Sink the Belgrano

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In the years following the war with Argentina in 1982, over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, I interviewed John Nott, the Secretary of State for Defence (commonly known as the Minister of Defence) at the time, Sir Henry Leach, the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sandy Woodward, the commander of the carrier task force, and several others who served on the ships or were part of the land forces. I also read many of the books, both biographical and reportage, that had been written about the war with Argentina. Only fairly recently, however, did I fully appreciate the importance of HMS Conqueror and the other nuclear submarines that took part in the conflict. I also came to believe that the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was a pivotal event in the war, and that this incident had never been given the attention that it merited.

This realization occurred during a discussion I had in an almost deserted building in Whitehall on a dark winter’s day shortly after Christmas a few years ago. I was planning to produce a television series about the history of the Royal Navy called War at Sea, and I was talking to Rear Admiral Tim McClement about the possibility of a camera crew spending time on board various warships during a series of exercises called ‘The Thursday War’. As our meeting progressed we started discussing the war in the Falklands, and Rear Admiral McClement told me about his experience as the first officer on HMS Conqueror, the submarine that sank the Belgrano. I quickly forgot the purpose of my visit as I listened to a wholly new and personal perspective on the navy’s war in the South Atlantic.

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