iv FALKLANDS 25TH ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT, APRIL 2007
BE PLEASED
TO INFORM HER MAJESTY
THAT THE WHITE ENSIGN FLIES
ALONGSIDE
THE UNION JA
CK IN SOUTH GEORGIA.
GOD SAVE
THE QUEEN
.
bullying”, recorded his impressions marina Continued from page iii
West was due to leave the
of the conference:
ship; the appointers extended his
“He tried to dictate but as he
draft to allow him to take Ardent
will only transmit and never listen,
south.
we did not get very far with having
His men were relieved. They
a sensible discussion. What do you
thought highly of their skipper
know about the Falklands, boy? is
and their skipper thought highly
not the way to endear himself. So,
of them.
as far as I’m concerned, he went
But war? Would it really come
away knowing nothing at all about
to war? No, Ardent would get to
the Falklands.”
Ascension then come back.
The airstrip plan died a quick
“Once round the island, then
death. The day after the meeting
home by nine for tea and biscuits,”
on Fearless, Admiral Sir John
LMEM Andy Cox quipped.
Fieldhouse, Commander-in-Chief
Fleet, held a council of war in
A
S the ships headed south,
HMS Hermes.
in Whitehall there was
The discussion was apparently as
a scramble to gather
harmonious as the one on Fearless
intelligence. Argentina was
had been heated, perhaps in part Grytviken
not an unknown quantity, but she
due to Fieldhouse’s nature.
had been towards the bottom of
For the first time, the task force
the pile when Britain’s intelligence
commanders began to agree on a map
agencies sought information on
combined plan. They would be in
potential foes.
place around the Falklands by the
Some material was culled from
end of April. They would spend
Jane’s, other data was provided by
at least a fortnight gathering
the USA and France.
intelligence. And then, sometime
The Armada Republica Argentina
between May 16 and May 23,
was small and aged, but could not
they would strike, landing on East
be dismissed.
Falkland, probably at San Carlos
It possessed two British-built
– more than 60 miles west of
Type 42 destroyers, three French
Stanley.
frigates, a handful of submarines
and the carrier Veinticinco De
With the Falklands looming
Mayo, once HMS Venerable.
ever closer – and with them,
The greatest threat was posed
the Argentine threat – ‘Sandy’
by the Fuerza Aérea Argentina,
Woodward wanted answers from
the Argentinian air force, and the
London. The Argentinians could
equivalent to the Fleet Air Arm,
attack him as and when they
the Aviación Naval Argentina. Both
pleased, but he could only attack
● A panorama of the liberation of South Georgia as sketched by an
were a mixed bag: some aged jets
them within the exclusion zone
offi cer in HMS Plymouth
– Skyhawks and Canberras – some
drawn around the islands.
relatively new – French Super
“This is military nonsense,” he
Etendards and Mirage IIIs, Israeli
fumed. A pre-emptive strike by
surface loomed out of the murk. was the entr’act; the Royal Navy drifted through the passageways
Marines.”
Daggers. Above all, the intelligence
the enemy against either Hermes
Pilot Ian Stanley turned to his delivered the finale: re-taking of HMS Antrim.
She turned about and headed
chiefs in London feared one
or Invincible would render
observer Chris Parry: “It’s the South Georgia. As the guns belched, a flurry of
back towards her official
weapon: the AM39 Exocet anti-
any invasion of the Falklands
Argie, no doubt about it.” Now was the time to strike, helicopter movements deposited
residence.
ship missile; fortunately, Argentina
impossible.
Parry had already primed the thought green beret Major Guy the invasion force ashore outside
“Are we going to war with
possessed just a few.
The enemy was already
helicopter’s depth charges. Now Sheridan, in charge of the landing Grytviken, then the troops began
Argentina, Mrs Thatcher?” a
The isolation of the Falklands
shadowing Woodward’s force;
he prepared to drop them from force. to march on their objective. As
journalist cried out.
was in the invaders’ favour.
Argentinian Boeing 707s were
150 feet. The Argentinians had to be King Edward Point came into
On the doorstep of No.10
Argentinian jets, the intelligence
monitoring its progress. Late on
“What a moment!” he wrote demoralised: they had seen their view they could see the white flag
the premier turned to face the
chiefs concluded, would be
April 23 the radar screens in HMS
excitedly in his diary. “Every submarine pummelled and return flying.
journalists. “Rejoice.” Then she
operating chiefly from bases on
Invincible picked up a potential
observer’s dream – to have a to base, then her crew abandoned Although his hodgepodge force
disappeared behind the imposing
the mainland at the extremity of
target heading towards the South
real live submarine caught in the her. To South Georgia’s defenders, outnumbered the invaders, Santa
black door.
their range.
American coast. The carrier’s
trap.” Sheridan argued, “it must have Fe’s captain Horacio Bicain –
On April 15, Britain’s War
Sea Dart missile system warmed
As Ian Stanley manoeuvred the seemed that the air was full of since his boat had been put out of
David Lee didn’t feel like rejoicing.
