(Reproduced from "The Navy in the News 1954 - 1991" by Jim Allaway)

Most controversial of all actions in the Falklands War was the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. Whether or not the Belgrano and her escorting destroyers had posed an immediate threat to the Task Force would be debated for years afterwards - but the commanding officer of the nuclear-powered Fleet submarine, HMS Conqueror Cdr. Christopher Wreford-Brown, was in no doubt as he arrived home at the Clyde Submarine Base.

He had attacked on direct orders from Fleet headquarters, he said, and though he regretted the loss of life, he had "saved a considerable loss of life from the British Task force and a potential threat from Exocet missiles with which she was armed."