On May 2, 1982, the British nuclear submarine fired three torpedoes in a row and directly sank the argentine main cruiser, and the whole country rejoiced. Unexpectedly, Argentina immediately resorted to revenge, not only causing Britain to lose more than 200 million US dollars, but also taking dozens of lives!
In April 1982, Argentina suddenly sent troops to occupy the Malvinas Islands (Falklands), and Margaret Thatcher, the iron lady of the British Prime Minister at the time, immediately responded strongly, declaring war on Argentina and quickly sending elite troops across the ocean to compete for the Falklands.
On 1 May, the British nuclear submarine Conquistador was cruising the Falklands when it spotted the Argentine main cruiser, The General Belgrano. Lt. Col. Brown, the captain of the Conqueror, quickly reported the intelligence to headquarters.
After consulting the Cabinet, Margaret Thatcher unanimously agreed to sink the capital ship as a way to blow the enemy's morale and morale.
The next day, 2 May, the Conquistador received the order. The captain, Lieutenant Colonel Brown, was overjoyed, but was momentarily inconclusive in choosing which torpedo to fire, and was caught in a dilemma.
Originally, the "Conqueror" nuclear submarine was equipped with two types of torpedoes, one was the No. 8 Type 4 torpedo that had been in service since World War II, and this torpedo had experienced many wars and had quite stable performance.
Another torpedo is the Tigerfish torpedo, which has only been in service for a long time, and because it is a new torpedo, the reliability will be about 40%. Although the performance parameters are better than the former, they have not undergone practical tests.
After much deliberation, Captain Brown decided to use the old torpedo, and he immediately gave the order to fire the torpedo. After a while, the "Conqueror" nuclear submarine fired 3 torpedoes in one go. A minute later, 2 of the 3 hit the cruiser General Belgrano.
The cruiser "General Belgrano" quickly caught fire after being hit, and the hull sank rapidly due to the influx of large amounts of seawater. It didn't take long to sink in the Atlantic, and 323 Argentine soldiers were killed on the spot. The cruiser escaped Japanese aircraft bombardment at Pearl Harbor and was sunk by a World War II torpedo decades later.
The sinking of the cruiser General Belgrano infuriated Argentina directly, and they vowed to pay the British blood debt. And the long-cherished killer-hand gun, the "Flying Fish" anti-ship missile just purchased from France.
May 4 was a godsend for Argentina. This morning, Argentina dispatched a Neptune reconnaissance plane to patrol, and soon spotted the destroyer Sheffield in the west-north of the Falklands, which was in charge of the aircraft carrier formation's air defense mission.
The "Sheffield" was the most advanced guided-missile destroyer in Britain and even in the world at that time, and it was only in the 1970s that it began to equip the British army. The warship has a full load displacement of 4100 tons, is equipped with 4 gas turbines, and has a speed of 29 knots. It is equipped with a series of advanced control systems at that time, such as sea- and anti-air search radars and missile guidance radars.
After receiving the news, the Argentine Naval Aviation immediately dispatched two "Super Flag" attack aircraft carrying "Flying Fish" missiles to hunt and kill. In order to avoid the British radar, the two pilots adopted an ultra-low-altitude flight method, they desperately lowered the flight altitude, at one point only 35 meters above sea level, and the slightest carelessness will be buried in the sea.
In order to quickly enter the missile range, the Afghan fighter accelerated the aircraft to a height of 500 knots, and the aircraft roared through the fierce wind and rain, and soon reached a distance of 32 kilometers from the target.
The Argentine pilot inspected it from start to finish, convinced that the missile could be activated and launched. When the missile's radar locked on to the Sheffield, the two pilots quickly pressed the launch button, and the Flying Fish missile roared out and quickly ran towards the target.
At this moment, the Sheffield was on the phone with the London side, shutting down the radar system to avoid electromagnetic interference, which once again missed the opportunity to save themselves.
In an instant, one of the two "Flying Fish" missiles deviated from the direction due to malfunction and plunged into the sea. However, the other hit the hull of the destroyer 2 meters above the waterline. Due to a problem with the fuse, the warhead did not detonate. But the missile's tail flames caused a fire that killed 20 British soldiers and wounded more than 20 others.
Six days later, the Sheffield sank in the vast Atlantic Ocean while towing. In this way, Argentina sank a destroyer worth up to $200 million with a missile worth only $200,000.
Argentina not only avenged the sinking of the "General Belgrano", but also made the "Flying Fish" missile famous from the war, becoming a world-renowned anti-ship missile, sales are rising, and France has also made a lot of money by relying on this incident.
In order to expand the results of the battle, Argentina subsequently used the "Flying Fish" missile to sink the British quasi-aircraft carrier "Atlantic Transporter". However, after the start of the war, France imposed an arms embargo on Argentina, and although Argentina severely damaged the British navy with the "Flying Fish" missile, it was still unable to reverse the defeat of the war.
On June 14, after more than two months of bitter fighting, Argentina had no choice but to surrender, and Britain won the war and reoccupied the Falklands.
@Yue Chat Literature History
Although Argentina hit Britain hard with the "Flying Fish" missile in the war, because it did not have a perfect national defense industry, it could not manufacture advanced missiles, and could only buy the "Flying Fish" missile from France. If Argentina can build missiles on its own, the outcome of the war is really unknown.
History has repeatedly proved that backwardness means being beaten! Only when a country relies on itself, independently develops the national defense industry and develops science and technology, can it stand in an invincible position and resist the enemy thousands of miles away!
