of an Antarctic career, but I am also very sad because it is difficult to leave.”

“When we enter the port of Buenos Aires, it will be time to unload everything that we brought from Antarctica, clean, paint and accommodate the icebreaker so that it is ready to hand over command to the new commander while I will have a new assignment in the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces”, completed the sailor.



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