NAVYPEDIA

Photo

General Belgrano 1978 Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comm	Fate
Diecisiete de Octubre (17 de Octubre) (ex-Phoenix), 9.1955- General Belgrano	C4	416	New York SB, Camden, USA	15.4.1935	12.3.1938	18.3.1939 // 5.12.1951	sunk 2.5.1982
Nueve de Julio (9 de Julio) (ex-Boise)	C5	361	Newport News SB, USA	1.4.1935	3.12.1936	1.2.1939 // 19.12.1951	stricken 10.1977

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	C4: 10800 C5: 10500
Displacement full, t	13645
Length, m	182.9 wl 185.4 oa
Breadth, m	21.0
Draught, m	7.30 max
No of shafts	4
Machinery	4 sets Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Power, h. p.	100000
Max speed, kts	30
Fuel, t	oil 2200
Endurance, nm(kts)	7600(15)
Armour, mm	belt: 127 - 83, magazines belts: 51 (fore) - 120 (aft), bulkheads: 127 - 51, deck: 51, barbettes: 152, turrets: 165 - 32, CT: 127 sides, 57 roof
Armament	C4: 5 x 3 - 152/47 Mk 16, 8 x 1 - 127/25 Mk 27, 4 x 4 - 40/60 Mk 2, 6 x 2 - 40/60 Mk 1, 19 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 10, 2 helicopters C5: 5 x 3 - 152/47 Mk 16, 8 x 1 - 127/25 Mk 27, 4 x 4 - 40/60 Mk 2, 6 x 2 - 40/60 Mk 1, 2 helicopters
Electronic equipment	C4: SK, SG, Mk 3, 2x Mk 4 radars C5: SK, SG, Mk 13, 2x Mk 28 radars
Complement	868

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

General Belgrano was purchased by Argentina 12 April 1951, and refitted at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The superstructure was reduced, bulges were added, the beam was increased and mainmast derricks and catapults were removed. The hangar in General Belgrano's hull could accommodate two helicopters with spare parts; the nearly flat counter and high freeboard aft provided an excellent helicopter platform.

iVitfiv de Juho was launched 3 December 1936, and was commissioned 19 December 1951. In the early 1960s, she, too, was fitted with a Dutch surface search radar. Decommissioned and stripped in 1978, she served as parts reservoir for her sister-ship and was scrapped in 1983.

Ship protection

Main belt abreast machinery was 4.2m high. It was 127mm thick (83mm at lower edge) on 16mm STS plating. There were narrow belts abreast magazines. Fore belt was 51mm thick but aft inner belt had 120mm thickness. Magazines were protected by 93mm bulkheads fore and aft, machinery and magazines were separated by 127-51mm bulkheads. Armoured deck over main belt was 51mm. Barbettes were 152mm thick. Turrets had 165-mm faces, 32-mm sides, 32-mm rears and 51-mm crowns.

Modernizations

early 1960s, both: new sensors consisted of LW-01, DA-01, Mk 33, Mk 34, 2x Mk 57, 2x Mk 63, NA9-D1 radars

1967, General Belgrano: + 2 x 4 Seacat GWS22 SAM (70? Seacat)

Naval service

During the Falklands conflict General Belgrano and two escorting destroyers were stationed to the southwest of the Falklands (Malvinas). She patrolled on a 200-mile line between Burwood Bank, S of the Falklands, and Isla de los Estados, E of Tierra del Fuego. On 2 May at 16.00 hrs local time she was torpedoed at a range of about 1.3km yards by British SSN Conqueror. At the time she was torpedoed, General Belgrano was approximately 220 miles from the Falklands sailing at 10kts toward the mainland. Two Mk8** torpedoes hit, the first under the aft 127mm gun director and the second just forward of A turret. The first hit tore the emergency generators from their foundations. The ship was without power. General Belgrano sank at 16.45 hrs; 321 lives were lost (95% killed by the torpedo hits) with the cruiser and 880 rescued after 24 hours in life rafts.

Many thanks to Wolfgang Stöhr for additional information on this page.