The next day after the Argentine invasion of the Falklands on April 3, 1982 the Royal Navy issued orders to Cdr Chris Wreford-Brown commander of HMS Conqueror to set sail from Faslane Naval Base on the River Clyde in Scotland. The orders were to rendezvous Conqueror with the British task force in the exclusion zone around the Falklands, the sail took twenty-one days at flank speed. Conquerors orders were to scan the area for enemy shipping, particularly her assigned primary target the light cruiser the ARA General Belgrano... She was deployed in a task force near the Falkland Islands, with the ARA General Belgrano to the south. The British had assigned HMS Spartan, a nuclear-powered submarine, to track down the 19,900 ton Veinticinco de Mayo and sink her if necessary Veinticinco de Mayo who previously served in the Royal Navy as HMS Venerable and the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Karel Doorman. In the first weeks of the Falklands War Veinticinco de Mayo deployed her aircraft against the Royal Navy task force with some success. The air group consisted of A-4Q Skyhawks supported by S-2 Tracker anti-submarine warfare aircraft and Sikorsky Sea King helicopters.
On 30 April, Conqueror spotted the Argentine light cruiser, ARA General Belgrano. Belgrano was sailing southwest of the Falklands with a small task force of two destroyers. Conqueror shadowed the force for days requesting permission to sink the Belgrano who was outside the exclusion zone or the imposed or area of engagement issued by the British. The Belgrano split off from her escort destroyers and began approaching the British Task Force, this was the trigger that increased the Royal Navy's fears of a pincer attack with Belgrano attacking from the south, and the Veinticinco de Mayo from the north. Belgrano's fate was sealed. After some debate in White Hall Conqueror was ordered to proceed with the attack on the Belgrano. Soon after receiving the order the Belgrano changed her course due to ARA Veinticinco de Mayo being out of position and not ready to launch aircraft against the British fleet.
Conqueror moved into the best firing position so a spread of three torpedoes could be fired with a high success of at least one hit. Three Mark 8 torpedoes were launched, the first hit forward towards the bow. This shot was trying to hit far enough forward to blow the bow of the ship off and explode the forward powder magazine. Neither worked the bulk heads held and no sailors were in the area, a lucky break for the crew. The second torpedo exploded behind the second smoke stack outside the limit of the side armor plating exploding in the aft machine room. The explosion blew upward through the mess halls and a crew wreck room killing 275 men and ripped a sixty foot long hole in the main deck. Again luck for the crew and the ship, no fire, but smoke filled much of the ship and the explosion damaged the electrical systems, preventing a radio distress call to be sent as an SOS. The Conqueror retired to a safe position to wait and observe the ship began to list to port and sink by the head. Twenty minutes after the attack Captain Bonzo of the Belgrano ordered the crew to abandon ship and life rafts were lowered, the sailors helped the wounded into the boats in moderate but increasing seas.
The two escort destroyers were unaware of the sinking due to no distress signal being sent or flares being seen so they continued on their course dropping depth charges. When they realized what happened to the Belgrano, it was dark and the seas swells had increased making rescue of the scattered life rafts almost impossible. It wasn't till May 5 that all the crew boats were found by Argentine and Chilean ships. In all 770 men were found in the boats with 321 members of the brave crew and two civilians being killed in the attack.
Conqueror continued to hide from the Argentine Air Force attempts to locate and sink the boat in the days after the attack. The sinking of the Belgrano sobered the Argentine people and their government. Conqueror and Spartan's presence in the area provided the task force sophisticated monitoring data tracking Argentine aircraft departing the mainland. The remainder of the Argentine fleet retired back into their home port never again to venture out. They became useless for the conflict over concern for their safety.
Argentina surrendered the islands to the UK on June 14, 1982 but show no sign of relinquishing her claim on the islands to this day. In 1994 the Argentine government and Captain Bonzo indicated the sinking of the Belgrano was a legal act under the rules of engagement of the day. After the war, Conqueror returned to Faslane, her home port and today is a museum ship.
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