1982-2006, Chronology of the South Atlantic War, day by day

Site Issues 2006 Archive Room
#1

24 years after the South Atlantic War, I am opening this topic in order to post, day by day, what happened there. I’ll try to be the more objective a can, and I expect that could be of interest. As I am late, I’ll put today, what happened before of April the 2nd too.

March, 19th

The Argentine military government got prepared the plan to recover the South Atlantic’s archipelagos, and that recovering would start approximately in six months. One of the Six (modified to Intelligence and photograph recognizing) Learjet aircrafts from the Argentine Air Force simulated an emergency landing in the airport from the village called at this time as Port Stanley, the capital of the Malvinas islands. The crew said to the islanders authorities that they had problems with the landing trains in his flight over the Argentine south-eastern extreme.
In his real mission, the Air Force got a lot of important information, specially from the airport’s characteristics.
When the aircraft was inspected, the authorities had not found any failure in the Learjet, and that incident become one of the several suspects that the islanders had about an Argentine recovering.


An Argentine Air Force Learjet, similar than the one that simuled the emergency landing that March 19th.

#2

March 19th, to March 31th

The Argentine business man Constantino Davidoff, had signed a contract with the Whale-hunting enterprise Salvensen in order to pull down a group of sheds and minor buildings which that enterprise had in Port Leith, Georgias islands. The cheapest ship that Davidoff found was a transport vessel from the Argentine Navy. The Navy sent to the business man the ARA Bahía Buen Suceso.


The transport vessel ARA Bahia Buen Suceso

When the “Bahia Buen Suceso” arrived to Leith, not only the workers landed. The military crew of the ship did it too. That was seen by the Georgias’ authorities as a belligerant act, so they asked to the Malvinas authorities to expel the Argentines.


The transport at the dock of Port Leith

The Malvinas government sent the Royal Navy’s polar ship HMS Endurance with a group of Royal Marines to expel the argentine sailors and workers, using the force if that was necessary.
When the Argentine government found out the Endurance’s mobilization, took the fact as an hostile and unacceptable offensive, and decided to mobilize a polar ship similar than the Endurance, the ARA Bahía Paraíso, with a squad of Argentine marines to defend Argentine workers by a foreign military force, in an area recognized by Argentina as own.


The polar ship HMS Endurance, in 1982

The polar ship ARA Bahía Paraiso

The “Bahía Paraiso” arrives first to the zone, but does not land his Marines.
As the mission of expelling the argentine workers and sailors wouldn’t been possible with a battle against the Argentine Marines, the HMS Endurance landed his Royal Marines in Port Grytviken, near the Argentine position, in order to watch and follow the maneuvers from the Argentine workers and marines.

The British government saw the act as a possibly new scaling of the conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina, and made official the mobilization of a nuclear submarine to the zone.
The Argentine government took the mobilization of a nuclear submarine as unacceptable to the near future mission of recovering by the military forces the islands, so decides to move forward the landing and the recovering of the south atlantic archipelagos.

#3

April the 1st

A fleet of 14 ships (between them the aircraft carrier ARA 25 de Mayo, the submarine ARA Santa Fe, the icebreaker ARA Almirante Irizar and the Armoured Vehicles Landing Ship ARA Cabo San Antonio, the transport ARA Isla de los Estados) stopped its march, in front of the Stanley Harbour, East of the Soledad Island, the major of the Malvinas islands. From that place, the Navy special forces landed from the destroyer “Santísima Trinidad” and the submarine “Santa Fe”. They were the first troops who landed, advancing to the Moody Brook military base, and the governor house.
Minutes later, amphibious armoured vehicles, carrying more than 500 mairnes departed from the Landing Ship “Cabo San Antonio”. A couple of helicopters from the Icebreaker “Almirante Irizar” started their movements in order to assault strategic points from the islands. The aircraft carrier “25 de Mayo” (with a fleet of 8 A-4B+ Skyhawk, 4 S-2 Tracker antisubmarine planes and several helicopters) had the mission of providing aerial support if the situation required that.

On the islands, the authorities were expecting an invasion, so, prepared the defence of the island with the 80 Royal Marines in the permanent base, and a handful of volunteer islanders. The defence planted mines and mobilized the main group to the capital.


