During the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina’s ARA Alférez Sobral, formerly the WWII US Navy’s USS Salish (ATA-187), made a remarkable voyage of determined sailors surviving at sea.
(USS Salish (ATA-187) in US Navy service.)
(The heavily-damaged ARA Alférez Sobral, the former USS Salish, returning to Argentina in May 1982 after taking multiple British missile hits.)
The naval side of the 1982 Falklands War is most remembered for the sinking of the cruiser ARA General Belgrano, the Exocet missile, and the first combat uses of atomic-powered submarines and V/STOL fighter planes. One less-studied episode was the final use of a WWII submarine in combat.
(The launch of USS Catfish (SS-339) at Groton, CT during WWII.)
(The wrecked ARA Santa Fe – the former USS Catfish – after the 1982 Falklands War.)
Argentina used a variety of WWII items during the 1982 Falklands War, ranging in complexity from a Brooklyn class cruiser to M1 helmets. The most surprising, and least known, was an effort to resurrect the Mk13 anti-ship torpedo that nearly made it to use.
(US Navy Mk13 air-dropped unguided torpedo of WWII.)
(Argentine IA-58 Pucara attack plane with a Mk13 in 1982.)
The defense industry is a business like any other, and just like any other industry, advertising is a part of it. After WWII’s end in 1945, many wartime weapons systems remained in Cold War use and required upkeep, upgrading, resale, integration with newer systems, and eventually disposal.
Some of these advertisements ran in general-interest magazines and newspapers. Others were limited to niche defense journals and trade gazettes, and were typically unseen by the mass public.
Above is a 1971 newspaper ad for the disposal of USS Hazard (MSF-240), an Admirable class minesweeper of the WWII US Navy. Typically, smaller mothballed WWII ships like this were bought cheaply in lots by brokers, then parceled out individually to scrapyards for a profit. USS Hazard was bought by a group of Nebraska businessmen and is today a museum ship in Omaha, NE.
During the April-June 1982 Falklands War, one of the more curious photos released by Argentina showed an Argentine marine carrying what appeared to be a M1 Garand, accompanied by a comrade with the standard FAL modern assault rifle.
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