Five Days on San Carlos Water
Thus ended the first day of the landing. The British had taken some hard knocks, but had not been dislodged. The Argentines had lost 16 aircraft, forcing them to rethink their tactics.
On the 22nd May, bad weather over the Argentine mainland precluded any Falkland missions being flown and enabled the British to complete their deployment of Rapier surface to air missile batteries. The elimination of several Argentine observation posts by the SAS on the west side of Falkland Sound might also have contributed to the lull.
The battle resumed on the 23rd, when at 1.30 in the afternoon, four Skyhawks led by Captain Carballo appeared and attacked Broadsword and Antelope. Carballo’s plane was damaged by a Sea Cat missile from Antelope and he was forced to return to base. A second Skyhawk, piloted by Lieutenant Rinke, dropped a 1,000 lb bomb on Antelope’s side, killing crewman Mark Stephens. The third plane piloted by Lieutenant Guadagnimi was hit and killed by 20mm cannon fire from Antelope and crashed through her mainmast while carrying out his bombing run. His bombs pierced the hull, again failing to explode The ship proceeded to more sheltered waters so that two bomb technicians from the Royal Engineers could come aboard and attempt to defuse the two unexploded bombs. One of the bombs was found to inaccessible due to wreckage; the other had been damaged and was in a particularly dangerous condition. Three attempts were made by the bomb disposal team to withdraw the fuse by remote control means but failed, and a fourth attempt to kill the fuse with a small explosive charge resulted in the bomb detonating, killing Staff Sergeant James Prescott and injuring Warrant Officer Philips. The explosion tore the ship apart from waterline to funnel, starting major fires which spread very quickly and her commander, Nick Tobin, gave the order to abandon ship. He was the last to leave and just minutes after his departure the missile magazines began exploding.
Explosions continued throughout the night. She was still afloat the following day, but her back was broken and her superstructure melted into a heap of twisted metal. She sank later that day.
A further flight of four Skyhawks, led by Captain Tabanos, then attacked Broadsword and Yarmouth, but were driven off. Ironically, one of the four pilots, Captain Zubizaretta, was killed when his parachute failed to fully open after he ejected from his Skyhawk due to a tyre bursting on landing with his bombs still loaded. The plane stopped by itself and did not suffer further damage. During further attacks throughout the afternoon, another Dagger was shot down by Harriers and the pilot killed.
On the morning of the 24th, in a change of tactics, the fighting started at 10.15 when five Skyhawks attacked ships inside the bay. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary Sir Lancelot was hit by a 1,000 lb bomb which failed to explode. Two LCUs (Landing Craft Utilities) were also hit. Shortly after, two Daggers attacked and damaged RFA Sir Bedivere inside the bay, while two others dropped bombs in the landing area. Three more Daggers were intercepted by Harriers and shot down, one of the pilots being killed and the other two ejecting.
More Skyhawk attacks were made throughout the morning, now concentrating on the landing ships. Sir Galahad came under attack but escaped serious damage. The increasingly frustrated Argentine pilots were spending longer seeking to break through the Sea Harrier defences and consequently were running short of fuel and had to be rescued by KC 130 tankers flown out from the mainland for mid air refuelling to enable them to reach home.
There was much unrest among the Argentine pilots who felt that they were fighting the war alone with no help from the army or navy. The unrest was spreading to near mutiny until the Argentine high command intervened and calmed the situation down.
Fighting continued on the 25th, with Skyhawk attacks beginning at 9.00am and HMS Coventry shooting down the first of the day with her Sea Dart missiles, killing the pilot Captain Palaver. Coventry, together with Broadsword, had been ordered to the north west of Falkland Sound to act as decoys to draw Argentine aircraft away from other ships in San Carlos Water. Later that morning three more Skyhawks arrived and attacked ships inside the bay. HMS Yarmouth shot down the first with a Sea Cat, while a second was struck and destroyed by one of Coventry’s Sea Darts. The third was damaged and losing fuel, but was rescued by a KC 130 tanker who fuelled her and escorted her home. That afternoon, two Skyhawks managed to get through the defence screen and attacked Broadsword, damaging her communications equipment and destroying the ship’s helicopter. The attack also caused her missile system to “lock out” and could not be fired.
