At 16:02 this Monday May 2at the point 55°24?S 61°32?W of the South Atlantic, the exact place where the cruiser ARA General Belgrano was sunk exactly ago 40 years by a British submarine during the Falklands War, a contingent of surviving veterans of that ship was the protagonist of the tribute organized by the Ministry of Defense aboard the icebreaker Almirante Irízar.
In heavy rain and as the South Atlantic swell rocked the icebreaker, its crew lined up on the flight deck to attend the ceremony led by the Defense Minister, Jorge Taiana; the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, lieutenant general Juan Martin Paleoand the head of the Argentine Navy, Admiral Julius Guard.
The ship’s crew, the crews returning from the Argentine Antarctic bases, the members of the Irízar helicopter air group and the scientists from the Argentine Antarctic Institute, trained and firm at the stern, could not contain their tears during the ceremony that began with the verses of the Argentine National Anthem and ended with the Falklands March.
The roar of a raging South Atlantic accompanied the trumpet that played the silence while the surviving veterans of the Belgrano, together with Minister Taiana, threw a floral offering into the sea at the point where the remains of the cruiser lie, about three thousand meters deep.
The surviving veterans had boarded the ship laden with boxes containing some seven hundred flowerswhich were then distributed among all those present so that they could also throw one in tribute to the 323 who died in the sinking.
Arriving at the site identified for the tribute, Taiana stated: “Today, 40 years ago, in this place and at this time, the cruiser General Belgrano was cunningly sunk by the submarine Conqueror, thus demonstrating the firm British determination to continue occupying and exploiting our territory and our sovereignty, and flouting international law by sustaining an inadmissible colonial situation in the 21st century”.
We sail across the South Atlantic aboard the Irizar to reach the place where the General Belgrano Cruise was attacked and honor the memory of the 323 heroes who gave their lives for the Homeland ?? pic.twitter.com/iIMJU6Qyrk
– Jorge Taiana (@JorgeTaiana) May 2, 2022
“We came with the veterans of the cruise to pay tribute to the 323 heroes that from the bottom of the sea they watch us and interrogate us to support the defense of our sovereignty, and so that we do not give up in the diplomatic effort to recover our islands and a life with justice and equality for all Argentines”, remarked the head of the defense portfolio.
And he added: “For the memory of all the 649 fallen defending our sovereignty in Malvinas, and for our people, the entire Argentine society has to make the commitment to always defend sovereignty with dignity and conviction. To the 323 who have been lying here, at a depth of 3,000 meters, for 40 years, we make the promise that we will never forget them and we continue their fight,” the minister concluded.
The Chief of the Navy, Admiral Julius Guardmaintained that “forty years ago, in this same place and at this same time, the Belgrano was attacked by a submarine with torpedoes that put an end to 30 years of service to the country; it had sailed on April 16 and weeks before, when it was still I was a cadet, I had the opportunity to share several days of sailing with his crew and learn about his determination to defend the homeland”.
“Today, 40 years ago, in this place and at this time, the cruiser General Belgrano was cunningly sunk by the submarine Conqueror, thus demonstrating the firm British determination to continue occupying and exploiting our territory and our sovereignty.”Jorge Taiana
Guardia reported that “after resupplying in Ushuaia, he set sail together with the destroyers Bouchard and Piedrabuena and the tanker Rosales in the direction of this point, where it was sunk” and then stressed that the 323 crew members who lost their lives “remain on eternal patrol of our sea, along with many others who gave their lives for their country, as happened more recently with the crew of the submarine San Juan”.
“The sea, rarely benevolent, made it difficult to rescue the survivors; but the commander who understood that the ship was lost, gave the order to abandon it to the 1093 crew members with the certainty that the Argentine Navy was going to come for them; The Bouchard, Piedrabuena and Rosales were joined by the Gurruchaga warning and the Bahía Paraíso polar transport in the search for the survivors, with the support of the Neptune and Electra planes, which flew beyond the safety limits so that we can recover 770 crew members alive,” said the naval chief.
When describing the characteristics of the Belgrano, the admiral described it as “a colossus of the seas”, and recalled that “when the cruiser’s artillery fired, tape had to be glued on the windows so that they would not explode”.
Regarding the sinking, Guardia stressed that the ship torpedoed by the British “was kind enough to stay afloat until all those who were left alive had been able to board the rafts.”
“The Navy is here today, at the site of the sinking, but there are also units in Rosario, Buenos Aires and Puerto Belgrano where we are making this tribute to those who left us a legacy of commitment in the defense of our sovereignty”, completed the sailor.
sinking timeline
Around 8 pm on May 1, 1982, while sailing near Isla de los Estados, “General Belgrano” had received orders to join a pincer maneuver that would attack the British from the south. The aircraft carrier “Veinticinco de Mayo” would lead the other arm of the operation.
But this plan was canceled due to the conditions that prevented the aircraft embarked on the aircraft carrier from operating, and the cruise ship began its return to the continent.
The submarine HMS “Conqueror” began to follow the “General Belgrano” on the morning of May 1, and after receiving authorization from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government, it fired the two torpedoes that sank the Argentine cruiser at 4:00 p.m. on May 2. May 1982.
At 4:02 p.m., while the gunners on duty were testing some mechanisms and the Turret II was looking for possible targets on the horizon, the “General Belgrano” shook violently as a result of a powerful explosion, followed by the immediate loss of power and lighting that paralyzed the 1,093 crew.
This was the first of three MK-813 torpedoes launched by Conqueror from a distance of about 5 km. A few moments later the second torpedo produced a new explosion in the height of the bow of the ship.
This new impact caused the detachment of 12 meters from the ship’s bow, which immediately began to tilt to port and at around 16:05, the order to deal with the incident was given.
At 16:23, Commander Héctor Bonzo gave the order to abandon the ship; the swell that existed at that time made it difficult to see and communicate between the rafts, which is why some were overloaded with 30 people and others underoccupied with no more than three sailors.
At 4:50 p.m., the list of 60° heralded the sinking, and in 10 minutes the cruiser was engulfed by the waters at approximately 55°24’S 61°32’W of the Atlantic Ocean.
Once the news of the sinking of the ship reached the continent, a rescue operation was arranged that lasted until May 9, verifying the impossibility that there were more survivors or corpses in the area.
The ships picked up a total of 793 of the 1,093 crew members, of which 23 died on the rafts, and another 300 in the shipwreck itself.
