The crew of the submarine had to face Argentine Air Force attempts to locate her in the days after the attack, which had shocked the Argentine people and ruling dictatorship. 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.Ĭonqueror 's war did not end there.
The two ships continued on their course westward and began dropping depth charges. Īdding 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). General Belgrano was unable to issue a Mayday signal because of electrical failure this and poor visibility meant the two escorting destroyers ARA Piedra Buena and ARA Bouchard (both also ex-United States Navy vessels) were unaware of the sinking until some hours later. Twenty minutes later, the ship was sinking rapidly and was abandoned by her crew. On 2 May Conqueror became the first nuclear-powered submarine to sink an enemy surface ship using torpedoes, launching three Mark 8 torpedoes at General Belgrano, two of which struck the ship and exploded. General Belgrano sinking on, photographed by a member of her crew This would cause some controversy, although General Belgrano 's captain and the Argentine government acknowledged that the attack was a legitimate act of war. In the intervening period, General Belgrano had retired from its attack position and turned west, since Veinticinco de Mayo was not yet ready to engage the British fleet. Woodward requested permission from his superiors to sink General Belgrano.Īfter some debate, permission to engage General Belgrano was sent to the submarine from the Commander-in-Chief Fleet and Task Force commander, Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse, at the Royal Navy's command centre in Northwood in the United Kingdom. With Veinticinco de Mayo approaching the islands from the north, the commander of the British carrier battle group in the South Atlantic, Rear Admiral 'Sandy' Woodward, feared a pincer attack, with General Belgrano attacking from the south and Veinticinco de Mayo from the north. On 30 April, she spotted the Argentine light cruiser General Belgrano sailing southwest of the Falklands, just outside the exclusion zone imposed by the British on all shipping. Conqueror arrived in the exclusion zone around the Falkland Islands 21 days later and was ordered to scan the area for Argentine shipping, particularly the aircraft carrier Veinticinco de Mayo ("25th of May"). Operational history Falklands War Ĭonqueror, commanded by Commander Chris Wreford-Brown, was deployed during the Falklands War, setting sail from Faslane Naval Base on the Gareloch in Scotland on 3 April 1982, one day after the Argentine invasion. Conqueror was finally commissioned on 9 November 1971 she was the last nuclear submarine built by Cammell Laird. Construction was delayed by slow working by Cammell Laird's workforce, and sabotage of the ship's gearbox, which delayed completion by several months. Ĭonqueror was ordered on 9 August 1966 and was laid down at Cammell Laird's Birkenhead shipyard on 5 December 1967 she was launched on 28 August 1969. She was built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead.Ĭonqueror is the only nuclear-powered submarine to have engaged an enemy ship with torpedoes, sinking the cruiser General Belgrano during the 1982 Falklands War. She was the third submarine of her class, following the earlier Churchill and Courageous, that were all designed to face the Soviet threat at sea. HMS Conqueror was a British Churchill-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine which served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1990.
One Rolls-Royce PWR nuclear reactor, one shaft Conqueror returning to the Clyde Submarine base ( Faslane) flying the Jolly Roger after the Falklands War, 4 July 1982
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