Why Didn't The Argentines Try To Stop The British Task Force On The Way To The alkans/

Profile photo for Frank West Frank West · Follow Updated 1h Why didn’t Argentina try to stop the British task force on its way to the Falklands in 1982? This has always puzzled me — Argentina has a long coast and surely knew the fleet was coming. Why didn’t they intercept or attack it on its voyage south? The Argentines did try to intercept the British at sea. It just didn’t work. The Argentine Navy sortied a fairly sizable task force of around 20 ships to intercept the British. Included in the fleet was the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo, the cruiser ARA General Belgrano, other surface ships like destroyers and corvettes, and the submarine ARA San Luis. These warships represented a lot of firepower and, especially considering the Argentine aircraft carrier, was potentially very dangerous to the British. ARA Veinticinco de Mayo & ARA General Belgrano The Royal Navy dealt with this threat by sending the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror. She fired 3 torpedoes at the Gen Belgrano on 2 May ‘82. The Argentine cruiser was struck twice and sank in minutes at the cost of over 300 lives. (Edited) HMS Conqueror (S48) This action spooked the Argentine leadership who immediately withdrew the remaining warships back to port. They stayed in harbor for the duration of the war. The Argentinian Navy just didn’t have an answer for a modern nuclear submarine. If they had, the Argentines had a decent chance of stopping the British fleet. AMA Gen Belgrano, low in the water before sinking on 2 May 1982. The sinking of the Belgrano cost many young lives, but it did force a positive outcome. The loss of the Falklands war, compounded by the sinking of the Belgrano, discredited the Argentine military junta and contributed to the restoration of civilian rule in 1983. __________________________________________ ***EDIT - UPDATE*** Several people in the comments have pointed out, correctly, that the action I describe above actually happened after the British were in the Falklands area. So, they ask again, why didn’t the Argentines “intercept” the British well before? Fair enough, so here’s that answer: The Argentines didn’t really think the British would fight. Not properly. They assumed the conflict would be settled by negotiation, so they neglected to prepare for a large naval war. Consequently, there was no plan ahead of time to ready the fleet and defend the islands. The British moved very fast. The ARA wasn’t ready to put to sea for a couple of weeks, but the British launched about 3 days after the invasion. There was a British submarine on station in about 48 hours. It just took too long for the Argentines to assemble and fit-out their full fleet. Submarines. By the time the Argentines were ready to sail, the British had submarines deployed south of the Falklands. That forced the ARA to move cautiously and slowly. No operations master plan. The Argentines didn’t have an integrated war plan. Each military branch planned independently. As such, the Army didn’t really consult the Navy and the Navy didn’t know what the Air Force was doing, etc. If they had worked together, the ARA could have sailed before the invasion, the Air Force could have deployed fighters to the islands….and they wouldn’t have wasted so much time. So there’s the answer. The Argentines were unprepared and didn’t anticipate a proper fight. Therefore, they neglected to use their forces in a coordinated, strategic, and timely manner. By the time it was clear there would be a real war, it took them too long to respond and react. C’est la guerre… 146.3K views View 1,649 upvotes View 8 shares 1 of 26 answers 130 comments from Robert Storms and more More from your Digest MyIQ Sponsored Answer 30 questions to find out your score. Are you smarter than the average American? The ave