[2] San Martín was inaugurated on 21 March 1951, in the presence of the Santa Micaela and ARA Sanavirón crews and the base personnel led by then Colonel Hernán Pujato.

[2] Since then, the meteorological station within the base provides detailed weather records and develops forecasts indispensable for the navigation of the sea waters adjacent to the Antarctic Peninsula.

[2] In March 1952 the ARA Bahía Aguirre anchored at Marguerite Bay bringing a relief crew through a Sikorsky S-51 helicopter transfer, the first of its kind performed by the Argentine Armed Forces in Antarctica.

[2] On 14 June 1962 an expedition led by then First Lieutenant Gustavo Adolfo Giró Tapper left Esperanza looking for a passage that would link the village with San Martín.

[2] Some unused installations of the base, a cross, a flagpole and a monolith erected in 1951, have been designated as Historic Site or Monument, following a proposal by Argentina to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

Wide and deep, the bay is closed between Belgrano and Alexander I islands, and the Fallieres Coast, making its access very difficult for most of the year due to the thick ice-covered waters.

[2] In this zone, rarely visited because of the difficulties and hazards for navigation, there are several groups of islands, islets, rocks and reefs that draw a network of channels and fjords, usually frozen.

[6][2] The all-year capable airstrip is located on nearby Uspallata Glacier;[6] during winter the deeply frozen sea is also used to land light aircraft.

[2] The LASAN laboratory (LAboratorio SAN Martín), managed by the Argentine Antarctic Institute, carries out active scientific research in the areas of geomagnetism, riometry, meteorology, ionospheric surveying through high altitude weather balloons, phytoplankton biology, satellite geodesy, glaciology, etc.

The construction of the refuge was part of the scientific project, called Perito Moreno, carried out under an agreement signed between the Instituto Antártico Argentino and the University of Freiburg in Germany.