The alternate scenario does not end with weapons release. Communications, radar, and strike activity would help British submarines reacquire the Argentine groups, whose ASW defences were poorly suited to counter Royal Navy nuclear boats. Those submariners had trained for rapid attacks against Soviet fleets, making a coordinated Argentine emission burst exactly the kind of cue they could exploit. In this assessment, Conqueror would stop Belgrano before a gun action, and Veinticinco de Mayo would probably not remain afloat for the returning Skyhawks. Five nuclear boats - Courageous, Valiant, Conqueror, Spartan, and Splendid - plus the diesel submarine Onyx served during the wider campaign, giving Britain several possible hunters for the separate groups.
Chapter · 25:37-27:53
A successful launch would expose Argentina's fleet to submarine destruction
Even if the Argentine groups slipped through and launched, their electronic activity would reveal them to nuclear submarines trained for rapid Cold War fleet attacks.