Word: naval
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Armed with surface-to-air Seacat missiles and 6-in. and 5-in. naval guns, the venerable Belgrano, first commissioned by the U.S. in 1939,* had more firepower than any ship of the British fleet. But unknown to the 1,042 men aboard the Argentine warship, the cruiser-was being watched. Shadowing the Belgrano, as it had been doing for days, was a British nuclear-powered attack submarine, H.M.S. Conqueror...
...weapons that have come into play in the Falklands dispute (see box), flashed toward the Belgrano. Both hit their target. About 40 minutes later the stricken Belgrano disappeared from British and Argentine radar screens, the biggest casualty of the war. Indeed, it was the largest warship sunk in a naval engagement since Admiral William Halsey's attacks on the Japanese Inland...
...British officials asserted, had to be measured against the risk of allowing the Belgrano to train its impressive firepower on the British task force. As Prime Minister Thatcher told the House of Commons, "The worry that I live with hourly is that Argentine forces, in attacks both naval and air, will get through to our forces...
...Portsmouth, anxious families gathered in pouring rain outside the gates of the British naval headquarters for news of the fate of their loved ones. Special telephone lines installed to pass on information to next of kin were jammed with calls. In the destroyer's namesake city, Union Jacks were lowered to half-mast. Sheffield's Lord Mayor Enid Hattersley was on the verge of tears as she asked mournfully, "What is worth losing young lives for? One is too many." The re-action of most Britons was summed up by a Portsmouth man, who said he "had thought...
Britain has access to much U.S. satellite intelligence. There is no evidence that the U.S. told the British where they could find the General Belgrano, as Argentina has charged, but U.S. eavesdropping and surveillance capability is enabling British naval commanders to receive copies of orders transmitted by the Argentine Defense Ministry almost as soon as they are issued...