Pete Hegseth’s claim the US has been the first country to sink an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War 2 is wrong. The US Secretary of War delivered a press briefing on Wednesday, to announce the sinking of an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka had been carried out by the States.
During the briefing, Mr Hegseth said the Iranian ship had been sunk by a torpedo, adding: « The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War 2. Like in that war… we are fighting to win. » However, the sinking of the frigate Iris Dena, which is believed to have killed at least 80 people, isn’t the first successful attack by torpedo against an enemy ship since the 1945.
In fact, another warship was sunk by a torpedo four decades ago, at a defining moment in British history. During the Falklands War in 1982, a British nuclear-powered submarine sunk Argentina’s only cruiser, the General Belgrano, by hitting it by two torpedoes.
Initial reports at the time said Tigerfish missiles had been used, but it was in fact older Mark 8 torpedoes that sunk the Argentine ship. Argentina, in retaliation, sank HMS Sheffield killing 20 men. Great Britain had a task force of 127 ships and 25,948 British troops. A total of 255 British Armed Forces personnel were killed during the conflict, and a further 777 were injured.
The war lasted 74 days and ended with the surrender of Argentine Forces on June 14, 1982.
Hegseth’s statement is also proven wrong by another event, a sinking caused by torpedoes that took place in 1971, when the Indian frigate INS Khukri was hit by a Pakistan submarine. The ship fell prey to three torpedoes and sank 40 nautical miles off the coast of Diu. Returning to his words, however, it is correct, that the sinking of the Iranian warship would be the first time that the US sunk an enemy ship with a submarine since 1945.
The Daily Express has contacted the U.S. Department of War for comments.
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