ARA General Belgrano The ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982 . Previously named , she saw action in the Pacific theatre of World War II before being sold to Argentina . The vessel was the second to have been named after the Argentine founding father Manuel Belgrano ( 1770 – 1820 ) . The first vessel was a 7 , 069 - ton armoured cruiser completed in 1899 . After almost 31 years of service , she was sunk during the Falklands War ( ) by the Royal Navy submarine with the loss of 323 lives . Losses from the " Belgrano " totalled just over half of Argentine deaths in the Falklands War . She is the only ship ever to have been sunk during military operations by a nuclear - powered submarine and the second sunk in action by any type of submarine since World War II , the first being the Indian frigate INS " Khukri " by the Pakistani " Hangor " during the 1971 Indo - Pakistani War . The sinking of the Belgrano was highly controversial in both Britain and Argentina at the time and remains so to this day . Early career . The warship was built as , the sixth of the s , in New Jersey by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation starting in 1935 , and launched in March 1938 . She survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 , and went on to earn nine battle stars for World War II service . She was decommissioned from the US Navy ( USN ) after World War II ended , in July 1946 . " Phoenix " was sold to Argentina in October 1951 with another of her class , ( , which was renamed ARA " Nueve de Julio " ) , for US $ 7 . 8 million ( " Nueve de Julio " was scrapped in 1978 ) . She was renamed " 17 de Octubre " after the " People ' s Loyalty day " , an important milestone for the political party of the then - president Juan Perón . She was one of the main units that joined the 1955 coup in which Perón was overthrown , and the ship was renamed " General Belgrano " after General Manuel Belgrano , who had fought for Argentine independence from 1811 to 1819 and founded the " Escuela de Náutica " ( School of Navigation ) in 1799 . The cruiser accidentally rammed her sister " Nueve de Julio " on exercises in 1956 , which resulted in damage to both cruisers . The " Belgrano " was outfitted with the Sea Cat anti - aircraft missile system between 1967 and 1968 . Sinking . After the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands , on the 2 April 1982 Britain declared a Maritime Exclusion Zone of 200 nautical miles around the Falkland Islands within which any Argentine warship or naval auxiliary entering the MEZ might be attacked by British nuclear - powered submarines ( SSN ) . On 23 April , the British Government clarified in a message that was passed via the Swiss Embassy in Buenos Aires to the Argentine government that any Argentine ship or aircraft that was considered to pose a threat to British forces would be attacked . " On 30 April this was upgraded to a Total Exclusion Zone within which any sea vessel or aircraft from any country entering the zone might be fired upon without further warning . The zone was stated to be " . . . without prejudice to the right of the United Kingdom to take whatever additional measures may be needed in exercise of its right of self - defence , under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter . " The concept of a Total Exclusion Zone was a novelty in maritime law ; the Law of the Sea Convention had no provision for such an instrument . The purpose of it seems to have been to reduce the amount of time needed to ascertain whether any vessel in the zone was hostile or not . The zone was widely respected by the shipping of neutral nations , possibly more out of prudence than respect for the United Kingdom ' s legal position . The Argentine military junta began to reinforce the islands in late April when it was realised that the British Task Force was heading south . As part of these movements , the Argentine Navy fleet was ordered to take positions around the islands . Two Task Groups , designated 79 . 1 which included the aircraft carrier , ARA " Veinticinco de Mayo " plus two guided missile destroyer s , and 79 . 2 which included three Exocet missile armed frigate s , both sailed to the north . The " General Belgrano " had left Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego on 26 April . Two destroyer s , " Piedra Buena " and " Bouchard " ( both also ex - USN vessels ) were detached from Task Group 79 . 2 and together with the tanker , " Puerto Rosales " joined " General Belgrano " to form Task Group 79 . 