The last attack of the day came at 3.20pm when Skyhawks piloted by Lieutenant Velasco and Ensign Barrionuevo, attacked HMS Coventry. The planes flew so low and at a 20 degree angle to her port bow that Coventry’s radar could not distinguish them from the surrounding land and could not lock on and turned hard to starboard to reduce her profile. Broadsword managed to reset her missile system and acquired the targets, but could not fire as Coventry’s turn took her directly into the line of fire. Coventry fired her 4.5 inch gun at the attackers as well as small arms fire. Her port side 20mm Oerliken jammed, but she continued firing with machine guns. Three bombs then struck her just above the waterline on the port side. One exploded beneath the computer room, destroying it and the adjoining operations room, injuring most of the senior officers. The others entered the forward engine room and exploded, causing the ship to list heavily to port. The third bomb failed to explode. With such damage the ship could not survive. The crew abandoned ship and within 20 minutes Coventry had capsized. Nineteen crewmen died on Coventry and a further thirty three injured.
The fighting had proved the worth of the Harriers. Their ability to virtually stop dead in a dogfight, (a procedure known as “viffing”, VIFF – Vectored in Forward Flight) and launch their latest version Sidewinders at the faster enemy jets, caused many nations to rethink their fighter policy. The Harriers are credited with destroying 16 confirmed kills, plus one probable with their missiles. Their guns accounted for 4 confirmed kills, plus 2 probable.
The British warships, although themselves bearing the brunt of the attacks, did succeed in keeping the strike aircraft away from the landing fleet inside the bay and enabled British troops to establish themselves on Falklands soil. The land battles that followed ended in the Argentine surrender in Port Stanley on June 14th.
Britain had successfully completed an amphibious landing 8,000 miles from base against a determined enemy, proving to the world that Britannia still had teeth and despite the considered opinion of the US Navy who had declared such a mission “militarily impossible”.
The retaking of the Falklands cost British forces two destroyers, two frigates, two landing craft and a container ship, together with twenty helicopters and ten fighters. The Argentines lost a cruiser, a submarine, four cargo vessels, two patrol boats, together with twenty five helicopters and seventy five assorted fixed wing aircraft.
The Argentine Air Force and Navy pilots showed great courage in their raids on the invasion fleet, but were severely hampered by the short “time over target” available due to fuel constraints. The Skyhawk, is a formidable attack aircraft, but even fitted with two 295 gallon drop tanks, still needed aerial refuelling twice during missions to the Falklands. These planes were also carrier capable, but the Argentine High Command was unwilling to risk sending their own carrier into the war zone. During the conflict the Skyhawks were fitted with the British made 1,000 lb bomb (Mark 17) or the 227 kilo Spanish/American built retarding tail bomb. They were armed with two 20mm Colt Mark 12 cannons.
The Israeli built Mirage 5 Dagger did not have aerial refuelling capability and despite being fitted with two 550 gallon drop tanks, was flying at the absolute limit of its range. It too carried the 1,000 lb bomb load and was armed with 30mm DEFA cannon.
The Argentine FM 1A-58 Pucara was a turbo prop ground attack aircraft and operated from a grass airstrip at Goose Green during the conflict. It was armed with rocket pods, two 20mm cannon and four 7.62 machine guns.
Britain has now abandoned the formidable Harrier, and indeed, the ships from which to fly them. It will be some years before we have the proposed two carriers commissioned and even longer to receive aircraft for them. We can only hope that the endless cuts to the most professional fighting forces in the world, does not backfire on us.
It is doubtful, should a similar event such as the Argentine invasion of the Falklands take place in the future, whether Britain could mount an operation such as the Task Force that so bravely set out from Portsmouth in 1982.
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“Finally, at 08.45am, a Pucara ground attack jet ”
Pucara is not a jet.
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