Summary
of Main Events
ARRIVING CARRIER
SQUADRONS:
HMS HERMES:
No.809 - 4 Sea Harriers for No.800 NAS
1(F) Sqdn RAF - 6 Harrier GR.3's
[Wing Cmdr P T Squire (awarded DFC) AFC RAF]
HMS INVINCIBLE
No.809 - 4 Sea Harriers for No.801 NAS
1.
SEA KING TO CHILE INCIDENT
(17th-18th)
? Invincible and Brilliant approached Argentine coast and
special forces landed near air bases by No.846 Sea King
(17th). By morning, ships back with CVBG. That evening, Sea
King [b9] destroyed near Punta Arenas and crew later picked
up by Chile (18th)
2. British aircraft lost east of Falklands
- [b8] Sea King (17th)
3. British aircraft lost north east of
Falklands - [b10] Sea King (19th)
4. APPROACH TO SAN CARLOS BY 3 COMMANDO
BRIGADE (20th) - Assault ships Fearless, Intrepid;
Transports Canberra, Europic Ferry, Norland; RFA's Fort
Austin, Stromness; LSL's Sir Galahad, Sir Geraint, Sir
Lancelot, Sir Percivale, Sir Tristram; Fr Brilliant,
Broadsword, Argonaut, Plymouth, Yarmouth; DD Antrim, FR
Ardent
5. CARRIER BATTLE GROUP (20th) - CV Hermes,
Invincible; DD Glamorgan, Coventry, Glasgow; FR Alacrity,
Arrow; RFA Olmeda, Regent, Resource, Tidepool; Transports
Atlantic Conveyor, Elk
Plus submarine force,
hospital ships in RCB, repair ship and tug in TRALA, and
some tankers in TEZ
One of the strangest incidents
of the war now took place involving Chile.
The only certainty was that during the week the Chilean
authorities found a burnt out Sea King HC.4 of No.846 NAS
near the southern town of Punta Arenas, the crew of three
gave themselves up and were returned to the UK to later
receive gallantry awards for a number of hazardous
missions. Presumably, and as announced by the Ministry of
Defence, these included losing their way, ending up 500
miles from the Task Force and destroying their
helicopter!! One possibility was that after a high speed
dash to the west over Monday night (17th) by "Invincible"
and escort "Brilliant", the Sea King landed special forces
near air bases
in Southern Argentina either
to report on aircraft as they left to attack the Task
Force or even in an attempt to destroy the Super Etendards
(subsequently confirmed in the 1990's).
Whatever happened, the carrier
obviously could not risk waiting for the helicopter to
return and by Tuesday morning (18th) was back with the
CVBG. The Sea King therefore made its way to neutral
territory to be destroyed by the crew sometime over
Tuesday night [b9]. Any men landed might then have been
picked up later by submarine. As it happened, the
diesel-engined and more manoeuvrable "Onyx" arrived in the
Falkland's area by the end of the month and was reported
to have lifted off special forces from near Rio Grande,
and in doing so to have damaged herself on an uncharted
rock. She also went on to land SBS teams around the
Falklands to supplement
the helicopter drops.
Back on Monday 17th as the
amphibious ships neared the carrier group, the second No.826
Sea King from "Hermes" was lost by accident. Late that night
to the
east of the Falklands while on
ASW patrol she hit the sea with altimeter trouble and had to
be abandoned, but again fortunately with no casualties [b8].
Next day when within range, and through into Wednesday,
"Atlantic Conveyor" flew off four of the embarked No.809 Sea
Harriers to "Invincible" and the remaining four with the six
RAF GR.3's to "Hermes". The 25 Sea Harriers would now
concentrate on air defence and the RAF GR.3's on ground
attack, but with a total of 31 now embarked, the carrier
maintenance teams were sorely stretched and yet still
provided a remarkably high level of availability.
When the many ships did meet
some
200 miles to the north east of Stanley, equipment
and stores, men and helicopters were re-distributed ready
for the landings. Eleven assault Sea Kings of No.846 NAS
were moved around to four of the ships that entered San
Carlos Water, and on Wednesday evening a twelfth was lost
with particularly tragic consequences. Before then, orders
were received from Northwood to spread "Canberra's" major
units around the other ships to avoid heavy loss of life
in the event of her being hit. Through Wednesday 19th and
in surprisingly calm weather for the South Atlantic in
autumn, the larger landing craft (LCU's) carried by the
assault ships transferred 40 Cdo RM to "Fearless", and Z
Coy 45 Cdo and 3 Para to "Intrepid". The whole of 42 Cdo
stayed on "Canberra", the rest of 45 Cdo on RFA
"Stromness" and 2 Para on "Norland". The opportunity was
also taken to transfer the special forces and three
surviving night-flying No.846 Sea Kings from "Hermes"
after their three week's covert operations. In one of the
last flights that Wednesday from the carrier to
"Intrepid", one of the Sea Kings loaded with SAS crashed
into the sea and 21 out of the 30 men on board died [b10].
At the time a sea bird strike was thought to have brought
her down, but this cause is now open to doubt. The dead
included 18 men of D and G Sqdn SAS, some of them so soon
after their Pebble Island triumph, one member of the Royal
Signals, the only RAF casualty of the war and the
aircrewman,
Corporal M D Love RM
who was awarded a posthumous DSM for his special forces
missions.
Carrying
Brigadier Thompson's troops, but commanded by Commodore
Clapp, the
Amphibious Task Group now headed for Falkland
Sound. Leaving "Atlantic Conveyor" and "Elk" with the
CVBG, it consisted of command ship "Fearless", "Intrepid",
the five LSL's, merchantmen "Canberra", "Europic Ferry"
and "Norland", RFA "Stromness" as a troopship and from the
carrier group, "Fort Austin" for helicopter support. Apart
from the original escort of "Antrim", "Ardent", "Argonaut"
and "Plymouth", Admiral Woodward allocated "Yarmouth" and
weakened his own defences by also sending "Brilliant" and
"Broadsword". Faced with sailing across the north of the
Falklands through the daylight hours of Thursday 20th, the
type 22's Sea Wolf could have proved crucial in fighting
off any determined aircraft attacks on the troopships. As
it happened, the convoy was hidden all day by poor weather
and reached the jumping off point for San Carlos Water
without apparently being spotted. Later that Thursday,
"Antrim" and "Ardent" went ahead on separate support
missions and 3 Commmando Brigade prepared to land early
next morning, starting with the first assault wave of 40
Cdo and 2 Para who went ashore at San Carlos.
So much took place
in and around San Carlos Water over the
next few days, Parts 33, 34 and 35 are needed to describe
the main events:
Part 33: 21st May
- San Carlos Landings
Part
34: 21st May - Air Battles around San Carlos
Part 35: 22nd-23rd
May - Falkland Area Operations
But before then,
Argentine and British aircraft and shipping losses
inflicted and losses sustained are summarised as an
introduction to the land, sea and air battles that took
place until the end of the war:
Part
31: Argentine Aircraft and their Successes against
British Ships
Part
32: British Successes against Argentine Aircraft and
Ships
British
Gallantry
Awards included:
No.846
Sea
King to Chile
Lt A R C Bennett (DSC) RN
Lt R Hutchings (DSC) RM
Ldg Aircrewman P B Imrie (DSM)
Captain G R
Green RFA, commanding officer RFA Sir Tristram,
one of the LSL's sailing into San Carlos Water over the
night of 20th May 1982
(Courtesy - RFA Service)
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