3 . By 29 April the ships were patrolling the Burdwood Bank , south of the islands . On 30 April " General Belgrano " was detected by the British nuclear - powered hunter - killer submarine . The submarine approached over the following day . On 1 May 1982 , Admiral Juan Lombardo ordered all Argentine naval units to seek out the British task force around the Falklands and launch a “ massive attack ” the following day . " General Belgrano " , which was outside and to the south - west of the exclusion zone , was ordered south - east . Lombardo ’ s signal was intercepted by British Intelligence . As a result Mrs Thatcher and her War Cabinet , meeting at Chequers the following day , agreed to a request from Admiral Sir Terence Lewin , the Chief of the Defence Staff , to alter the rules of engagement and allow an attack on " General Belgrano " outside the exclusion zone . Although the group was outside the British - declared Total Exclusion Zone of 370 km ( 200 nautical miles ) radius from the islands , the British decided that it was a threat . After consultation at Cabinet level , Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed that Commander Chris Wreford - Brown should attack " General Belgrano " . At 15 : 57 ( Falkland Islands Time ( FKT ) ) on 2 May , " Conqueror " fired three 21 inch Mk 8 mod 4 torpedoes ( conventional , non - guided , torpedoes ) , each with an 805 - pound ( 363 kg ) Torpex warhead . While " Conqueror " was also equipped with the newer Mark 24 Tigerfish homing torpedo , there were doubts about its reliability . Initial reports from Argentina claim that " Conqueror " fired two Tigerfish torpedoes on " General Belgrano " . Two of the three torpedoes hit the " General Belgrano " . According to the Argentine government , " General Belgrano " ' s position was . One of the torpedoes struck aft of the bow , outside the area protected by either the ship ' s side armour or the internal anti - torpedo bulge . This blew off the ship ' s bow , but the internal torpedo bulkhead s held and the forward powder magazine for the 40 mm gun did not detonate . It is believed that none of the ship ' s company were in that part of the ship at the time of the explosion . The second torpedo struck about three - quarters of the way along the ship , just outside the rear limit of the side armour plating . The torpedo punched through the side of the ship before exploding in the aft machine room . The explosion tore upward through two messes and a relaxation area called " the Soda Fountain " before finally ripping a 20 - metre - long hole in the main deck . Later reports put the number of deaths in the area around the explosion at 275 men . After the explosion , the ship rapidly filled with smoke . The explosion also damaged " General Belgrano " ' s electrical power system , preventing her from putting out a radio distress call . Though the forward bulkheads held , water was rushing in through the hole created by the second torpedo and could not be pumped out because of the electrical power failure . In addition , although the ship should have been " at action stations " , she was sailing with the water - tight doors open . The ship began to list to port and to sink towards the bow . Twenty minutes after the attack , at 16 : 24 , Captain Bonzo ordered the crew to abandon ship . Inflatable life rafts were deployed , and the evacuation began without panic . The two escort ships were unaware of what was happening to " General Belgrano " , as they were out of touch with her in the gloom and had not seen the distress rockets or lamp signals . Adding to the confusion , the crew of " Bouchard " felt an impact that was possibly the third torpedo striking at the end of its run ( an examination of the ship later showed an impact mark consistent with a torpedo ) . The two ships continued on their course westward and began dropping depth charges . By the time the ships realised that something had happened to " General Belgrano " , it was already dark and the weather had worsened , scattering the life rafts . Argentine and Chilean ships rescued 772 men in all from 3 to 5 May . In total , 323 were killed in the attack : 321 members of the crew and two civilians who were on board at the time . Naval outcome . Following the loss of " General Belgrano " , the Argentinian fleet returned to its bases and played no major role in the rest of the conflict . British nuclear submarines continued to operate in the sea areas between Argentina and the Falkland Islands , gathering intelligence , providing early warning of air raids and posing a considerable threat in being . A further effect was that the Argentinian Navy ' s carrier - borne aircraft had to operate from land bases at the limit of their range , rather than from an aircraft carrier at sea . The minimal role of the Navy in the rest of the campaign led to a considerable loss of credibility and influence within the Junta . Controversy over the sinking . There was considerable controversy surrounding the legality of the sinking of " General Belgrano " due to disagreement on the exact nature of the Maritime Exclusion Zone and whether the " Belgrano " had been returning to port at the time of the sinking . The sinking also became a " cause célèbre " for anti - war campaigners such as Labour MP Tam Dalyell . Early reports claimed or suggested that more than 1 , 000 Argentine sailors may have been killed in the sinking . The sinking occurred 14 hours after President of Peru Fernando Belaúnde proposed a comprehensive peace plan and called for regional unity , although Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and diplomats in London did not see this document until after the sinking of the " Belgrano " . Diplomatic efforts to that point had failed completely . After the sinking , Argentina rejected the plan but the UK indicated its acceptance on 5 May . The news was subsequently dominated by military action and it is not well known that the British continued to offer ceasefire terms until 1 June . Argentine response . On 3 May 1982 , Argentina ’ s Chancellery released a statement in the name of the Argentinian government that read : Legal situation . At no time during the Falklands conflict did either the United Kingdom or Argentina declare war against the other country . Combat was confined to the area around and on the islands themselves . The " Belgrano " was sunk outside the total exclusion zone around the Falklands , delimitated by the UK . Through a message passed via the Swiss Embassy in Buenos Aires to the Argentine government on 23 April , the UK made clear that it no longer considered the 200 - mile ( 370 km ) exclusion zone as the limit of its military action . The message read : Interviews conducted by Martin Middlebrook for his book , " The Fight For The Malvinas " , indicated that Argentine naval officers understood the intent of the message was to indicate that any ships operating near the exclusion zone could be attacked . Argentine Rear Admiral Allara , who was in charge of the task force that the " Belgrano " was part of , said , " After that message of 23 April , the entire South Atlantic was an operational theatre for both sides . We , as professionals , said it was just too bad that we lost the " Belgrano " " . Captain Bonzo also told Middlebrook that he was not angry about the attack on his ship and " The limit [ exclusion zone ] did not exclude danger or risks ; it was all the same in or out . I would like to be quite precise that , as far as I was concerned , the 200 - mile limit was valid until 1 May , that is while diplomatic negotiations were taking place and / or until a real act of war took place , and that had happened on 1 May " . Admiral Sandy Woodward , who commanded the British task force during the war , wrote in his 1997 book " One Hundred Days " that HMS " Conqueror " received a signal changing the rules of engagement and that " The change said quite clearly he may now attack the Belgrano , outside the TEZ " . Later political controversy . Some details of the action were leaked to a British Member of Parliament , Tam Dalyell , in 1985 by the senior civil servant Clive Ponting , resulting in the unsuccessful prosecution of the latter under the Official Secrets Act 1911 . The documents revealed that the Belgrano was sailing away from the exclusion zone when she was attacked and sunk . In May 1983 , Prime Minister Thatcher appeared on " Nationwide " , a live television show on BBC1 , where a teacher , Diana Gould ( 1926 – 2011 ) , saying that the ship was already west of the Falklands and heading towards the Argentinian mainland to the west . Gould also said that the Peruvian peace proposal must have reached London in the 14 hours between its publication and the sinking of the " Belgrano " , and the escalation of the war could have thus been prevented . In the emotional exchange that followed , Thatcher answered that the vessel was a threat to British ships and lives and denied that the peace proposal had reached her . She added that " One day , all of the facts , in about 30 years time , will be published " , apparently a reference to a classified report prepared by intelligence officer Major David Thorp for Thatcher after the incident . Mrs Gould died just a few weeks before the existence of the report was made public . After the show , Thatcher ' s husband Denis lashed out at the producer of the show in the entertainment suite , saying that his wife had been " stitched up by bloody BBC poofs and Trots . " Thatcher herself commented during the interview " I think it could only be in Britain that a prime minister was accused of sinking an enemy ship that was a danger to our navy , when my main motive was to protect the boys in our navy . " According to the British historian Sir Lawrence Freedman , neither Thatcher nor the Cabinet was aware of the " Belgrano ' s " change of course before the cruiser was attacked . In his book , " One Hundred Days " , Admiral Woodward claims that the " Belgrano " was part of the southern part of a pincer movement aimed at the task force , and had to be sunk quickly . He wrote : " Gotcha " . " The Sun " s headline " Gotcha " is probably the most notable ( and notorious ) headline in a