General Belgrano

This painting shows the General Belgrano in its seagoing capacity. It was an old Second World War battleship that had actually survived the attack on Pearl Harbour. Its massive guns and upgraded weapons systems could have provided quite a challenge for the British naval and lands forces. She was sunk by HMS Conqueror in one of the most controversial aspects of the war and 323 Argentine sailors lost their lives. The main bone of contention was that she was outside of the British imposed 200 mile exclusion zone. The British argued that she represented a genuine threat to British ships and forces in the area and so had to be sunk. Whatever the reasons, the result was that the bulk of the Argentine Navy confined itself to port for the duration of the war for fear of being on the receiving end of more torpedoes.