The Second Battle of the Falklands

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OTD in 1982 the operation to liberate the Falklands from the Argentine junta moved into its decisive phase as the ground campaign began.

Six weeks after sailing from the UK, the task group began putting Royal Marines and soldiers ashore at San Carlos, a remote bay on East Falkland, with the ultimate goal of seizing the capital Stanley, 50 miles away.
Frigate HMS Ardent bore the brunt of enemy air attacks on May 21 1982. A succession of direct hits and near misses left the Type 21 a blazing, twisted mess, forcing CO Cdr Alan West – the future First Sea Lord – to abandon ship with the loss of 22 of his men.

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There's some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England.

Never were the words of Rupert Brooke more apt – though we must add Scotland, Wales and Ireland to his original verse – than in the Falklands, where islanders have named beaches, bays, harbours, islets and inlets after the 258 souls killed in the 1982 conflict.

Every British Serviceman killed in the liberation of the islands – 255 in all – plus three locals who lost their lives have been honoured by today’s inhabitants of the South Atlantic island chain, an honour connected with last year’s 40th anniversary of the war.

The result is the Falkland Islands Memorial Map, with 258 previously-unnamed stretches of coastline, beach or ridges among other geographic features, plus a string of roads around the Mount Pleasant complex, now bearing the names of all those listed on the Roll of Honour.

Continues at - https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... en-of-1982

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Marine engineers from HMS Queen Elizabeth and Glasgow face tough physical challenges in the name of worthy causes this summer.

Provisional Leading Engineering Technicians Nicholas Deary and Paul Blissett are taking on the ‘Three Peaks Challenge’ – scaling the highest mountains in England, Scotland in Wales inside 24 hours – while Glasgow’s PO Colin Chalmers is taking on a 50km ‘ultra marathon’ around the southern Lake District.
See - https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... me-charity

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HMS Hermes (R12) prepares to leave Portsmouth Dockyard for the Falkland Islands on April 5, 1982. HMS Invincible (R05) is already on her way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvKFAbKoCHY

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UK battles to reverse EU endorsement of ‘Islas Malvinas’ name

Buenos Aires celebrates ‘diplomatic triumph’ after summit with European leaders uses Argentine term for Falkland Islands
See - https://www.ft.com/content/68c0efff-31b ... 6f9e970733

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Hidden Harriers

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CHINOOKS

The RAF received its first 30 Chinooks in 1978. One of them – ZA718, Callsign Bravo November – became famous. Four Chinooks were aboard are aboard the Atlantic Conveyor sent to the Falklands in 1982. The others went down when the cargo ship was sunk, but Bravo November had the luck to be airborne and made an emergency landing on the Hermes. It was the only utility helicopter that British forces had at the time and worked exceptionally hard. Certainly harder than the Argentine chinooks. Designed to carry a maximum of 55 fully equipped troops it carried more than 80 at times. Bravo November retired to RAF Museum Cosford only last year.

[Extracted from a Sunday Times article regarding speculation over the latest order for more Chinooks.]