The Aircraft Carrier ARA 25 de Mayo


The submarine ARA Santa Fe


The headquarter ship, destroyer ARA Santisima Trinidad


The icebreaker ARA Almirante Irizar


The Armoured vehicles’ Landing Ship ARA Cabo San Antonio

#4

April the 2nd

A group of the Argentine Navy Special Forces started a march to blockade the military barracks. When they arrived to the place, they found that nobody were there. According to the British version, the attackers destroyed with brutality all the place, trying to kill the more people they could. According to the Argentine version, the Special Forces started to shoot to the empty barracks expecting to receive British fire from the Royal Marines, who were possibly hided on a near place, trying to make an ambush.


The military barracks on Moody Brook, in 1982

Another group of Special Forces blockaded the Governor House, and asked the governor to surrender in order to finish the recovering without casualties from any band. Although somebody inside the house shouted that the governor was going to get out, the minutes passed and he stayed inside.
A group of Argentine soldiers, leaded by the chief of the Section Captain Giacchino, entered into the house, and a Royal Marine who was at the end of the main corridor opened fire, shooting down three member of the Special Forces, between them the Chief Giacchino, one of his partners, and the medic who was trying to help them.
From that fact, all the Argentine forces are asked to blockade completely the house.


Governor’s House, Argentine Port (or Stanley Port)

Two hours later the Royal Marines kept firing, and more Argentine Marines were landing, and the three Argentine down had not the possibility of being retired, because they were at the main door of the house. Approximately at 8 o’clock the Governor asked to the Argentine Forces to start the dialogue with the Commander of all the forces. The Rear Admiral Carlos Busser, Chief Commander of the landing maneuvers of the Rosario Operation departed from his headquarter ship, the destroyer “Santísima Trinidad”, and landed minutes later.

Both authorities met each other in front of the Catholic church. There, the Governor Sir Rex Hunt asked to the Rear Admiral to retire their forces immediately because he was invading a territory from the British Empire. The Rear Admiral answered that the Argentine Navy forces had landing as the British did in 1833, and his orders were remove the Illegal occupation of the British Empire over the islands.
After hearing that, Hunt doubted a couple of seconds, and the ordered the surrender.


Governor Rex Hunt

Rear Admiral Busser

The three Argentine wounded were transferred immediately to the local hospital, but the chief Giacchino didn’t make it, and died in the ambulance. He was the first Argentine dead and one of the maximum heroes from the Argentine side.


A member of the Argentine Navy Special Forces with surrended Royal Marines

The airport, which was blockaded by the defence, was opened again and the Argentine Air Force aircraft started to connect the continent with the capital, which had the new name of Puerto Rivero (remembering to Rivero, an Argentine who was living in Port Soledad when the British landed in 1833 and he refused at all the possibility of being part of the Empire, making several mobilizations and facts to expel the colony).


Argentine Port Airport, named as “Malvinas Air Base” by the Argentine Air Force

The British authorities and militaries were embarked to the Argentine Navy vessels, and then were moved to Montevideo City, in Uruguay. The Army’s officer General Benjamín Menéndez was elected by the President Galtieri as the governor of the islands.

At the late hours from that day, the name of the capital was changed again to Argentine Port. The corvette ARA Guerrico was sent to the Georgias archipelago in order to remove the British authority.

In Britain, the recovering of the Malvinas was seen as a high beligerant act, and the military forces started the movements to possible attacks. The polar ship Endurance stirred to a Northern position, but staying at the South Atlantic.

#5

Buena info Eagle, keep posting .

#6

April, 3rd

The Argentine corvette ARA Guerrico arrived to the Georgias islands, and met itself with the polar ship “Bahía Paraíso”, which was standing by orders on the coast of the island. The mission of the Argentinians was to remove the military forces and authorities on the islands, with a joint military forces of two ships, two helicopters (an attack helicopter Alouette III, from the Navy, on the corvette, and a utilitarian helicopter Puma, from the Army, on the polar ship), forty Marines and a group of mortars.


Both Argentine ships, photographed by the Allouette III in the Georgias islands, that April the third

A group of Royal Marines were based on Port Grytviken, one of the two villages from the Georgias archipelago, and their mission was to supervise all the Argentine worker’s movements on the other village, Port Leith, that was a few miles from distance.
The group of twenty-three Royal Marines were on the Georgias since the authorities from the Malvinas/Falkland islands decided to mobilize troops with the polar ship HMS Endurance, after an Argentine ship disembarked workers and military personal on Leith.