Cabinet was briefed on the
up and came within a minute of
helicopter, the two fliers peered our helicopters and that we had action he had become the senior
His ship was about to be thrust
Argentine threat. It was told
firing.
at the Santa Fe. Most of her hull overwhelming resources”. Argentine officer on the island
into harm’s way: there were now
– surprisingly – that the danger
To be certain, Woodward
vanished, wrapped momentarily David Yates watched the Royals – realised resistance was futile.
barely 250 miles to go until the
from the air was only moderate.
launched a Sea Harrier to
in a violent blanket of water which climb into Antrim’s Wessex. “This Less than three hours after the
task force reached the exclusion
“The Argentines will need luck
intercept; the jump jet found a
lifted her stern out of the Atlantic was no D-Day or Iwo Jima,” he first British troops had set foot on
zone.
on their side if they are to inflict
Brazilian DC10 bound for Rio
then unceremoniously dropped observed. South Georgian soil, the island
In the chiefs’ mess of HMS
substantial damage on the task
from South Africa.
her. He was right. The invasion was no longer in Argentine hands.
Ardent Lee poured his heart out
force.”
“Inconvenience to passengers’
Trailing oil, but seaworthy, force amounted to fewer than four Aboard HMS Antrim, Capt
to his wife, Katy:
underwear regretted unless any
Santa Fe turned about and headed score Royal Marines and Special Brian Young dictated a curt yet
“I only wish I was home at the
The next day in the mid-
of them were Argentinian,” the
for the sanctuary of Grytviken, Forces. triumphant message to be sent
moment. My darling, it is difficult
Atlantic the alumni of Task
admiral laconically signalled
hounded as she went by HMS The aim was to take South back to London: “Be pleased to
to find things to say to you just
Force 317 gathered in the cabin
Northwood.
Brilliant’s Lynx and a Wasp from Georgia without a fight, to inform Her Majesty that the White
now. I will close now hoping that
of Commodore Mike Clapp, the
Endurance. Rockets, torpedoes, scare the Argentinians into Ensign flies alongside the Union
you are as happy as possible in
amphibious group commander, to
machine-gun bullets, all were surrender. Jack in South Georgia. God save
the circumstances. Goodnight, my
discuss re-taking the Falklands.
hurled at the stricken submarine In the mid-afternoon of the Queen.”
lovely.”
There was no room in the cabin
as she struggled back to her jetty. April 25, the guns of the
That same evening Sandy
– every relevant staff officer was
F
AR to the southeast of
the Falklands a small task
group was closing on South
Georgia – including Her
As Antrim’s Wessex returned to task force opened up at Outside No.10 Downing Street a
Woodward put pen to paper for
crammed in, plus maps, reports,
Majesty’s ships Antrim, Brilliant,
her mother ship, Chris Parry was enemy positions around gaggle of news reporters waited
his wife Charlotte.
signals, weather charts – and
Plymouth and Endurance.
struck by a stirring sight. The Grytviken. for the prime minister. John Nott
“Can we really be going to
little air. It helped contribute to
Intercepted Argentine radio
destroyer’s battle ensign fluttered Yates was spellbound had just given her “some very
war?” he asked. “Is it me that’s
a deeply discouraging meeting for
reports suggested the Sante Fe,
furiously – “All Boy’s Own Annual by the loud crack of 4.5in good news”.
in charge of 15,000 men and the
Ewen Southby-Tailyour.
an old American-built diesel
stuff,” he thought. guns firing. A few seconds Faced by a barrage of flashbulbs
biggest fleet we’ve put together in
The admiral, it seemed, wanted
submarine, was prowling the
Aboard the destroyer there was later perhaps ten miles and the thrusting of microphones,
35 years? I never asked for a place
to land on one of the outer
waters of South Georgia. She had
jubilation. “We really felt quite away there were small the defence secretary read a terse
in anyone’s history books...”
Falkland islands, build an airstrip
clear orders: sink the Endurance.
pleased with ourselves,” recalled red and yellow flashes statement, ending with Brian
A bibliography will appear in the
and then march on Stanley – now
There could be no thought of
Cdr Ronald Sandford, Antrim’s on the South Georgian Young’s rousing signal.
final instalment
renamed Puerto Argentino by the
liberating the island without first
Executive Officer. “We knew they coastline as the shells The press swarmed forward.
invader.
dispatching the enemy submarine.
only had four submarines and we landed for a good 90 “What happens next, Mr Nott?
It was a plan which Fleet
Fog shrouded much of South
had put 25 per cent of those out minutes or more. As What’s your reaction?” marina Next month: The scourge
Headquarters in Northwood
Georgia and its approaches as
of action.” the guns fell silent the The PM stepped in. “Just of the Sea Harrier, the loss of
favoured. It was a plan which Mike
Sunday April 25 dawned. But fog
The attack on the Sante Fe sickly smell of cordite rejoice at that news and the Belgrano, Sheffi eld and
Clapp, 3 Commando Brigade’s
could not prevent the radar of the
congratulate our forces and the Coventry, the hell of Bomb Alley
Commanding Officer Brig Julian
Wessex picking up a small blip
Thompson and Southby-Tailyour
half a dozen miles north
abhorred.
of Banff
Thompson had neither the
Point.
men nor material to build such
It was only
an airstrip – which would be
when the helicopter
constantly threatened by Argentine
closed to within half
jets operating from the mainland.
a mile of the contact
In the heat of the moment,
that the outline of a
Southby-Tailyour, who found
submarine on the
Woodward “desperately arrogant,
argumentative and
● The damaged fi n of the Argentine submarine Santa Fe, seen here alongside a jetty in South Georgia after a fl urry of attacks by the Fleet Air Arm
Falklands1a.indd 4 21/3/07 11:52:44
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