Documents reveal that the United Kingdom sent 31 nuclear weapons to the Falklands War.
Nuclear depth charges were sent from navy ships to attack submarines.
By Nathalia Urban, for 247
Documents obtained by Declassified They reveal that the presence of nuclear weapons caused panic among London authorities as they realized the damage, both physical and political, that they could have caused.
The UK government, under Margaret Thatcher, dispatched a naval task force to the South Atlantic to retake the islands.
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) memo, dated April 6, 1982, referred to the “great concern” that some of the “nuclear depth bombs” could be “lost or damaged and the fact become public.” The memo added: “The international repercussions of such an incident could be very damaging.”
Nuclear depth charges were launched from navy ships to attack submarines.
A plan to unload the weapons at the British base on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean was rejected by the Navy. They said it would delay the task force's passage to the Falklands and that the operation would not be kept secret.
Instead, the weapons were transferred from the frigates and destroyers to the larger aircraft carriers, HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible, where the weapons could be better protected. Prince Andrew, who was recently implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein human trafficking scandal, served as a helicopter pilot on HMS Invincible during the war.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also concerned about the presence of nuclear weapons because of the 1967 Treaty of Tlatelolco. The treaty established a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Latin America and neighboring waters, including the Falkland Islands.
Although Great Britain signed and ratified the treaty protocols, other countries, including Argentina, did not. Margaret Thatcher insisted that no ship carrying nuclear weapons would enter the three-mile territorial waters around the Falkland Islands, which would be a "potential violation" of the Treaty of Tlatelolco.
The Falklands War (or Malvinas War, as it is officially known in the UK) began in April 1982, when Argentine troops invaded British-occupied territory.
A British task force was sent to the area and regained colonial control of the islands in June. Three islanders and 255 British military personnel died in the conflict. The number of Argentinian deaths is estimated at around 650.
Argentina's defeat precipitated the end of the brutal military dictatorship in the country, which was already facing serious economic problems and a lack of popular support.
Since taking office as president of Argentina in December 2019, Alberto Fernández has maintained the historic claim to the Falkland Islands and called for the resumption of negotiations with the United Kingdom, which were interrupted by his predecessor Mauricio Macri.
Fernández argued that the claim to the Falkland Islands should be a permanent part of the daily lives of Argentinians.