A look at life: General Belgrano Article

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

I am of the opinion that your also correct it was the UK sending a message to the world that don't think were a push over.

But as I also noted I think there was also more to play here, I agree the carrier was more a threat overall, but as mentioned if the UK sank the carrier it would undermine the USA defense policy which is carrier based strategy and subsequently reinforce the soviet doctrine which was to counter the carriers with submarines.

Well the other issue in all this is that the U.S. was trying to please both sides. The Reagan administration had developped close contacts with the military governments in Chile and Argentina since they were anti-communists. When the war started Argentina thought the U.S. would side with them. Reagan finally decided to back the UK, but he was trying to maintain a good relationship with Latin American countries. There was probably pressure from the Reagan admin not to be too tough on the Argentines.