Searchers of the Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan were recently tested with the limits of technology and physics. The submarine had been lost for more than a year when an international search was launched. In the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, teams set out to locate the stranded sub and, more importantly, the 44 crew members on board.
The first challenge to the search was the conditions in the depths of the Atlantic. With a pressure of over 8,000 pounds per square inch, any fathometer used to locate the vessel had to be strong enough to handle the enormous pressure. Additionally, to track the submarine, sophisticated sensors had to be deployed to the depths of almost 4,000 meters (13,123 feet).
When the search began, the crews had to depend on the power of physics. Using the Doppler effect to locate the vessel, sonar waves or “pings” were sent out and the returning signal was recorded. After a number of failed attempts to find the submarine, a remote operated vehicle was sent down to size up objects in the ocean floor.
The search soon turned into a race against time due to the lack of oxygen being supplemented to the sub. As weeks shifted into months, the teams began to fear for the lives of the crew members. With the advanced technology of GPS tracking, satellites were able to look down on the ocean’s surface to provide the location of the submarine.
On the 17th of November 2018, almost a year after it went missing, the wreckage of the ARA San Juan was identified on the seabed of the Atlantic. Overwhelmed with emotion, members of the Argentine Navy and the submariners families finally had closure.
In this case, the search for the missing submarine ARA San Juan pushed technology and physics to its limits. It goes to show that with determination and the right tools, anything is possible. The findings of the investigation have yet to be released, but one thing is certain – the search teams managed to achieve the impossible.
