The cruiser "General Belgrano" was a capital ship of the Argentine Navy and was the flagship of the Argentine Navy's fleet. During the Battle of Inglo-Armagh In 1982, it was sunk by a british task force nuclear submarine. The cruiser also became the world's first surface ship to be sunk by a nuclear submarine, and became famous in World War I.
The cruiser General Belgrano was the former Brooklyn-class cruiser Phoenix, which the Argentine government purchased from the U.S. government in 1950 after World War II.
Under the London Naval Treaty signed on April 22, 1930, the United States could only build two more Washington Treaty-type heavy cruisers (CA44 and CA45) as a supplement to the Washington Naval Treaty. In order to deal with the increasingly militaristic Japanese Navy, it had to turn to the construction of light cruisers equipped with 6-inch main guns, thus contributing to the birth of the Brooklyn class.
The final option chosen in early 1931 was a displacement of 9,600 tons, four triple turrets, and armor protection similar to that of the New Orleans class, which was adopted in the 1933 shipbuilding plan, but the ensuing requirement to install a 1.1-inch anti-aircraft gun led to another modification of the design of the ship, as well as some changes to the armor protection.
During this period, the appearance of four 8500-ton light cruisers (not yet equipped with 203mm guns) equipped with up to 15 6-inch main guns in the Japanese battleship replenishment program strongly stimulated the nerves of the Americans. In the final design, the brooklyn class's primary armament was changed to five 6-inch triple turrets, and the flight deck was moved to the stern.
The U.S. Navy plans to build a total of ten Brooklyn-class cruisers, of which the seventh Wichita was redesigned during construction and replaced with a heavy cruiser, as a technical test ship for a new type of heavy cruiser, known as the Wichita Heavy Cruiser. So eventually there were actually 9 Brooklyn-class ships joining the U.S. Navy (CL40-43, CL46-50).
The cruisers of this class have a standard displacement of 9923 tons and a full load displacement of 12403 tons. It is 185 meters long and has a standing crew of 868.
The armament consisted of five triple Mk 16 152 mm main guns, four CL49/50 twin 127 mm secondary guns, eight 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns and four Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. Two seaplanes were carried in the stern for artillery firing and aerial reconnaissance.
The MK-16 naval gun has a multiplier diameter of 47 times and fires heavy armor-piercing shells weighing up to 59 kg, so the destructive power against enemy ships is considerable. At the same time, because of the use of shell hoists, its rate of fire can be as high as 8 to 10 shells per minute, theoretically if 5 turrets fire at the same time, you can pour up to 150 shells on the enemy in one minute, and a single ship can easily reach the projection of about one artillery regiment of the army. The density of damage and firepower is outrageous.
Turret front armor 159 mm, main armor belt armor 32-127 mm, horizontal deck armor 51-76 mm, commander tower armor 57-127 mm. The maximum speed is 31.5 knots, with an endurance of 9,000 nautical miles at an economic speed of 15 knots.
The cruiser "Phoenix" started construction at camden City New York Shipbuilding Company on April 15, 1935, was launched on March 12, 1938, and completed on October 3 of the same year, number CL46.
In the Attack on Pearl Harbor launched by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. The Phoenix and the wounded battleship Nevada cut off their anchor chains one after the other and left the berth, trying to rush out of the fire, but were immediately spotted by japanese aircraft. The Japanese concentrated their fire on attacking the two ships, trying to sink them in the main channel to block Pearl Harbor, and in the fierce battle, the Nevada was hit by several bombs in a row, too much water, and was forced to sail to the shore and run aground, but the Phoenix rushed out like a fairy in the water column forest caused by the Japanese bomb, unharmed! The Phoenix became the first 10,000-ton ship to storm out of port.
After that, the Phoenix experienced the entire Pacific War, was once the ship of General MacArthur, and participated in the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamashiro in the Surigao Strait, which was also the last naval battle in human history in which large warships pounded each other with heavy guns.
Throughout World War II, the ship was wounded many times, in addition to being injured by bombs in the First Battle of Biak, it was also hit by torpedoes, shells, and finally by kamikaze death squads, with the word "phoenix" in its name, and the tenacity of an undead bird.
Except for the three torpedoes that were hit in the Battle of Kura Bay off the Solomon Islands, and the Helena, which was sunk by a U.S. destroyer the next day, the remaining Brooklyn class became a sought-after cargo, and South American countries bought a total of 6 ships. The CL40 Brooklyn and CL43 Nashville were bought by Chile; the CL41 Philadelphia and CL49 St. Louis were bought by Brazil; and the CL46 Phoenix and CL47 Boise were bought by Argentina. The remaining CL42 Savannah and CL48 fire NGNs were scrapped and dismantled in 1959.
After purchasing the Phoenix from the U.S. government for a super low price of $1.2 million, Argentina named the ship October Victory and soon changed its name to General Belgrano. Since then, although the Argentine Navy has carried out two modernization modifications for the General Belgrano and added the "Sea Cat" anti-aircraft missile, due to the lack of funds, the power, artillery, sonar and other systems have basically remained unchanged.
In the early stages of the Falklands War in 1982, the British declared 200 nautical miles off the Falklands a no-go zone, and all aircraft and ships entering the 200-nautical-mile exclusion zone around the Falklands would be attacked. Most of the Argentine Navy's ships operated 200 nautical miles away to avoid conflict with british ships.
General Belgrano and two destroyers left Ushuaia on 26 April. They patrolled south of the Falklands on 29 April. Discovered on 30 April by the British submarine Conquistador. But after the Argentine ships left the 200-nautical-mile (about 370 km) exclusion zone on the Falklands, the British still saw them as a threat.
After some consideration, the British had to attack the Argentine ships outside the restricted area first, and then fight! And so tragedy struck.
At 3:57 p.m. on May 2, Conquistador fired three Mk 8 mod 4 torpedoes with 800-pound warheads each, two of which hit General Belgrano. One torpedo hit the vicinity of the bow of the ship without casualties, while the other hit the rear half of the ship, causing a large explosion in which later reports said 275 people died. Although the explosion did not cause a fire, it still filled the ship with smoke quickly, and the explosion damaged the ship's electrical equipment, making it unable to issue a radio distress signal.
A large amount of seawater poured into the ship from the gap created by the torpedo, and due to the power outage, it was impossible to pump the water away, and the ship began to sink. At 4.24 p.m., Captain Bonso ordered the ship to be abandoned, and the crew escaped in a lifeboat.
At this time, the two escort destroyers did not know the situation of General Belgrano, nor did they see the distress rocket or the lamp, and continued to sail west. Later, when the two ships knew, it was already dark, and the bad weather washed away the lifeboats. In the cold weather, strong winds and strong waves, some people froze to death on lifeboats.
Argentine and Chilean ships rescued 770 people and killed another 323 between 3 and 5 May, accounting for half of the 649 Afghan casualties killed in the war.
In February 2003, the National Geographic Society and the Argentine Navy formed an expedition to search the waters of the South Atlantic for shipwrecks. Although it is believed that the shipwreck is located at a depth of 4,000 meters under rough waters 180 kilometers off the coast of Argentina. But after two weeks at sea, the expedition, affected by the bad weather in the South Atlantic, was unable to locate the vessel.
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