The first, referred to as the “Frondizi submarines“, took place between 1958 and 1960, with the detection of unidentified submersibles in Golfo Nuevo:
Sixty years ago they appeared on sonar navigating in the Argentinean Sea. They were called OSNI: Unidentified Submersible Object. The Navy carried out a massive attack on these submersibles. It was never known where they came from, if any of the projectiles had hit the target or if they really existed. The surprising versions about their origin.
In May 1958, the Navy made the first sighting of a submarine in the vicinity of Puerto Nuevo, in the Argentine Sea. President Arturo Frondizi, who had taken office in May 1958, announced in a press conference that since there was no way to identify it and the ship did not answer the warnings given in that sense, they proceeded to attack it. It was not possible to verify if it had been hit by some of the depth charges that four warships threw at it. The President emphasized to journalists that the area was strategic for the country, not only because of the ease of navigation, but also because there were plans to convert the area into a great industrial center.
Then, in October 1959, a large submarine was sighted again, which also had not been identified, and which according to sonars was sailing in the same area where the previous sighting had been recorded.
During military exercises carried out on January 30, 1960, in which the cruisers 9 de Julio, General Belgrano and Argentina, and the destroyers Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, Misiones and Santa Cruz participated, the presence of one or more submarines was detected northwest of Puerto Cracker, in the Golfo Nuevo, because, intermittently, the sonar indicated that they were sailing together. Attempts to achieve any kind of reconnaissance were in vain. They did not respond to radio communications and the mysterious craft lacked any nomenclature that might identify them. It was insisted that it could be a “21” type ship, one of those manufactured during World War II in Germany. And nothing more.
For this reason, they began to be called “O.S.N.I.” (Unidentified Submersible Object). The only verifiable thing is that the submarine was detected at times and suddenly disappeared to be seen again at another point not far away.
The magnitude of this enigma is clear from reading the newspapers of those days. The actions were described and the notes were accompanied by infographics on how the depth charges worked, for example, and the area of the conflict was illustrated with detailed maps.
“Navy’s attack on phantom submarines on the front page of newspapers.”
The Navy organized a vast operation. The patrol boats Cervantes and the patrol boats King and Murature laid mines along the 16 kilometers of the mouth of the gulf, while frogmen dived in the surrounding area. Marines had been stationed along the coast, who watched at night as the gulf was illuminated by flares and searchlights sweeping the area. Even buoys with sound sensors were installed.
Before launching the attack, air and sea trade routes were diverted and journalists were evacuated from the area. They protested because colleagues from foreign magazines, such as Life and Time, had chartered a plane and were flying over the area undisturbed. They were forced to land and their photographic material was confiscated. The subject was on the cover of all the media in the country and abroad.
The operation, which began on February 11, 1960, involved 13 ships and 40 planes. Attacks were carried out with depth charges, which were dropped every ten minutes. It was not known if they had hit the target. That same day, American specialists in anti-submarine warfare arrived in the country, headed by Captain Ray M. Pitts, who placed himself at the disposal of Vice Admiral Alberto Vago, Chief of Naval Operations. The American had to clarify that his mission was only to advise. Because immediately the suspicious people began to speak of a military intervention by the North American country.
It caused surprise the following day when the presence of two other submarines that appeared on the sonar was detected. This went on until the 20th, when they emerged at periscope level and disappeared just as quickly. When another sighting was recorded on the 21st, the Navy launched electronically guided torpedoes. As none hit the target, the aviation launched bombs while the artillery, from the ground, did the same.
The only thing that would come out clean was the detection, at times, of a periscope and some oil stains. That would be all.
At the same time, Argentine diplomacy moved frantically. It checked with diplomats from the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and Holland, plus a score of other countries to ask them if the submarines belonged to them. All denied it.
Could these submersibles be Russians on espionage duties? The USSR military attaché in Buenos Aires sardonically replied that “the only thing they were going to kill was a lot of fish”. The famous Cold War was at its peak, in which the Argentine military had already spoken out in defense of the “free and Christian West”. The British were also quick to detach themselves.
In total, the Navy counted seven sightings. After this attack, the submarines did not reappear.
Captain Pitts told the New York Times, after the operation was over, that there was sufficient evidence that it was indeed a submarine, but that he was not authorized by his superior to provide further details.
The second case, which had electromagnetic effects, occurred on November 12, 1963 at the following coordinates (note the proximity to the site of the previous event) where crew members of the ARA Punta Medanos sighted an unidentified flying object while the ship’s magnetic compass needles were deviating in the direction of the object.
In an exchange of information between NICAP and Captain Omar Pagani, the person appointed by the Argentine Navy to deal with all UFO-related matters, the latter tells about the case:
submitted by /u/Mordrenix
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