Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat
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.
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Id agree with that, Had we sunk the carrier and Belgrano plus the escorts maybe even done a black buck raid into Argentina itself then not only would it have utterly humiliated the Argentines but would have opened up the war substantially.
By sinking the Belgrano I do think this showed the UK could freely sink ships at will and it sent a powerful message to Argentina while at the same time showing restraint by using only the minimum force needed.
While I am no advocate of the current PM he is just the best of a bad bunch I have a feeling that should this happen again today he would take the gloves right off with Tomahawk strikes into the air bases and also order sink anything on sight regardless of position.
With the way Argentina is right now they couldn't hope to economically let alone militarily mount a campaign