[TODAY learned of tragic loss of General Belgrano…]

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TODAY learned of tragic loss of General Belgrano.

Watched Admiral Sandy Woodward doing televised press conference on deck.

Said sad at loss of life of Argentine sailors. Woodward spoke of brotherhood of seagoing folk and how deaths affected him deeply. Very moving.

Personally thought effect spoiled when TV red light went off by Woodward giving a wink and punching the air, shouting Got the bastards'.

Some readers mistaken this column for fiction. In fact Ministry of Defence called special press conference last week to denounce it as 'a pack of bloody lies' Soldiers and sailors in task force caught reading Socialist Organiser have had papers confiscated.

But evidence for truth all around. Nothing I have written is more outrageous than other correspondents. Tony Snow, who writes' for for the Sun and News of the World, signed a missile being loaded aboard a Harrier jet last week on behalf of his readers with the message 'Up yours, Galtieri'.

Despite Ministry protests they know I am writing copy for correspondents too seasick or drunk to produce own stories. Sometimes leads to embarrassing duplication. Here are first few paragraphs of story in Tuesday's Guardian, by-lined Gareth Parry, on board Invincible.

"The British task force showed a strong compassion to the battered Argentine navy yesterday. After torpedoing the General Belgrano the British submarine allowed the cruiser's escort ship to sail away unharmed.

"Later, after one Argentine patrol boat had been sunk and another reduced to a 'burning hulk' , the task force flagship, the carrier Hermes, put out a distress signal for survivors and sent out helicopters to search.

"Each patrol boat would normaliy carry a crew of 50. But no survivors were found"

And here are the first few paragraphs from the same day's Telegraph, by-lined A J Mellroy.

"The British task force showed compassion to the battered Argentine navy yesterday.

"After crippling their second largest warship, General Belgrano, with torpedoes, the British submarine that did the damage allowed the Argentine cruiser's escort ship to sail away unharmed.

"Later,. after sinking one Argentine patrol boat and leaving another a burning hulk' , the task force flagship carrier Hermes put out a distress signal for survivors and sent helicopters to search the area.

"Each patrol boat would normally carry a crew of 49, but no survivors were found"

Some people say the only way two stories could come out the same is that they are all being written by Ministry of Defence PRs. Only know better.

Argentine spokesmen appeared today to be softening up population for the loss of another of its dwindling fleet. A communique issued on television this evening said a rowing boat had been attacked by British planes off the coast, but it had shot down eight Harriers and three Sea King helicopters. It added however that the rowing boat had suffered 'some minor damage' British Ministry spokesmen denied the cratt could be termed a rowing boat, and designated it as 'a coastal auxiliary vessel'. They said it was armed with a 9 foot rod with sharp barbed hooks on the end which could threaten British submarines.

The pilot - acting in full accord with United Nations resolution 502 - gave two warnings over the aircraft's intercom, but the vessel failed to vacate Argentine coastal waters. The pilot therefore released a Sidewinder missile which hit the warship just behind the oars. The vessel has been sunk"

Later Foreign Secretary Pym defended use of missile within 200 yards of Argentine coast. "It depends where you measure the 200 mile exclusion zone from" , he said.

Meanwhile, outrageous Argentine claims to have sunk the entire British fleet have been quashed, but bad feeling caused on Hermes after press corps had cabled stories saying they had not seen any attacks on their ship. Press Association cabled back asking captain if correspondents would have noticed.