The LRB Podcast The Belgrano Diary: Half a Million Sheep Can't Be Wrong
Mar 28, 2024
Exploring the Falklands War, the sinking of the Belgrano, and the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982. It highlights the strategic planning, Britain's response to the crisis, and the enigmatic Lieutenant Sethia's controversial involvement with the Communist Party.
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Belgrano Sinking Changed The War
- The Belgrano sinking was the bloodiest single act of the Falklands conflict and marked the first British torpedo attack since WWII.
- Its timing and scale made it the pivotal event that ended any immediate chance of diplomacy.
Diary Triggered A Political Storm
- The sinking became a lasting national controversy because it contradicted official accounts and raised legal and moral questions.
- Tam Dalyell used Lieutenant Narendra Sethia's diary as central evidence to challenge the government's narrative.
Sethia's Twice-Daily Submarine Diary
- Lieutenant Narendra Sethia kept a twice-daily diary aboard HMS Conqueror full of routine, fear and a detailed account of the attack.
- People called the diary "dynamite" and it connected journalists, mariners and politicians in the Belgrano affair.