Sink the Belgrano

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The controversy over the sinking did not end with the war (although officially it wasn’t one, as there had been no declaration of it). According to the British Council, Sink the Belgrano is among Berkoff's "lesser-known works". [2] Characters [ edit ] Ponting was convinced he was going to be jailed, so much so that he brought his toothbrush and the sayings of Buddha to court for the verdict. But when it came, which no doubt enraged the judge, he was found innocent. He immediately resigned from the Civil Service and weeks later published his first book, The Right To Know, then joining the politics and international relations department at Swansea University. However, Ponting had drafted two papers stating that the cruiser had altered course and was moving away from the zone. Elton, Rodney (20 March 1985). "Official Secrets Legislation". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). HL Deb vol 461 c613 . Retrieved 1 December 2017. the highly classified chronology prepared by Mr. Ponting now known as 'the crown jewels'

Coventry, Cameron (2019). "CJ Coventry, Clive Ponting's Churchill, Before/Now, 1(1) (2019)". Before/Now. 1 (1): 78–79. doi: 10.17613/4dj5-f938. Addison, Paul (28 June 1990). "Paul Addison · Garbo & Co · LRB 28 June 1990". London Review of Books. 12 (12). His historical works have attracted attention from other academics, with scholar Paul Addison writing that "Ponting writes well and the clarity with which he summarises the issues calls to mind a model civil servant briefing his minister. He swoops like a hawk on the damning quotation or the telling statistic." [16] [17] [18] C. J. Coventry reviewed Ponting's biography of Churchill, writing that "Ponting shattered the Churchill illusion for his readers leaving them little to piece together, just marble shards on the floor of his looted temple". [19] Personal life [ edit ] Robert Farley, a frequent contributor to The National Interest , is a Visiting Professor at the United States Army War College. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

When he was asked later about the sinking of the Belgrano, the Conqueror’s captain, Chris Wreford-Brown, responded wryly: “The Royal Navy spent 13 years preparing me for such an occasion. It would have been regarded as extremely dreary if I had fouled it up.” Gott, Richard (9 November 2008). "Review: Three books about Churchill". The Observer– via www.theguardian.com. The USS Phoenix was the fifth of the Brooklyn class—a group of light cruisers designed to comply with the restrictions imposed by the London Naval Treaty of 1930. The major navies of the world, prohibited from competing in battleships, had turned their attention to cruisers, which turned out to be both expensive and destabilizing. In an effort to limit competition in heavy cruisers, the new treaty established limits on the number of 8″ gunned cruisers allowed each of the signatories. Britain, which needed light cruisers to patrol the empire, hoped that naval architects would design new cruisers around the 6″ gun, and scale down the size of the ships appropriately.

The play is about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's decision to torpedo the Argentinian ship General Belgrano, as it was purportedly retreating during the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina. [ citation needed] Dalyell, Tam (13 June 1985). "Defence Estimates 1985". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). HC Deb vol 80 c1057 . Retrieved 1 December 2017. Ponting... compiled the 'crown jewels'

Spotlight: Secrets are now surfacing over sinking of the Belgrano

Hannan, Martin (14 November 2018). "Clive Ponting warns of Brexit threat to Scottish Parliament". The National. The Belgrano had been sunk outside the 200-mile maritime exclusion zone that Britain had imposed around the Falklands and, according to reports, had actually been heading for port. Kaufman, Gerald (3 April 1985). "The Tribunal". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). HC Deb vol 76 c1242 . Retrieved 1 December 2017. those fabulous Belgrano 'crown jewels', which we were told were matters of the greatest secrecy Progress and Barbarism: The World in the Twentieth Century (1998), Chatto & Windus, ISBN 1-85619-610-0; published in the US as The Twentieth Century: A World History (1999), Henry Holt & Co., ISBN 978-0-8050-6088-1 a b Rosenbaun, Martin (18 March 2011). "Clive Ponting case: Where is the investigators' report?". BBC News.

In the Green Room after the show, Thatcher’s husband Denis, drink in hand, lashed out at the producer saying that his wife had been “stitched up by bloody BBC p**fs and Trots”. There had been a Peruvian peace proposal 14 hours earlier, which Britain would later accept (although Argentina rejected it) and in a live television interview on BBC1’s Nationwide the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, denied that she had received it. The Belgrano was a threat to British ships, she said, justifying the action.

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A Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations (1991), Penguin, ISBN 0-14-017660-8

In 1985 Ponting came across the one file about Operation Cauldron—1952 secret biological warfare trials that had led to a trawler being accidentally doused with plague bacteria off the Hebrides—that had not been destroyed, and confidentially told The Observer newspaper about it, [4] leading to a story that July headlined "British germ bomb sprayed trawler". [13] The Belgrano, an old World War II ship, was reported to have been severely damaged this morning. News that she had actually sunk came as the Defence Secretary, John Nott, was answering questions from journalists this afternoon. When later asked about the sinking of Belgrano, Wre ford-Brown responded with typical British understate ment: “The Royal Navy spent 13 years preparing me for such an occasion. It would have been regarded as extremely dreary if I had fouled it up.” Troubled history of Official Secrets Act". BBC. 18 November 1998 . Retrieved 8 June 2015. It was hailed as a victory for the jury system. The judge had indicated that the jury should convict him.While other warships circled each other off the Falkland Islands, a British submarine stalked the Argentine light cruiser HMS Conqueror fired three torpedoes at ARA General Belgrano on the evening of May 2. HMS Conqueror had used World War II-era MK8 torpedoes as opposed to the more modern Mark 24 Tigerfish homing torpedoes as the submariners decided that the MK8 was more reliable—ironically, WWII-era torpedoes for WWII-era targets. Two of the torpedoes hit ARA General Belgrano and the third allegedly hit an escorting destroyer but did not explode. The torpedoes tore two holes in the ARA General Belgrano, sinking it in just a few minutes and killing more than 300 Argentine sailors out of slightly more than 1,000 total onboard.