Malvinas – The Grand Narrative
Sources and Rumours in War Reporting
(An intriguing analysis of how British communication was managed in support of military operations)
"On 31 March, two days before Argentine forces landed in Malvinas, the Argentine newspaper Clarín published a report, which appeared to originate from London, claiming that the British had deployed the nuclear submarine Superb to Argentine waters. The Foreign Office had no comment to offer on that 'version', and the Argentine press concluded that this was a leak of highly classified military information.
On 1 April, as Argentine troops were preparing for the landing in Malvinas, Clarín reported that the Superb displaced 45,000 tonnes and had a crew of 97 men trained in anti-submarine warfare.
By 4 April, the submarine had allegedly been sighted off the Argentine coast. British military sources responded that they had no intention of disclosing the location of their submarines.
On 18 April, a Brazilian pilot reported having seen the Superb near Santa Catarina and even claimed to have photographed it; unfortunately, the image was nearly unreadable due to fog.
Then, when the British expeditionary force was genuinely just eighty kilometres from the war zone, with real warships and actual submarines, the Superb vanished. On 22 April, Clarín reported that the submarine had supposedly returned to Scotland. The next day, 23 April, the Scottish newspaper Daily Record revealed that, in fact, the Superb had remained anchored at its Scottish base the entire time.
What interests me most is how the story grew—from a vague rumour—into a full-fledged submarine narrative, thanks to the collective efforts of many. It became a 'character' in its own right."