Port Grytviken, the major village of the Georgias islands, nowadays abandoned, the British forces were based on that point to defend the island that April the 3 rd

Before the starting of the movements, the Allouette III took off and inspected the village, making warnings by loud speakers systems, trying to persuade the British to surrender without presenting battle. The Allouette crew not only hadn’t received any answer, they could see movement of military troops into the village.


Attack helicopter SA-316 Allouette III, Argentine Navy

The offensive started with a landing of fifteen marines from the polar ship Bahía Paraíso by helicopter, from the Puma. When the Puma was completing its second wave, a joint fire from the British defenders reached at least 80 times. The pilot couldn’t keep the helicopter on the air, and crashed on the outsides of the village. Two Argentine marines died in the crash, and a lot of them showed several injuries.
The other helicopter, the Allouette, left its mission as assault and attack helicopter, and took the charge of CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue), transporting to the death and wounded of the Puma to the Bahía Paraíso, and reinforcing the positions in its back trip with more Marines that were on the polar ship.


Utilitarian helicopter SA-330 Puma with his high-visibility paint scheme, Argentine Army

The Argentinians decided to start the attack with the first wave of fifteen soldiers and the survivors of the Puma, including the crew, that offered as volunteers when they saw how little was the attacking group. The battle was hard, the Royal Marines formed a defensive line inside and outside the buildings, and the Argentinians received support from the corvette Guerrico. It opened fire with her major cannons and machine guns, but as well as she opened fire, she received a lot too. The Royal Marines reached the corvette at least 200 times with minor weapons.

When the mortars section was landing to support the Marines’ advancing, the Royal Marines surprisingly ceased fire, and showed white flags. The battle finished, and the British forces delivered their weapons.

The orders or the British were to present battle until suffer a significant lose, to force the Argentinians to act with belligerency, as the commander of the defence said to the Argentine forces. A Royal Marine was hit in his right leg, possibly by firing from the ARA Guerrico’s machine guns.

The Argentine Flag was hoisted, and the Royal Marines were translated to Montevideo, Uruguay. After the offensive, a reduced group of Argentine Marines were sent to the Georgias in order to defend them from any British attack in the near future.


The ARA Guerrico, after the British surrender, in front of Port Grytviken

With the expelling of the British forces from Georgias, the HMS Endurance started a retreat to the North, possibly to the Ascension island.

#7


April 5 th

After the Argentine recovering of the South Atlantic archipelagos, the United Kingdom broke the relationships with this country, and started diplomatic and military actions to retake the British Empire’s positions on the South Atlantic.

Although the plans to send to the South Atlantic a considerable fleet thought in the lates days of March, with the conflict by Georgias islands, The military Task Force was officially created on April the 3 rd.

Two days later, on April the 5 th, the fleet departed from Southampton to the South Atlantic. The first group on depart were the aircraft carriers (HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible), their respective escort ships (approximately fifteen or twenty combat frigates and destroyers), a group of submarines, and the logistic civilian and military vessels as the Canberra, the Norland, the Europic Ferry, the Elk, between others.


The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, the older of the carriers. He was the HQ ship in the conflict


The civilian vessel SS Canberra, used as a troop-transport, departing from Southampton

With them, other ships, from other places as Belize and Gibraltar, started their trip to join themselves to the Task Force, which was being prepared.


The Aircraft Carrier HMS Invincible and his escorts, sailing to the South Atlantic

Different kinds of vessels (as hospital ships, tankers, cargos, assault units, minesweepers, etc) were enlisted in order to be used if the conflict would become higher and the British forces would need them.


The Assault ship HMS Intrepid, one of the ships which were reenlisted in order to be used if the conflict would not back down

The fleet of the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary at that period was formed by:

-2 Aircraft Carriers
-16 Destroyers
-44 Frigates
-31 Submarines
-2 Assault Ships
-6 Landing and transport Ships
-60 Landing boats

As well as the naval movements had been started, the Royal Air Force and several requisitioned aircraft started to connect the British isles with Widewake Air Base, on Ascension island.


A British Hercules

#8

April 25 th.

