After HMS Conqueror sent the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano and 323 Argentine sailors to their final resting place on 2 May 1982, the remainder of Argentina’s fleet retreated to home waters—all except the submarine San Luis. Argentina hoped this lone diesel boat, marginally functional and half-crewed, could avenge the General Belgrano and turn the tide of the war by sinking a British aircraft carrier.1
Admiral Sandy Woodward, commander of the Royal Navy’s task force during the Falklands War, keenly appreciated this threat: Losing either of his two carriers could lose the war for Britain. In response, Woodward deployed 11 destroyers, 5 nuclear submarines, 1 diesel submarine, and 25 helicopters in the most intense submarine hunt in modern history, expending 6,847 flight hours and 50 lightweight torpedoes in a failed attempt to sink the San Luis.2 Still, the submarine eventually made three ineffective attacks, including one against a British carrier, before withdrawing because of mechanical failures.3
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1. Sebastien Roblin, “How the Falklands War (Thanks to a Stealthy Submarine) Could Have Gone Very Differently,” The National Interest, 27 November 2016.
2. Chris Hobson and Andrew Noble, Falklands Air War (Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2002), 157–58; John Lehmann, “Reflections on the Special Relationship,” Naval History 26, no. 5 (September 2012).
3. Norman Friedman, “The Falklands War in Retrospect: Hard Lessons from a Small War,” Defense Media Network, 2 April 2015.
4. Craig Lokkins, “The Falklands War: A Review of the Sea-Based Airpower, Submarine and Anti-submarine Warfare Operations,” (thesis, Maxwell AFB, AL: Air War College, 1990).
5. GEN David H. Berger, USMC, “Marines Will Help Fight Submarines,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 146, no. 11 (November 2020): 18–23.
6. H. I. Sutton, “U.S. Navy Submarine Fleet to Be Overtaken by China Before 2030,” Naval News (13 December 2020).
7. Toshi Yoshihara and James R. Holmes, Red Star Over the Pacific: China’s Rise and the Challenge to U.S. Maritime Strategy, 2nd ed. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2018), 182.
8. “Chinese Threat to U.S. Surface Ships,” 2017 research brief, The RAND Corp.
9. “Chinese President Xi urges Navy to Boost Combat Readiness, Build Aviation Force,” The Straits Times, 16 June 2018.
10. H. I. Sutton, “Chinese Increasing Nuclear Submarine Shipyard Capacity,” USNI News, 12 October 2020.
11. CAPT Wayne P. Hughes Jr. and RADM Robert P. Girrier, USN (Ret.), Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations, 3rd ed. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2018), 117.
12. David Axe, “China’s Navy Could Have 76 Submarines by 2030: Report,” The National Interest, 30 April 2020.
13. Loren Thompson, “U.S. Navy Plans to Stop Buying P-8 Poseidon Sub Hunter Despite Growing Undersea Threat,” Forbes, 2 December 2019.
14. Office of the Secretary of Defense, “Selected Acquisition Report: P-8A Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft,” December 2018.
15. “MH-60R Seahawk Multi-Mission Naval Helicopter,” Naval Technology.
16. Ronald O’Rourke, “Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for Congress,” Congressional Research Service (17 December 2019).
17. “The United States Seventh Fleet” Seventh Fleet, 12 September 2019; Richard Burgess “Navy Plans to Retire 48 Ships During 2022–2026,” Sea Power, 11 December 2020.
18. Berger, “Marines Will Help Fight Submarines.”
19. Walker D. Mills, Dylan Philips-Levine, and Collin Fox, “Cocaine Logistics for the Marine Corps,” War on the Rocks, 22 July 2020.
20. Jared Keller, “The Marine Corps Is Eyeing a Long-range Robot Boat That Can Nail Targets with Kamikaze Drones,” Task & Purpose, 27 January 2021.
21. C. Tucker, “UDT 2019—Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW) Towed Array,” Undersea Defense Technology, 1 July 2020.
22. “Making History with VMM-163: Squadron Deploys Oceanographic Sensors,” U.S. Marine Corps website, 22 October 2020.
23. “Unmanned & Unmatched.”
24. Philip Athey, “New in 2021: Why the Corps Might See Fewer M777s Next Year,” Marine Corps Times, 30 December 2020.
25. Jen Judson, “Army, Lockheed Prep for First Extended-Range Guided Rocket Test Firing,” Defense News, 13 October 2020; Kyle Rempfer and Joe Gould, “U.S. Army Completes Third Test of Lockheed’s Precision Strike Missile,” Defense News, 30 April 2020.
26. Jim Webb, “The Future of the U.S. Marine Corps,” National Defense Magazine, 8 May 2020.
27. Steven Harper, Submarine Operations during the Falklands War (thesis, Newport, RI: Naval War College, 1994).
