She served until 1982 when she was captured by the British at South Georgia after being seriously damaged and subsequently sank along a pier, with just her conning tower (sail) visible above the waterline.

Based at San Diego, Catfish operated locally on the west coast and made two cruises to the Far East during which she conducted simulated war patrols and provided services to the Seventh Fleet.

She was on another Far Eastern cruise when war broke out in Korea, already in the area, she made a reconnaissance patrol in support of the United Nations forces.

Peace was achieved on 21 December, in part due to the visit of the Pope and the diplomatic intervention of both countries, and war was avoided.

[8] Santa Fe supported the landings on 2 April as part of Operation Rosario, transporting divers from the Agrupacion de Buzos Tacticos to Playa Roja - Yorke Bay - and marking the beach for the main amphibious force, completing this objective at 3am; the main assault at Playa Roja began at 6.30am.

[8] On 12 April, Santa Fe was ordered to ferry a party of Argentine marines and supplies to Grytviken, in South Georgia.

This part of the mission ended at 5:44am on 25 April, and then Santa Fe quickly departed, trying to reach ocean depth deep enough to safely submerge.

Around 6am on 25 April, after leaving Grytviken, Santa Fe was detected on radar by Lieutenant Chris Parry, the observer of the Westland Wessex HAS.3 anti-submarine helicopter from Antrim, and attacked with depth charges.

This attack caused extensive internal damage, including the splitting of a ballast tank, the dismounting of electrical components and shocks to the machinery.

The Lynx dropped a Mk 46 torpedo, which failed to strike home, but strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted 7.62 mm L7 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG).

[7] Once ashore, Santa Fe's crew and the Argentine garrison at South Georgia, still under attack, attempted to fire their rifles and machine guns and a Bantam anti-tank missile at the aircraft, which missed.

While under guard on the submarine by a British Royal Marine, Argentine Navy Petty Officer Felix Artuso was mistakenly shot dead on 26 April while a prisoner of war.

[14] According to some members of her crew, in the middle of the confusion that followed the incident, a number of valves and hatchways were left open, the submarine flooded and sank alongside the pier, with only her combat-damaged conning tower showing above the surface.

[7] Before the conflict ended on 14 June, the crew of ARA Santa Fe had been taken as POWs to Ascension Island, from where a Red Cross-chartered airliner flew them to Uruguay.