The Argentinian battle-cruiser General Belgrano, carrying a crew of over 1,000 and Exocet missiles, was torpedoed and sunk on May 2 by the British nuclear-powered submarine Conqueror about 30 miles south of the total exclusion zone, it being estimated that 368 Argentinians on board lost their lives.
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According to a British Ministry of Defence statement on May 4, the General Belgrano was hit by "two high-explosive torpedoes" and had been in the area in which she was attacked for some time. The statement added that the battle-cruiser was accompanied by two destroyers, both armed with Exocet missiles, and had thus "posed a major threat to our ships".
The General Belgrano-at 13,645 tons Argentina's second largest warship-was purchased from the United States Navy in 1951 (having survived the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour). It was armed not only with Exocets but also with Seacat anti-aircraft missiles, Lynx helicopters and six-inch guns.
Several hours after the attack on the cruiser, Royal Navy Lynx helicopters early on May 3 fired Sea Skua missiles at an 8004 ton armed tug (believed to be carrying a crew of about 50) and damaged another vessel after both had fired on British helicopters about 90 miles within the TEZ, north of East Falkland. The task force mounted an air-sea rescue operation for survivors.
Giving details of the attack on these two vessels, the Ministry of Defence described them as "ocean-going armed patrol craft"; one had been provisionally identified as the Alferez Sobral, in which event "she would, according to all the references, be armed with 40mm and 20mm guns". Whereas British reports said that the vessel sank, the Argentinian Navy announced on May 7 that the Alferez Sobral had reached Puerto Deseado (in Argentina) but that eight people on board had been killed.
Following the sinking of the General Belgrano, the UN Secretary-General, Sr Javier Pérez de Cuellar, expressed deep concern on May 4 over the mounting loss of life in the Falklands conflict and called for the immediate implementation of security Council Resolution 502. Member countries of the European Community (notably France, West Germany and the Netherlands) expressed similar concern, while the Spanish Government warned Britain on May 2 that any broader military action would be a "grave historical error". Both the Spanish Prime Minister, Sr Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, and King Juan Carlos of Spain offered to mediate in the conflict in early May.
In the House of Commons on May 4 Mr Pym paid tribute to the efficiency and courage displayed by British forces in the actions so far, expressing deep regret at Argentinian casualties. As the Labour opposition's spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Denis Healey recalled Mr Haig's comment of April 30 that "a purely military outcome cannot endure over time" and expressed deep concern that "certain types of military action" could "weaken or even destroy the possibility of negotiations for a long-term solution". The operations of the last few days, said Mr Healey, had "already cost us a great deal of support among our European allies".
British consideration of a seven-point peace plan put forward on May 2 by President Belaunde Terry of Peru continued, although the plan had been effectively rejected by Argentina on May 3 as being essentially the same as recent US proposals.
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
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