The 'Second' Battle of the Falklands

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Royal Navy

On this day in May 1982 HMS Coventry sunk, the last Royal Navy warship lost to enemy action.
Argentine forces chose their national day to make a supreme effort against the naval forces disgorging men and material at San Carlos.
HMS Broadsword and HMS Coventry were dispatched to waters off Pebble Island to catch incoming jets.
The was a virtual sitting duck one Argentine pilot hit Coventry, bombs tore the heart out of the destroyer which immediately began to heel over.
Twenty Coventry sailors were lost; their surviving shipmates took to life rafts and sang Always Look on the Bright Side of Life while awaiting rescue.

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Second photo.

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Third photo - as posted by the R.N. with the original post above.

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Navy News

THESE are the final moments of HMS Coventry, sunk this day in May 1982 – the last Royal Navy warship lost to enemy action.
Argentine forces chose their national day to make a supreme effort against the naval forces disgorging men and material at San Carlos.
To catch the incoming jets before they reached the more sheltered waters of Falkland Sound and San Carlos Water, HMS Broadsword and HMS Coventry were dispatched to waters off Pebble Island.
The tactic worked. Coventry’s Sea Dart missiles accounted for at least two attackers. But late in the afternoon, the Argentines singled out the duo for a concerted attack.
Skimming low over the South Atlantic to avoid detection, Skyhawk jets divided their attention between Broadsword and Coventry. Neither British ship could get a missile lock on the aircraft. Type 22 frigate Broadsword was hit by a thousand pounder which ricocheted off the water, bounced up through her flight deck, wrecked her Lynx and continued into the ocean.
She was still in the fight and about to take down the Skyhawks heading for Coventry with her Seawolf – only for the destroyer to cross the line of sight as she manoeuvred desperately to avoid attack. It left the Type 42 a virtual sitting duck.
One Argentine pilot hit Coventry.His bombs tore the heart out of the Type 42 destroyer which immediately began to heel over. The only surprise was not that she sank quickly, but that so many men survived.
Twenty Coventry sailors were lost; their surviving shipmates took to life rafts and sang Always Look on the Bright Side of Life while awaiting rescue.
Worse was to come. Two Super Étendards armed with Exocet missiles made for the heart of the Royal Navy task force, hoping to take out a carrier.
They failed – but the weapons locked on to transporter Atlantic Conveyor.
The merchantman was turned. Twelve men were killed and, crucially for the campaign to liberate the Falklands, Chinook and Wessex helicopters were incinerated.
[The photos above were also posted with this N.N. post + the one below.]

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Navy News

Fitzroy Sound, ten miles west of Port Stanley, and RFA Sir Galahad burns fiercely.
There was no greater British loss of life throughout the campaign than the attack on RFA support ships Sir Galahad and Tristram, bombed 38 years ago today by Argentine jets.
The ships were carrying troops to support the final assault on the Falklands capital, but dropped anchor five miles short of their destination, Bluff Cove, and began to offload.
Aboard Sir Galahad, the Welsh Guards refused to leave. They’d been rather messed around in the campaign to date. They had been told they would be delivered to Bluff Cove – five miles from Fitzroy – and delivered to Bluff Cove they would be, despite the protestations of Royal Marines.
Five Skyhawks pounced on the two auxiliaries, leaving both in flames – Sir Galahad especially.
Five RFA crewmen paid the ultimate price that June day, plus 55 Welsh Guards. The final victim was Sir Galahad herself. It was more than a week before the fires finally died out.

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Navy News

Fitzroy Sound, ten miles west of Port Stanley, and RFA Sir Galahad burns fiercely.
There was no greater British loss of life throughout the campaign than the attack on RFA support ships Sir Galahad and Tristram, bombed 38 years ago today by Argentine jets.
The ships were carrying troops to support the final assault on the Falklands capital, but dropped anchor five miles short of their destination, Bluff Cove, and began to offload.
Aboard Sir Galahad, the Welsh Guards refused to leave. They’d been rather messed around in the campaign to date. They had been told they would be delivered to Bluff Cove – five miles from Fitzroy – and delivered to Bluff Cove they would be, despite the protestations of Royal Marines.
Five Skyhawks pounced on the two auxiliaries, leaving both in flames – Sir Galahad especially.
Five RFA crewmen paid the ultimate price that June day, plus 55 Welsh Guards. The final victim was Sir Galahad herself. It was more than a week before the fires finally died out.

[Pelican]

Navy News

Fitzroy Sound, ten miles west of Port Stanley, and RFA Sir Galahad burns fiercely.
There was no greater British loss of life throughout the campaign than the attack on RFA support ships Sir Galahad and Tristram, bombed 38 years ago today by Argentine jets.
The ships were carrying troops to support the final assault on the Falklands capital, but dropped anchor five miles short of their destination, Bluff Cove, and began to offload.
Aboard Sir Galahad, the Welsh Guards refused to leave. They’d been rather messed around in the campaign to date. They had been told they would be delivered to Bluff Cove – five miles from Fitzroy – and delivered to Bluff Cove they would be, despite the protestations of Royal Marines.
Five Skyhawks pounced on the two auxiliaries, leaving both in flames – Sir Galahad especially.
Five RFA crewmen paid the ultimate price that June day, plus 55 Welsh Guards. The final victim was Sir Galahad herself. It was more than a week before the fires finally died out.

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Navy News

Sailors, Royal Marines, families and veterans recorded a virtual memorial service to commemorate the lives of six men lost in the Falklands 38 years ago.
HMS Albion was due to host a ceremony on board in Devonport to honour the crew of landing craft Foxtrot 4, sunk by Argentine air attack as it ferried vehicles for the army.
The lockdown prevented a regular commemoration, so the ship organised a service online to pay its respects instead.

Read more at: https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... 4-memorial

And you can watch the full memorial service at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmKtJPc ... e=youtu.be

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From: Navy News

THIS is the day the guns fell silent in the Falklands after a brief but bitter conflict to liberate the remote South Atlantic island chain from invasion.
On this day in 1982, the demoralised conscripts of the Argentine Army marched into captivity, beaten by around 27,000 men and women deployed on Operation Corporate between early April and June 14.
A battle which began in earnest at the beginning of May ended in the islands’ capital with the Argentine commandant Mario Menéndez putting pen to paper on the act of surrender long after nightfall that Monday.
At 9.30pm, Royal Marines of Naval Party 8901 raised the Falklands flag outside Government House.
Victory in the Falklands cost Britain the lives of 252 men – 87 Royal Navy sailors, 26 Royal Marines, seven RFA crew, nine merchant seamen, 122 soldiers, and one RAF man.
Nearly 13,000 Argentinians fell into British hands; 655 of their comrades never came home.
The South Atlantic campaign cost the Royal Navy two destroyers (HMS Sheffield and Coventry) two frigates (Ardent and Antelope), amphibious support ship RFA Sir Galahad, Landing Craft Utility Foxtrot 4 and the merchantman Atlantic Conveyor.
In the Falklands, memorials would be erected in time at remote spots to those who gave their lives for the islanders’ freedom: at Sealion Island (HMS Sheffield), Pebble Island (Coventry), San Carlos (the landings of May 21) and more.
And today, as on every Liberation Day, islanders will give thanks to the men and women of 1982.

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H.M.S. Hermes returns to Portsmouth.