A group of six combat ships from the Royal Navy (HMS Antrim, HMS Plymouth, HMS Endurance, HMS Tidespring, HMS Conqueror and HMS Brilliant) had arrived to the Georgias islands in order to complete de Paraquat Operation.
In Port Grytviken and Port Leith, a group of forty Argentinians had known that the offensive over them were starting, and communicated to the Argentine forces in the continent to get support. The United Kingdom needed a lot the invasion of the island in order to elevate the British morale.


Frigate HMS Plymouth, the HQ ship for the British Operation Paraquat

Near the islands, the Argentine submarine ARA Santa Fe, which was providing material support to the Marines, was detected by the Royal Navy.
The first act of violence after the Argentine capture of the Georgias 22 days before started. Three helicopters and a frigate started the hunting. The forces met each other and the battle started. The submarine crew defended themselves with a portable missile (which failed in its attempt of reaching a helicopter) and with minor weapons.
The Santa Fe was reached with a Sea Skua missile, and a crew man suffered the amputation of a leg in the explosion.


An illustration of the launching of Profundity Charges over the submarine Santa Fe

The captain of the Santa Fe surrendered the highly damaged ship after three attacks with Profundity Charges, Missiles and Torpedoes. Surprisingly, the “Santa Fe” arrived to Grytviken by its own mediums, escorted by the British forces.

At the same time, the special forces of the SAS and the SBS were really complicated with the landing. After three helicopters crashed, and a patrol of 16 men lost in a glacier, the British landed successfully, and supported by mortars, Milan missiles, armed helicopters and naval artillery, started their offensive firing with all their weapons, and advanced to Grytviken, where a force of Marines commanded by the Lieutenant Lagos surrended their positions.
In the other village, the Argentine Diver Special Forces commanded by Alfredo Astiz were not interested in following the surrender, prepared themselves to defend the village, but the attackers surpassed them in quantity and supports. In only a minute the village was surrounded.


The group of Special Divers, on Port Leith, 1982

By the time that two bombers Canberra from the Argentine Air Force were taking off to support the Georgias’ defence, the Marine Commander Astiz surrendered the position on Leith, because the possibility of repelling the offensive was null.


Aerial view of the village of Port Leith


Surrender of the Commander Astiz, on board of the HMS Plymouth


An Argentine Air Force bomber Canberra, removed from the active servicein 1998

All the prisoners (the Marines of Grytviken, the Special Divers on Leith, and the sailors of the “Santa Fe”) were detained when an incident happened on the submarine Santa Fe. In order to sink the ship and not deliver it to the enemy, an Argentine sailor, endorsed by the Captain of the submarine, started to flood the chambers. That was detected by a British guard, and with the tension of the situation, he killed to the Argentine with his automatic weapon. He was buried with all the honours by the Argentine and British forces in the local cemetery.


”Between the others tombs, there’s an Argentine sailor who will be remembered by all the Argentine Nation”

#9

May, 1 st


BLACKBURN OPERATION

With Georgias on British power, the Task Force blockaded totally the Malvinas or Falkland islands.

On the afternoon of April the 30 th, from Ascension island (more than 6250km or 3885 miles from distance of the Malvinas islands) a Vulcan, armed with 21 1000 lb-bombs, took off, escorted by eleven aircraft-tankers Victors.


Bomber aircraft Avro Vulcan, Royal Air Force

The last fuel supply was at 650km or 400 miles away from Argentine Port, and the bomber descended to 300ft, advancing directly to the “Malvinas Air Base”, as the Argentine Air Force had renamed to the airport from Argentine Port, or Stanley.
At 45 miles the British crew ascended to 500ft and recognized that they had been detected by the Argentine radars. In max power descended again and started the final approach.
A couple of minutes later, when the Vulcan was at only 19km or 11 miles, the shooting guides “Skyguard” from the Argentine forces grabbed the aircraft. At that time started a mini-battle between the RWR system and the Argentine radars.
In seconds, and out of the Argentine weapons range, the pilot dropped the bombs. Only one reached the runway, but was not sufficient to let it out of operation.
The Vulcan landed four hours later on the same air base that started the mission, completing, by that time, the largest bombing mission from the history.