British newspaper about the incident . Kelvin MacKenzie , editor of the popular tabloid , is reported to have used an impromptu exclamation by " The Sun " s Features Editor , Wendy Henry , as the inspiration for the headline . The accompanying text reported that the " Belgrano " had only been hit and damaged , not sunk . After early editions went to press further reports suggested a major loss of life and Mackenzie toned down the headline in later editions to read " Did 1 , 200 Argies drown ? " Despite its notoriety , few readers in the UK saw the headline at first hand as it was only used on copies of the first northern editions ; southern editions and later editions in the north carried the toned - down headline . Aftermath . The area where the " Belgrano " sank is classified as a " War Grave " under Argentine Congress Law 25 . 546 . In August 1994 , an official Argentine Defence Ministry report written by armed forces auditor Eugenio Miari was released which described the sinking of the " Belgrano " as " a legal act of war " , explaining that " acts of war can be carried out in all of the enemy ' s territory " and " they can also take place in those areas over which no state can claim sovereignty , in international waters " Argentinian veterans were said to be dismayed at the conclusion about the " Belgrano " and the President of the Federation of Argentine War Veterans Luis Ibanez hoped to produce more witnesses to show that the sinking was a war crime . In 1999 , Sir Michael Boyce , First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy , visited the Puerto Belgrano naval base and paid tribute to those who died . In 2003 a search team aboard the " Seacor Lenga " , crewed by Argentine and British veterans , was sponsored by National Geographic to find the sunken cruiser but failed to locate the ship . In 2000 , lawyers representing the families of the sailors killed onboard " General Belgrano " attempted to sue the British Government in the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that the attack took place outside the exclusion zone . It was an attempt to pressure the Argentine government to lodge an action against the UK in the International Court of Justice , but was ruled inadmissible by the Court of Human Rights on the grounds that it had been submitted too late . " La Nación " published a reader ' s letter from Admiral Enrique Molina Pico ( head of the Argentine Navy in the 1990s ) in 2005 in which Pico wrote that the " Belgrano " was part of an operation that posed a real threat to the British task force , but was holding off for tactical reasons . Pico added that " To leave the exclusion zone was not to leave the combat zone to enter a protected area " . Pico explicitly stated that the sinking was not a war crime , but a combat action . " Belgrano ' s " captain , Héctor Bonzo , died on 22 April 2009 , aged 76 . He had spent his last years working for an association called " Amigos del Crucero General Belgrano " ( Friends of the Cruiser General Belgrano ) whose purpose was to help those affected by the sinking . Captain Bonzo also wrote his memories about the sinking in the book " 1093 Tripulantes del Crucero ARA General Belgrano " , published in 1992 . In this book he wrote that it is " improper to accept that ( . . . ) the attack by HMS Conqueror was a betrayal " . During an interview in 2003 he had stated that the " General Belgrano " was only temporarily sailing to the west at the time of the attack , and his orders were to attack any British ships which came within range of cruiser ' s armament . In late 2011 , Major David Thorp , a former British military intelligence officer who led the signals intercept team aboard , released the book " The Silent Listener " detailing the role of intelligence in the Falklands War . In the book he stated that despite the fact that the " Belgrano " was observed by the " Conqueror " sailing away from the Falklands at the time of the attack , it had actually been ordered to proceed to a rendezvous point within the Exclusion Zone . A report prepared by Thorp for Thatcher several months after the incident stated the destination of the vessel was not to her home port as the Argentine Junta stated ; the report was not released because the Prime Minister did not want to compromise British signals intelligence capabilities . In 2012 the President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner referred to the sinking of the Belgrano as a " war crime " . During that year , the Argentine government was also reported to possibly be considering filing a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice against the UK regarding the event . However , the Argentine Navy has historically held the view that the sinking was a legitimate act of war , a position that was asserted by the Argentine Navy before various courts in 1995 , and as of July , 2013 , no such lawsuit has been filed with the ICJ .