Wars That Shaped The World · Goalhanger Podcasts

2 - Sink the Belgrano

·49 min·3 clips

Thatcher and the war cabinet unanimously ordered, “Sink the Belgrano.”

1. Wars That Shaped the World covers the Falklands War and the sinking of the Belgrano. 2. The episode is narrated by Paul Waggett, with production credits naming Robin Scott Elliott, Neil Fearn, and Tony Pace. 3. The core question is how Britain moved from a hurried naval departure to an actual war in the South Atlantic. 4. On 5 April 1982, Portsmouth Harbor sent out HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible with bands playing and crowds waving flags. 5. David Tinker on HMS Glamorgan wrote home that the ship was going to the Falkland Islands to “bash the Argentines.” 6. After Argentina invaded Port Stanley, Margaret Thatcher’s government faced demands for heads to roll, and Lord Carrington resigned as Foreign Secretary. 7. The task force was assembled in three days, with troop ships carrying Royal Marines and paratroopers following the first naval departure. 8. By 1982, the Royal Navy was geared mainly to submarines and anti-submarine work, not a long expedition to the South Atlantic. 9. John Sandy Woodward, a 50-year-old submariner, was chosen by John Fieldhouse to command the task force. 10. Woodward received HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible, plus Type 42 destroyers Coventry, Glasgow, and Sheffield for air defence. 11. 3 Commando Brigade and Brigadier Julian Thompson scrambled from Denmark, Copenhagen, and Plymouth to get the landing force ready. 12. Major Ewan Southby-Taylor, who knew the Falklands coastline well, briefed Marines at Plymouth and was promised a place on the boat. 13. The Ministry of Defence requisitioned the cruise liner Canberra, sending a civilian scouting team to map helipads, hospitals, and command centres. 14. In New York, Sir Anthony Parsons worked the UN Security Council vote and won Resolution 502 with a final 10 votes. 15. Thatcher phoned King Hussein, France backed Britain, Germany and the EEC imposed sanctions, and banks stopped lending to Argentina. 16. At South Georgia, SAS troops landed in snowstorm conditions, lost two Wessex helicopters in whiteouts, and later captured the island after an attack on the Argentine submarine Santa Fe. 17. The task force then moved south with no airborne early warning system, thin air cover, and concern about Sea Harriers facing Phantoms and Mirages. 18. Flight Lieutenant Martin Withers flew a Vulcan bomber from Ascension Island to Stanley, and the Harriers and ships then struck Argentine positions at Goose Green and Port Stanley. 19. The episode uses spoken quotations, logbook timing, and battle recordings to create a documentary style with high urgency and detailed chronology. 20. Listeners interested in naval warfare, Thatcher-era decisions, and the Falklands campaign will get the most from it.

As heard by us

A wartime chapter where haste, weather, and politics tighten the screws.

It begins on the dockside and keeps the focus on people at close range: crowds, bands, sailors, and a task force leaving with both ceremony and uncertainty.

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Why you'd press play

You follow Britain's rushed sail to the Falklands: dockside bands, carrier decks, and an 8,000-mile voyage into uncertainty.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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