Ascension Island, the nearest air base of the British forces

BRITISH OFFENSIVE

The Royal Navy moved its ships, including the aircraft carriers, in order to attack the “Malvinas Air Base”. Two Sea Harriers started the attack in the morning, dropping bombs over the Air Base, and the Anti Aerial Artillery, which was the worst enemy to the Royal Air Force, repelled them.


A double Anti-Aerial-Artillery weapon, a 20mm Reinmhental unit. It was the secondary weapon from the Argentine Anti-Aerial-Artillery forces. The main weapon was the 35mm Oerlikon


An illustration of the Reinmhental in action

In other Sea Harrier attack the British machines launched bombs and destroyed three aircraft, and 15 Argentinians died in that attack.


View from Argentine Port -Stanley-, of the British attack to the airport

Different kinds of ships started a naval bombing over the airport too. The Argentine eyewitnesses could appreciate at least five combat vessels attacking it.


Malvinas Air Base in Argentine Port, or Stanley Port, during the war. There were a lot of broken glasses because of the continuing bombings from the British forces

ARGENTINE AIR FORCE ANSWER

When the Harriers completed their missions, all the south-east bases from the Argentine territory where ordered to attack to the British forces. More than 30 machines (between Mirages III, Mirages V, Skyhawks and Canberras).

By the afternoon a group of three IAI Mirage V “Daggers”, armed with three bombs each, attacked a squad of a destroyer and two frigates (the Glamorgan, the Alacrity and the Arrow). At least one ship was reached by a bomb, and the Daggers returned to the continent.


IAI Mirage V Daggers attacking to the Task Force, May the 1st 1982

Other twenty aircraft started patrolling missions in different times. In that patrols were counted three dogfights. Two of them between Mirage V “Daggers” and Sea Harriers, and the third, between two Mirage III and Sea Harriers. In the dogfights the British aircraft could shoot down two aircraft, one from each model. Another Mirage III was shoot down by the Argentine forces when its pilot was trying to land on the Malvinas Air Base, when the fuel tanks were in an extremely low level.


Dogfight between two Argentine Mirage III and two British Sea Harriers

After that, four Argentine Canberras bombers, divided in two sections, attacked to the Royal Navy, but they were old machines with a different capability. One of them was shoot down. Although the other aircrafts couldn’t attack the British ships, they flied over the aircraft carrier Invincible, between heavy AAA firing.

At night the Argentine ship ARA Alferez Sobral was attacked by helicopters, using Sea Skua missiles. The ship, severely damaged, could return to Argentina days later, without any navigation system in function.


Lynx helicopter, armed with Sea Skua missiles


The “Alferez Sobral”

Argentine loses:

-7 aircrafts (2 Mirage III, 1 Mirage V, 1 MB339, 1 IA-58 Pucará, 1 Canberra, 1 Skyvan)
-1 ship reached
-24 lives

British loses:

-Two ships reached, one severely damaged
-A British Sea Harrier


#10

Eagle, do you have a source for the info above please ?

#11

[b]May 2 nd.

THE ARGENTINE PLAN OF AN AIRCRAFT CARRIERS BATTLE[/b]

At the first hours of the morning, the Argentine aircraft carrier 25 de Mayo started his mission of attacking the two british aircraft carriers, detected by an S-2 Tracker the day before.
The plan of the attack was arm to six A-4Q Skyhawk with retarded 250lbs bombs Snakeye, and two A-4Q with air-air missiles AIM-9B Sidewinder.


An A-4Q Skyhawk over the “25 de Mayo” being armed for the mission. In first plane there are a couple of Snakeye bombs, one of them with an ironic message

When the Skyhawks were stand by the take off, one of the S-2 Trackers of the carrier informed that the enemy fleet had been lost of its radars.
Immediately the chiefs ordered the attack in that moment in order to avoid the possibility of losing completely to the enemy, but at that time the weather was against them, and the wind ceased completely, and an A-4 cannot take off from an aircraft carrier loaded with the maximum weight that the aircraft allows.
The mission was suspended to the afternoon hours, by the time that two Trackers took off in order to detect again the British aircraft carriers.


THE BELGRANO SINKING

On the other side of the conflict at 4PM and at 250 miles away from the Malvinas or Falkland archipelago, the Argentine cruiser ARA “General Belgrano” and his group of two destroyers and an oil tanker ship were stopped waiting for orders.
At five miles of them a nuclear submarine of the United Kingdom, the HMS Conqueror, which was following the group by weeks, got the direct orders from London of attacking the “General Belgrano”.


Nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror, Royal Navy

The submarine launched three torpedoes MK-8, impacting two of them in the cruiser, and the third in an escort destroyer, but it didn’t exploded.
The torpedoes reached the prow and the centre of the “General Belgrano”, dying instantaneously 270 Argentine sailors.
As the group of battle hadn’t efficient ASW weapons, the destroyers and the tanker ship returned to the continent immediately.
Twenty minutes later the commander Rear Admiral Bonzo, ordered the abandonment of the ship, which was completed when the last man on board (the same commander) abandoned at 4:35 PM.
Exactly an hour later of the hit of the torpedoes, the cruiser General Belgrano and its helicopter (an Allouette III) sunk in the waters of the South Atlantic.
The saving rafts were searched by the Argentine Navy with helicopters, aircrafts and vessels, and the last one was collected on May the 4 th. Aproximately 40 sailors more died as shipwrecked men in the rafts, because of the freezing cold.
From a crew of 1073 members, 323 died in the attack of the British forces to the cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
With the attack the Argentine Navy recognized itself as a force which wasn’t capable of bring an open battle against the second occidental fleet, supported by the first superpower state, United States, and folded over all the combat vessels to the coast, as a defensive force.
The Argentine government claimed and still claiming that the attack was a war crime, asking to the United Nations to judge the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a criminal of war. (I won’t extend the problem if it was or wasn’t a war crime, because we treated that topic a lot of times, and I am only showing the military actions of the mission of the british submarine).


The end of the cruiser

#12

Cuts, that information was taken by the official web page of the Argentine Air Force, www.faa.mil.ar

#13

I think the numbers are slightly misleading. They probably show all ships in RN not the ones committed to action.

56 RN ships go south. Of this 22 are RFA and 8 are mine hunters/survey ships leaving 26 large combat ships. Plus 5 subs.

This is my list.

· old carrier “Hermes” (28,700 tons full load),
· new but smaller “Invincible” (19.800 tons) and
· assault ships “Fearless” and “Intrepid” (12,100 tons).
Half the force of nuclear fleet submarines -
· Conqueror
· Courageous
· Spartan
· Splendid
· plus diesel-engined “Onyx”.
DESTROYERS

Type 82

Bristol

County class

Antrim
Glamorgan

Type 42

Cardiff"
COVENTRY
Exeter
Glasgow
SHEFFIELD

FRIGATES

Type 22

Brilliant
Broadsword

Type 21

Active
Alacrity
Ambuscade
ANTELOPE
ARDENT
Arrow
Avenger

Leander class

Andromeda
Argonaut
Minerva
Penelope

Rothesay class

Plymouth

And another 40 merchant ships of assaulted types in support.

#14

A group of the Argentine Navy Special Forces started a march to blockade the military barracks. When they arrived to the place, they found that nobody were there. According to the British version, the attackers destroyed with brutality all the place, trying to kill the more people they could. According to the Argentine version, the Special Forces started to shoot to the empty barracks expecting to receive British fire from the Royal Marines, who were possibly hided on a near place, trying to make an ambush.

my bold

This is a myth that seems to have started from an assumption, not based on fact. The assumption would seem to come from Max Hastings book “Battle for the Falklands”. On page 73 he writes

“The Commandos indeed landed at Mullett Creek, about 4.30am, and reached Moody Brook ninety minutes later. But their subsequent tactics suggested no misgivings about causing casualties. In a noisy full-scale attack, they hurled phosphorous grenades into the barracks and raked the rooms with automatic fire. Only the fact that the British marines had already been deployed prevented heavy loss of life.”

This is an assumption made by the RM who heard the gunfire out at Moody Brook and related it to Max. The RM never saw the barracks again till after the war, so could not comment on the damage caused or what weapons used only the noise they made.

On page 306 he contradicts himself a little by;

“in the first glimmerings of dawn, 2 Para’s D company found themselves looking down on the old Royal Marines barracks at Moody Brook, ruined by shellfire and bombing.”

