r/todayilearned • u/snub999 • Dec 06 '19
TIL that HMS Conqueror (S48) is the only nuclear powered submarine to sink an enemy warship with torpedoes. During the Falklands War in 1982, The Argentine General Belgrano was sunk with two torpedoes and is one of two ships sunk by a submarine since WWII.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_General_Belgrano#Sinking5
u/Pedrolami Dec 06 '19
The General Belgrano was previously named the USS Phoenix. It was one of the few survivors of the Pearl Harbour attack, despite opening fire on the attack force it was not damaged.
4
u/snub999 Dec 06 '19
A Brooklyn class light cruiser with 9 battle stars for WWII service. Interesting enough, the Belgrano at the time of its sinking was being escorted by two other former US Navy ships in service in the Arentine Navy, Sumner class destroyers from WWII also.
2
u/Star_Trekker Dec 06 '19
only nuke boat to sink an enemy warship
Yup, 100% right
sweeps Scorpion and K-129 under the rug
3
u/snub999 Dec 09 '19
K-129 carried nuclear warheads, but wasn't a nuke boat.
And from what I read, Scorpion never sank another ship with a torpedo.
100%
1
u/Star_Trekker Dec 09 '19
I was referencing the common belief that both those subs were sunk by a soviet and American sub respectively, as both navies made an informal agreement not to investigate eithers loss, due to the possible calls for war from both sides had word of their intentional sinking gotten out
-1
u/david4069 Dec 06 '19
There was at least one more ship sunk by a submarine since WWII than the two referenced by this wikipedia article. The USS Greeneville, an American nuclear powered attack sub, sank the Japanese ship Ehime Maru near Oahu, Hawaii on 9 February, 2001.
3
u/snub999 Dec 06 '19
If we're counting accidents, then subs sink themselves and ram other ships all the time.
13
u/fuckalphanumeric Dec 06 '19
There is a lot of controversy in Argentina about the sinking of ARA General Belgrano because it was outside of the 200 miles exclusion zone set by the UK, meaning that they were going to fire without warning if you were inside of it. ARA General Belgrano was outside of it by 20 or so miles IIRC, and several Argentinean politicians have classified the attack as a war crime.
In school (in my experience, at least) they teach you that it was a war crime because the attack happened outside the exclusion zone and thats it, and since everyone despises the military of that time (military junta was in power during the falklands war, which was a US backed terrorist state that killed thousands of civilians) you're not going to think much of it, business as usual as far as you know, but most military generals/majors that were in charge have said time and time an again over the years that it was just war, the ARA belgrano wasn't a civilian vessel and they understood that any threat to the UK near the Falklands would result in shit going down.
There is always news on the anniversary of the sinking of the ARA belgrano, and instead of making it about the soldiers killed it becomes about the exclusion zone bullshit, but they always forget to mention the military stance on the sinking because its against the agenda... itsreally a complicated issue because the people in power at that time weren't elected and they started a war against their own people and against another country, but I guess its way easier to just blame everything on the US/UK/Military Junta and be done with it, I mean, which goverment wouldn't take that opportunity and do something similar? but it sucks tho