ARA Almirante Irízar

Almirante Irízar's peacetime missions include annual campaigns to resupply and rotate the personnel assigned to the Argentine Antarctic outposts, as well as conducting and supporting scientific endeavors in Antarctica.

[8] In April 1982, while operating north of the Falklands, the boilers of tanker ARA Punta Médanos failed and she lost all propulsion; Almirante Irízar towed her back to Puerto Madryn (about 330 miles west) in rough weather, the trip took about 60 hours.

[18] The 296 persons aboard the icebreaker —including civilians of the Antarctic bases— were helped by the nearest ships, the Panamanian tanker Scarlet Ibis and a Uruguayan fishing vessel.

Buzos Tacticos and members of the Rescue Team (Spanish: Servicio de Salvamento) of the Argentine Navy boarded the ship and extinguished the fire.

[citation needed] Following this incident the British government offered to supply Argentine bases in Antarctica in support of scientific missions, using HMS Endurance.

[25] This offer was turned down by the Argentine government,[26] instead they leased the Russian icebreaking vessel Vasily Golovnin for the subsequent Antarctic summer campaigns[27][28] at a cost of US$2m/month.

[32] After a long period in Puerto Belgrano due to legal issues surrounding the incident, Irízar finally arrived in Buenos Aires on 3 September 2008 to be taken to Tandanor's shipyard for repairs.

After departing Buenos Aires, the vessel headed to a dry dock in the main base of Argentine Navy, Puerto Belgrano, where the icebreaker underwent tests and verifications prior to ice trials in the Antarctic and return to full service.

[40] In November 2017, the ship came back to Buenos Aires after successfully passing its "ice test", the last stage of its restoration work that left it ready for service again.

[41] The ship remained active in the early 2020s and was joined by the auxiliary vessels Puerto Argentino and Estrecho San Carlos for operations during the 2022/23 Antarctic re-supply mission.

The Polar Class 4 vessel intended to work alongside Almirante Irízar will be built by Tandanor in Argentina and enter service in the late 2020s.

ARA Almirante Irízar docked at her homeport in Buenos Aires , Argentina .
ARA Almirante Irízar as seen from above, showing hangars and landing deck.
Almirante Irízar undergoing repairs at Tandanor shipyard in 2011.
In the Ushuaia Port (2017)