It would seem that Brit forces not Argentinian destroyed the barracks. But as you say the Commandos did put in a deliberate attack (this is a military term for planned attack) on the barracks intending to inflict casualties. The number of casualties they planned to commit is open for debate. But they opened fire on what they thought was sleeping troops, not empty buildings. They must have been surprised to find the place empty as they assumed they had surprise.

#15

They probably show all ships in RN not the ones committed to action.

That’s right. As I’ve said in that post, I showed the list of all the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships. I was not talking about the ships moved, I was talking about all of them.

Ships moved? they were:

ROYAL NAVY

*Aircraft Carriers (2): Invincible and Hermes

*Destroyers (7): Sheffield, Antrim, Glamorgan, Coventry, Glasgow, Exeter and Cardiff

*Frigates (14): Broadsword, Brilliant, Antelope, Ambuscade, Active, Avenger, Arrow, Penelope, Minerva, Andromeda, Yarmouth, Plymouth, Alacrity and Ardent

*Assault ships (2): Intrepid and Fearless

*Submarines (6): Conqueror, Corageous, Spartan, Splendid, Valiant and Onyx

*Minesweepers (2): Brecon and Ledbury

*Patrols (4): Endurance, Leeds Castle, Dumbarton, Castle

*Hospital ships (3): Herald, Hydra and Hecla

Totally, 40 ships of the Royal Navy

ROYAL FLEET AUXILIARY

*Landing ships (6): Sir Galahad, Sir Tristram, Sir Bedivere, Sir Percivale, Sir Lancelot, Sir Geraint

*Tankers (10): Olmeda, Olna, Tydespring, Tydespool, Appleleaf, Byleaf, Pearleaf, Plumleaf and Blue Rover

*Suppliers (4): Fort Austin, Fort Grange, Resource and Regent

*Refrigerator ships (1): Stromness

SAR ships (1): Engadine

Maintenance Ship (1): Goosander

Tugs (1): Typhoon

Totally, 24 ships from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary were sent to the South Atlantic

Furthermore, there were a huge nomber of non millitary ships that were confiscated by the British Forces… they were:

*2 Passenger ships
*3 Transatlantics
*3 Ferries
*3 Support Ships
*3 Container Ships
*3 Tugs
*5 Fishing ships
*11 Cargo Ships
*11 Tankers

Totally, 44 ships confiscated moved to the South Atlantic

#16

May 4th

BLACK BUCK II

At the first hours from the early morning, a Vulcan, which had took off from Wideawake, dropped 17 bombs over the Argentine Port or Stanley airport, but they failed. Only two Army soldiers were damaged. That was the second Black Buck mission.


Vulcan bombers in Ascension island, May 1982

HARRIER ATTACK REPELLED

Hours later, three RAF Harriers were detected by the AAA from the Darwin/Goose Green forces, and they are repelled with an absolutely successful defence. One shoot down, and the others were reached and severely damaged, and disappeared fuming. By the British side, the mission was a failure, because the bombs were not dropped and no Argentine troops were attacked, suffering the lost of a man (Lt. Nick Taylor) and two Harriers.


The destroyed Harrier which was piloted by Lt Nick Taylor, photographed by the Argentine forces in Darwin

THE ATTACK AGAINST THE HMS SHEFFIELD

At the afternoon a patrol aircraft Lockheed P-2 Neptune from the Argentine Navy had detected two ships, and two Super Etendards, with an AM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile each aircraft, took off from the Big Island Tierra del Fuego.


An Argentine Navy P-2H Neptune

After an aerial refuel from a KC-130 Hercules from the Air Force, the naval aircrafts, descended and started it final approximation.
At 30 miles, they ascended and found in their radars two marks. The chief of the section ordered to shoot both missiles against the bigger echo, and then returned at max speed.


An Argentine Dassault Super Etendard launching an AM-39 Exocet antiship missile

The Super Etendards had not the possibility of knowing which ship they had attacked. When the pilots landed their machines, the hole personal of the Air Base were expecting them with happiness.
According to the BBC, the destroyer HMS Sheffield had been reached by an Argentine anti-ship AM-39 missile, and the ship was out of control. It sunk a week later when it was being tugged.


