Sink the Belgrano

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Following his resignation from the Civil Service, Ponting served as a reader in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Wales, Swansea, until his retirement in 2004. He was one of the pioneers of Big History. [15] The sinking of ARA General Belgrano rattled the nerves of the Argentine naval groups, which, realizing the dangers and the vulnerabilities of their surface ships against advanced British nuclear submarines, decided to return to port, including the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo. There would be no more attempts by the Argentine Navy to oppose or threaten the British naval task force which subsequently landed successfully on the Falkland Islands on May 21. 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' While other warships circled each other off the Falkland Islands, a British submarine stalked the Argentine light cruiser In November 2018 he gave a speech in which he warned fellow Scottish National Party members that a No-deal Brexit would be used as context in which to disband or constrain the Scottish Parliament. [20]

He later wrote a number of books on British and world history. These included a Green History of the World (1991), which was revised as A New Green History of the World in 2007, and a biography of Winston Churchill (1994) and 1940: Myth and Reality (1990). 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] The events of Ponting's charge and trial were dramatized by Richard Monks on BBC Radio Four in May 2022. [14] Academic career [ edit ] 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. 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 ]Gott, Richard (9 November 2008). "Review: Three books about Churchill". The Observer– via www.theguardian.com. 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.

Video interview with Steven Berkoff about the original production of Sink the Belgrano! at the Half Moon TheatreAfter the loss of Belgrano the Argentine navy withdrew all units to its nation’s coastal waters, where they remained for the duration of the war, leaving the fight against the Royal Navy to land-based air force and naval aviators. By June 14 the war was over, the British having retaken Stanley and ejected the Argentines from the islands. This single submarine action by HMS Conqueror, the first and only torpedo sinking of an enemy combat ship by a nuclear submarine, managed to deter and deny the Argentine Navy from threatening the British naval task force. HMS Conqueror’s performance demonstrated the value of nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarines. With the capability to travel at high underwater speeds with a long underwater endurance and large operational radius, nuclear hunter-killer submarines continue to be a prized strategic asset today.

In 1951, it had been sold to Argentina and renamed the ARA General Belgrano. It would not see out 1982 and survive the Falklands War. 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. 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.The papers were soon traced to Ponting, who was interviewed by two MoD police officers, who told him they were not sure an offence had been committed. They suggested he quietly resign.