M/S Argentina

About the object

• Description
  M/S Argentina was launched in 1935 at the Götaverken shipyard in Gothenburg. She was the first in a series of 7 000 dwt cargo ships built for the Nordstjernan (“North Star”) shipping company. When war broke out in September 1939, Swedish overseas trade was immediately affected. Swedish diplomats managed to negotiate an agreeme...

  M/S Argentina was launched in 1935 at the Götaverken shipyard in Gothenburg. She was the first in a series of 7 000 dwt cargo ships built for the Nordstjernan (“North Star”) shipping company.

  When war broke out in September 1939, Swedish overseas trade was immediately affected. Swedish diplomats managed to negotiate an agreement with both Germany and the United Kingdom to allow safe passage for a limited number of vessels, mainly to the United States (until their entrance into the war), and neutral countries in Latin America. These transports were closely monitored by both sides.

  Early in the war, the German navy had laid a mine barrage to prevent Allied warships from entering the Skagerrak. Passing through these minefields was a risky proposition: even if safe passage lanes were provided by the Germans, there was always the risk of hitting stray mines.

  One of the ships that met their end in the Skagerrak minefields was the Argentina, which had left Brazil headed for Gothenburg in late June, 1942. In July she had reached the Norwegian coast together with another Swedish merchant vessel, the M/S Uddeholm. As the two ships ran into an uncharted minefield south of Kristiansand on 6 July, the Uddeholm hit a mine and started sinking. The Argentina tried to pick up the surviving crew but as she did so further mines detonated, sinking her as well. The ship went down in a matter of minutes and four men aboard were killed. After the war, it turned out that the Germans had shifted the locations of some of the minefields and then duly reported this to the Swedish liaison officer, who inexplicably forgot to relay the information.

  In all, 270 Swedish merchant vessels were sunk with a death toll of 1 370 seamen until 1945. After the war´s end, an additional 20 ships sank as they struck remaining, unswept mines.

  This 1:50 scale model was built by the Danish firm Osgaard & Olsen in 1935 and has a detailed interior showing the cargo (fruits, tobacco, grains, mineral oils, cotton and engineering goods) that the ship would have carried from South America to Sweden.

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• Designation Fartygsmodell
• Precise designation Lastmotorfartyg
• Identifier S 3611
• Avbildad namn ARGENTINA (1935)
  • History Minsprängdes den 6 juli 1942 i Skagerack på resa från Santos till Göteborg. Omkomna 2 man jämte kontrollofficeren, Kommendörkapten Gotthard Gustaf Wachtmeister.
  • Profession Lastmotorfartyg
  • Alternative names 7992
  • Other information Rederi: Rederi AB Nordstjernan, Johnsonlinien || :: Varv: Götaverken, Göteborg || :: Bredd över allt 17 meter || :: Längd över allt 128,3 meter || :: Maskinstyrka 6800 ind hkr || ::
  • DigitaltMuseum Search in «ARGENTINA»
• Indexing term Lastmotorfartyg
• Type Thing

• Dimensions value
  • Skala : 1 1:50 0.0 mm
  • Length 2680.0 mm

• Materials Trä

• Colour Blågrått skrov

• Techniques Delvis blockmodell

• Other information

  Rederi: Rederi AB Nordstjernan, Ort: Sve Stockholm

  Varv: Götaverken AB, Ort: Sve Göteborg,

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