The Sheffield, burning in the South Atlantic

The incident was so important that the United Kingdom almost blockaded it relationships with France, because France had ensured the UK that all the French personal in Argentina that was calibrating the Super Etendards and Exocets had been retired. And that was right… the Exocets were activated by Argentine Navy technicians and engineers without the French help.
The French ambassador in the United Kingdom said… “The United Kingdom thinks that Argentina is inhabited by ordinary monkeys. Perhaps the Junta personal are monkeys, but their technicians and officers are excellent”
With the attack, Argentina had sunk a British vessel, returning the attack against the General Belgrano, two days before.

#17

[b]May 12 th

SKYHAWK ATTACK AGAINST THE HMS GLASGOW AND THE HMS BRILLIANT[/b]

Two combat ships from the Royal Navy started an artillery attack against Argentine Port. They were the destroyer HMS Glasgow and the frigate HMS Brilliant.


HMS Brilliant frigate, Royal Navy

The islands’ command asked an immediately aerial support in order to repel the thread. From Rio Gallegos (the biggest city in the Tierra del Fuego island) eight A-4B Skyhawk departed, armed with 250kg bombs.
The first squad of them arrived to the position earlier than the others 4, and started their attack, but it was a real disaster to the Argentine forces, and a won battle to the Royal Navy, because two of the A-4 were shoot down by Sea Wolf missiles, and a third crashed against the sea while the pilot was desperately trying to avoid another SAM. The only pilot that survived with his Skyhawk launched it bombs but, in the middle of AAA fire and his partners dead, the bombs missed by an important range the objective.


A launching of a SAM Sea Wolf

Minutes later the other Skyhawk were ready to attack, and after four launchings, the SAM system of the HMS Brilliant failed. That was a tragic situation to the British ships, because their main anti-aircraft weapon wasn’t able, only using the AAA as defence.
Only one Skyhawk attacked the Brilliant, and the bombs missed the objective because of the bounce of them in the water.
The other three Skyhawks attacked the destroyer HMS Glasgow, and at least two bombs reached it, but the fuses failed, and the bombs didn’t explode. Although the failure of the explosion systems, the holes opened by the bombs at the float line were considered unacceptable, and the Glasgow was retired from the combats.


A-4B Skyhawk, Argentine Air Force

On the return, a pilot of the A-4 s missed the group and interned itself into the forbidden-flights zone of Darwin and Goose Green, and the Argentine AAA shoot him down.

Hours later, a lonely Harrier dropped two bombs over the airport peninsula, without success. It possibly could had been a reprisal for the Skyhawk attack to the Royal Navy.

In the day the Argentine Air Force lost 4 A-4 Skyhawk aircrafts and its four pilots (after the first day of combat, the day when more Argentine pilots died). The Royal Navy had to retire from the combats the destroyer attacked, the HMS Glasgow.

#18

This is taking ever such a long time.

Skip to the end where we win.

#19

Ted I am trying to make a topic with all the information that I can find, in order to show to all the forum members who are interested in the story of the conflict could know what happened there. I have to say that it’s strange from you an answer like you made, coming from someone who always respected all the opinions and discussed seriously.

But that’s ok, if you are not interested in my posts, so I simply suggest you don’t read it.

#20

[b]May 15th

BRITISH COMMANDO ATTACK ON BORBON/PEBBLE ISLAND[/b]

The British forces had knowledge about an airbase that Argentina was using on a little island, at North of the archipelago.
The airbase would be a real disadvantage to the United Kingdom if their forces would land on San Carlos, because the Argentine airplanes could reach San Carlos in only 5 minutes from Borbon, or Pebble.


Aerial photograph taken by an Argentine aircraft from the primitive air base, based on Borbon or Pebble island

A group of 50 SAS units armed with explosives were moved by Sea King helicopters. They were separated in two groups, one of them specialized in explosives, and his mission was to destroy the major number of aircraft they could, and a radar.

The surprise was total, the SAS, supported by mortars and the HMS Glamorgan attacked, and the Argentine forces moved back, only using a telecommanded mine as support fire, and of course their light weapons.


An illustration of the British attack

The British forces destroyed eleven aircraft, four Mentors, six Pucarás and a Skyvan, with the cost of 2 wounded soldiers. The group returned to the helicopters and were moved to the Task Force ships.


Four T-34C Mentor from the Argentine Navy. They were the lightest aircraft moved by the Argentine forces, and then destroyed by the SAS