Combat Fleets

On 22 April, Argentina's 12,000-ton Antarctic support ship and icebreaker Almirante Irizar suffered a serious fire in her generator room while returning from a deployment. The fire, which reportedly reached temperatures far in excess of 1,000 degrees, forced the evacuation of nearly all 300 crew members and scientists on board the vessel. The ship's captain, Guillermo Tarapow, remained on board ship with a skeleton crew to direct successful firefighting efforts. Recent media reports indicate that 85 percent of the ship was protected from damage, though extensive repairs will be required to rebuild the remaining 15 percent destroyed in the conflagration. Once the blaze was brought under control, the vessel was towed to the home waters of Puerto Belgrano, where she awaits repairs that are estimated to take up to two years. Launched on 3 February 1978, Almirante Irizar was built at Wärtsilä shipyard in Helsinki, Finland. Among many other missions throughout her career, the icebreaker was used as a hospital ship during the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War.

During April 2007, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis (CVN-74) conducted a month-long cooperative maritime security exercise in the North Arabian Sea. The two carriers, working together as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, also provided air support to International Security Assistance Forces fighting on the ground in Afghanistan. France's Charles de Gaulle is currently the only non-U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Displacing 40,000 tons, the ship carries nearly 40 aircraft including 10 Rafael interceptors and up to 20 Super-Étendard strike fighters, 3 E-2 Hawkeye early warning planes, and 5 helicopters. A French Navy Super-Étendard jet is shown here conducting touch-and-go landings on the larger 90,000-ton John C. Stennis.

South Africa's second Type 209/1400-class submarine was commissioned into active service on 14 March 2007. Numbered S 102 and named Charlotte Maxeke, the new submarine, shown here, was built by Thyssen Nordseewerke shipyard in Emden, Germany. After commissioning, the boat sailed from Germany to Simonstown in the company of the South African fleet replenishment ship Drakensberg. During Charlotte Maxeke's commissioning ceremony, the name of submarine S 103, South Africa's third and final boat of the class, was revealed to be Queen Modjadji. This sub, also built by Thyssen Nordseewerke, is undergoing sea trials and can be expected in service by late 2007. South Africa's first submarine of this class, Manthatisi, entered service in 2005 and was built in Kiel, Germany, by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW).

Mr. Wertheim, a defense consultant in the Washington, D.C., area, is the author of The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, 15th edition, currently available from the Naval Institute Press at www.usni.org.