Summary
of Main Events
CVBG - CV
Hermes, Invincible; DD Glamorgan, Coventry, Glasgow; FR
Alacrity, Arrow, Brilliant, Broadsword, Yarmouth; RFA Fort
Austin, Olmeda, Resource; with SBS and SAS
1. Argentine
patrol ship Alferez Sobral damaged 70 miles north of East
Falkland island (3rd)
2. Argentine
aircraft lost near Stanley - [a11] Aermacchi MB-339A
(3rd), [a12] PNA Skyvan(3rd/4th)
3. 'Black Buck 2' - second Vulcan raid on
Stanley (4th)
4. Two Super Etendards launch Exocet
(4th) at:
5.
SHEFFIELD hit at 52¾S, 57¼ (4th) , sank at 53S, 57W on
10th
6. British aircraft lost at Goose Green -
[b4] Sea Harrier (4th)
7. British aircraft lost at 53S, 57W -
[b5, b6] Sea Harriers (6th)
TEZ - extended to within 12 miles of
Argentine coast from Friday 7th May
8. Argentine intelligence trawler Narwhal
damaged 60 miles SE of Stanley (9th) and later sank
9. Argentine aircraft lost off South
Jason Island - [a13,a14] Skyhawks (9th)
10. Argentine aircraft lost at mouth of
Choiseul Sound - [a15] Army Puma (9th)
Midnight on Sunday 2nd as
patrol vessel "Alferez Sobral" searched for the crew of
the downed Canberra [a8] to the
north of the Falklands, she was detected by a No.826 Sea
King. Fired on, the helicopter called for help and from a
range of eight miles, "Coventry's" Lynx fired two of the
new Sea Skua missiles, followed shortly by two more from
"Glasgow's" Lynx. Badly damaged and with eight crew dead,
the "Sobral" was escorted into Puerto Deseado two
days later, but the Canberra's crew was never found. Later
in the day one of two MB-339A's of CANA 1 Esc returning to
Stanley from a patrol
to the south east, crashed in bad weather near the
airfield killing the pilot [a11], and
that night, a PNA Skyvan [a12] at the airfield was badly
damaged in another bombardment by "Glamorgan", "Alacrity"
and "Arrow". Then early on Tuesday morning, the same
Vulcan as before attacked the runway in "Black Buck 2".
With the Argentine Navy's
return to port, the British Task Force
established control of the surrounding seas,
but it would be weeks before air supremacy was achieved.
As a foretaste of events, the first ships and aircraft
were lost in combat on Tuesday 4th. Most of the TF.79
ships were returning to port by Tuesday and "25 de Mayo"
disembarked her aircraft. Although submarine "San Luis"
stayed out a few more days, the rest of the Navy kept well
clear of the British nuclear subs. However to the
south of the Falklands a number
of ships joined in the search for "Belgrano's" survivors
with most of them returning on Wednesday. Then to confirm
control of the seas, Britain extended the TEZ on Friday
and warned Argentina that any warships or military
aircraft found more than 12 miles from their coast were
liable to attack.
By late Tuesday morning (4th)
the CVBG was 70 miles to the
south east of Stanley. Aware of the Exocet threat,
frigates "Brilliant" and "Broadsword" with their point
defence Sea Wolf stayed in close to the
carriers. Near them was a screen of three RFA's, further
out a second one of "Glamorgan" and three more frigates,
and then twenty miles ahead, the three type 42's including
"Sheffield" with their high altitude Sea Darts. Finally
towards the Falklands, Sea Harriers of No.801 flew CAP and
at this time investigated a number of possible air
contacts. efore then a CANA Neptune had picked up the
ships by radar and two Super Etendards of 2 Esc took off
from
Rio Grande each armed with an Exocet AM.39. Refuelled by a
Grupo 1 Hercules, they flew in at low altitude, popped-up
for a radar check and
released the missiles from 20 to 30 miles. One
of
the Exocet may just have missed "Yarmouth", but the other
slammed with hardly any warning into "Sheffield" soon
after 11.00 am. Hitting amidships, the warhead did not
explode, but the impact and unused fuel started
uncontrollable fires. Badly damaged and with little power,
frigate "Arrow" soon came alongside to assist and
"Yarmouth" stood by. Captain
Salt's crew fought gallantly to save their ship, but with
20 men dead, the order to abandon was given that
afternoon. With the wounded
already on board "Hermes", "Arrow" took off most of the
260 survivors and "Sheffield" drifted for four days until
"Yarmouth" was ordered to pull her clear of the TEZ. Taken
in tow by Sunday, "SHEFFIELD" finally sank next day not
too many miles from where she was hit. The survivors later
returned to Ascension on tanker "British Esk".
Shortly after "Sheffield" was hit,
three No.800 Sea Harriers from "Hermes" attacked
Goose Green airstrip with
CBU's and retard bombs. Little damage was done, but one
aircraft was hit by Skyguard-directed 35mm Oerlikon fire and
crashed killing the pilot [b4]. With the threat from Exocet,
the carriers now moved further
away from Stanley, and
there was little activity over the next few days, but that
did not prevent further losses. On Thursday morning (6th),
two No.801 Sea Harriers on CAP were sent to check a radar
contact and just disappeared without trace after presumably
colliding in the poor visibility [b5,b6]. With the carriers
down to 17 Harriers, their next action took place Sunday
morning (9th) when two No.800 aircraft left "Hermes" to
bomb Stanley. Stopped
by cloud cover, they detected intelligence trawler "Narwal"
on the way back and were given permission to attack by
control ship "Coventry". Strafing failed to stop her and the
high-altitude fuzed bombs were dropped, one of which hit
without exploding. With the trawler at a standstill, Nos.820
and 846 Sea Kings flew an SBS party some 150 miles to
capture her, but before arriving, two more No.800 Sea
Harriers attacked and further damaged "NARWAL" with cannon
fire. The
SBS boarding went ahead,
but next day she sank in tow with one crewman dead.
Returning to Saturday
evening, and with the Task Force back on the offensive,
frigate "Alacrity" bombarded the Stanley
area as "Brilliant" and her Lynx entered the north end of
Falkland Sound to intercept
any supply ships. Meanwhile "Coventry" and "Broadsword"
had moved closer to Stanley with the unenviable job of
tempting out Argentine aircraft. Late Sunday morning,
"Coventry" fired three Sea Darts at distant aircraft,
including a Hercules on a supply run to
Stanley, and apparently
missed. However around this time, two Grupo 4 Skyhawks
were lost [a13,a14]. They may have been hit by the Sea
Darts or alternatively crashed in low visibility on their
way to attack the two ships. Whatever the case, one of
them was later found on
South Jason Island.
Then in the afternoon, as an Army Puma headed out over
Choiseul Sound to
search for "Narwal", another Sea Dart fired at extreme
range brought her down with the loss of all on board
[a15].
British
Gallantry Awards included:
HMS
Sheffield - rescue work
Lt Cmdr J S Woodhead (post DSC) RN
PO MEM(M) D R Briggs (post DSM)
PO Medical Asst G A Meager (QGM)
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