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At first report, only about 125 members of the Belgrano's crew were said to have survived. Later, as Argentine rescue boats combed the waters of the area, the number of known survivors rose to about 800. But the strike against the cruiser was as much a psychological shock as a military one. The Belgrano was the second largest ship in the Argentine navy, behind the 39-year-old aircraft carrier Veinticinco de Mayo. Loss of the vessel was a substantive blow to Argentine prestige. Moreover, the decision to sink the Belgrano outside the 200-mile blockade constituted a sharp escalation of the fighting and an abrupt change from the "minimal use of force" concept.
The British government's explanation was that on April 23 it had warned that any Argentine ship or plane representing a clear threat to the fleet would risk an "appropriate response." The dangers of broadening the war, British officials asserted, had to be measured against the risk of allowing the Belgrano to train its impressive firepower on the British task force. As Prime Minister Thatcher told the House of Commons, "The worry that I live with hourly is that Argentine forces, in attacks both naval and air, will get through to our forces."
The Argentine reaction to the Belgrano's sinking was heated. At first, Buenos Aires said that Britain's announcement was "a lie" and part of a campaign of "psychological warfare." The next day, however, Argentina conceded the ship's loss and denounced the attack as a "treacherous act of armed aggression."
As well as the Belgrano, the Argentines announced—mistakenly it turned out—that yet another navy vessel had been lost. According to Buenos Aires, a dispatch ship, the Sobral, had been fired on by British missile-carrying Lynx helicopters as it searched for a downed Canberra bomber crew within the 200-mile zone. The British said that the Sobral and another Argentine boat had been hit and at least one sunk. A day later, the Sobral limped back into the Argentine port of Deseado with eight dead crewmen.
Britain also kept up the military pressure on land. Despite claims to have knocked out the airstrips at Port Stanley and Goose Green, the British sent another wave of Sea Harriers against both targets, followed by a second solo Vulcan attack on the field at Port Stanley. The initial attacks had left it possible for smaller aircraft to fly from the fields; the British also wanted to inhibit Argentine repair work. During these raids the British admitted to suffering their first loss: a Sea Harrier was downed, its pilot killed.
But this was merely a prelude. Some 42 hours after the attack on the Belgrano, the Argentines gained spectacular revenge. British Defense Secretary John Nott appeared before a dismayed House of Commons to report that a British destroyer, the 4,100-ton Sheffield, had been demolished by a French-built Exocet antiship missile fired from an Argentine fighter-bomber. The toll of dead, wounded and missing among the 270-member crew was 44; the death count was later announced to be about 20.