The training ship ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’ pays tribute to the 44 servicemen of the submarine ARA ‘San Juan’.

On November 15th, 2017 a last and final communication was received from the Argentinian submarine ARA ‘San Juan’. A year later, her remains were located where her 44-strong crew lost their lives and they now rest in the improvised tomb at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

On the morning of March 16th the Spanish Navy training ship ‘Juan Sebastián de Elcano’, on her transit between Buenos Aires and Punta Arenas, sailed in the vicinity of the point where the sunken submarines now lies and paid a moving tribute to those brave sailors who gave their lives and are an example of dedication and service to their country.

The entire crew of the ship formed on the deck singing the hymn ‘La muerte no es el final’ (Death is not the End), while a wreath was carried by two midshipmen to the improvised burial mound. Then, after a short prayer, the wreath was thrown into the sea as a tribute to the dead sailors.

In the words of the commanding officer of the ship Captain Manuel García Ruiz: ‘Let this poignant act be a tribute from the Spanish Navy, and the whole of Spain, to the memory of the 44 brave people who perished at sea in the fulfilment of their duty, so that their example may never be erased from the memory of the new generations; that their sacrifice might not be in vain; and to reaffirm the mutual bonds of respect, affection and admiration between the Argentinian Navy and the Spanish Navy which, as a ‘sister Navy’ shared in the distance the suffering of their families and loved ones’.