May 2, 1982 · South Atlantic Theater
May 2, 1982
The nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror tracked the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano — a veteran of Pearl Harbor as USS Phoenix — for over 30 hours before receiving orders to attack. Despite the Belgrano being outside the 200-mile Total Exclusion Zone and apparently sailing westward away from the islands, the British War Cabinet authorised the sinking. Two Mk8 torpedoes struck the cruiser, which went down in 20 minutes, taking 323 of her 1,093 crew to their deaths in the freezing South Atlantic. It remains the largest single loss of life in the entire conflict.
Commanders