A Brief History
On May 2, 1982, Britain’s nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror fired torpedoes at the Argentine Navy’s World War II era cruiser, ARA General Belgrano, rapidly sinking the big ship and killing 323 of her crew of 1,095.
Digging Deeper
General Belgrano was the former USS Phoenix, 608 feet long and 62 feet wide, with a displacement of over 12,000 tons. Armed with 15 X 6 inch guns and 8 X 5 inch guns, she was one of the biggest and baddest warships in any third world navy. General Belgrano has the distinction of being the only ship sunk by a nuclear submarine, and the largest ship sunk by a sub since World War II.
Some other notable feats of combat prowess by submarines include H. L. Hunley becoming the first sub to sink a ship in 1864, the USS Housatonic, the sinking of the battleship RN Royal Oak in Scapa Flow in 1939 by German sub U-47, and the nine times submarines sank aircraft carriers.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What is the greatest submarine attack in history?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Gavshon, Arthur and Desmond Rice. The Sinking of the Belgrano. Olympic Marketing Corp; 1984.
Weaver, HJ. Nightmare at Scapa Flow: The Truth About the Sinking of HMS “Royal Oak.” Origin, 2019.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Adrian Jones (Steel city ady at English Wikipedia) of HMS Warspite (left) and HMS Conqueror (centre) with HMS Valiant (at rear) at HMNB Devonport Navy Days, 26 August 2006, has been released into the public domain worldwide by its author.
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