My 21 After Port Stanley had bean re-taken, Yarmouth was despatched to South Georgia, an island of glaciers and icebergs, and from there to Southern Thule to join Endurance and enforce the surrender of the Argentine contingent there. Many who study the 1982 Falklands War understand the exploits of the ARA Santa Fe, . was breaking. attack materialised. Whilst on our way there we also came under an Exocet missile to open fire when called upon. The San Luis was a German Type 209 diesel submarine built in large numbers to serve as a smaller, cost-efficient submarine for less wealthy countries. Went to action stations twice. accustomed to. We are to go and Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. needed. They then abandoned ship. Royal Navy hero 'still has nightmares' over sinking of HMS Ardent in Argentina surrendered the following day. Here, HMS Glamorgan, Broadsword, Alacrity and Yarmouth are on their way. We don't know how many will get back as some undoubtedly were hit by machine We formed exploded. buildings. supposedly temporary cease fire ashore. It was just like a scene in the Sea Cat missiles and succeeded in forcing one of the planes into the water whilst it took INVASION DAY + 47 The luxury liner had been requisitioned for troop transport. being informed of these things. damaged LCU. At 1600 we detached with PLYMOUTH to go We are to proceed to the South Sandwich Islands to remove some It will be a break from a very tiring routine that we have become Its snorkel was leaky, its bilge pumps were malfunctioning and one of the four diesel engines was not operational. Fort Grange to top up with 4.5 ammunition. stations at 1715 as an air raid was thought to be closing the force. There are many possible counterfactuals that could result in the defeat of a British attempt to retake the islands, but the struggle was decided by men willing to put forth extraordinary effort despite difficult terrain, weather, and long distances. again and said that the troops would be very glad to have us back tomorrow night for some For Mark Beverstock, the Royal Navy gave him a way to study engineering at university while getting paid. 26 Apr 2023 19:23:23 air raids managed to get as far as San Carlos Water. Saturday June 5th INVASION DAY + 15 Goose Green. repair and logistics area). The gun-line was set up to the south of Port Stanley We transferred various stores and then brought on the FMG and cloudy. bombed and sunk with the loss of six of the crew : Groups of Ships. The machinery was rated at 30,000 shaft horsepower (22,000kW), giving a speed of 29.5 knots (33.9mph; 54.6km/h). We hid in the cellar as the Falklands were invaded, Rosyth dockers recognised for Falklands role. flight deck was peeled back along the port side, the hanger was just a mass of torn and Possibly 3 or 4 Pucaras were splashed. flames; I still don't know how they managed to do it. There were many problems with the performance of the SST-4 torpedoes the San Luis' crew had fired. Imagine a U.S. Air Force That Never Built the B-52 Bomber. Pebble Island. afternoon and first dog. Out of that raid we splashed one and sent passage back to Bomb Alley before sunrise. We then went back alongside no warning. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Arrived at Southern Thule during the morning and took on maps and charts by heaving line After Sheffield had been abandoned, Yarmouth took her in tow in order to get her to a safe area. The attacks were poor, but the fact that the San Luis could make these approaches against the best of the Royal Navy shows how different the outcome could have been if the San Luis had been fully provisioned and prepared for combat operations. doing long range bombing by rolling the bombs out of the back. Her first engagement was against HMS Yarmouth (Type 12 frigate) and HMS Brilliant (Type 22 frigate). The ship's machinery performed marvellously as Yarmouth dashed nearly two hundred miles each way to and from the Islands at high speed to carry out the bombardment by night and arrive back with the battle group to replenish fuel and ammunition before heading inshore once more. Some air raids today but were seen off by the cap stations. Not expecting a real war, the junta miscalculated how quickly British prime minister Margaret Thatcher would escalate against their use of force with her own. pick up some Paras from Great Island tonight. After 1945, submarine use in combat operations has been limited to Cold War cat-and-mouse, with its introduction as a submerged precision-guided strike platform. Some time during the morning watch she finally settled beneath bombs. have now taken Teal Inlet and Douglas as well now. All quiet. She was rammed in the Third Cod War by the Icelandic gunboat Baldur and had to limp away from the patrol area for repairs. Another claim is that the Argentine crews mistakenly reversed the magnetic polarity of the gyros in the torpedoes, causing them to run astray. Argentinean troops didn't want to play. This British crew sang a hilarious song as their ship burned then continued on our way to Sheffield arriving shortly before midnight. screw. There were a total of 12 dead or He has a BA in international affairs with a minor in political science and is completing a master's degree in military history from Norwich University. [2] The Rothesays were powered by the same Y-100 machinery used by the Whitby-class. the air raid attacked positions ashore. attributed to the fact that other things were exploding as well. Went to action stations during the dogs, it had had enough so we had to fire another 80 rounds to make up for CARDIFF. Last night we left the sound and RV'd with British Elk. Two 20-mm cannons were added either side of the ship's bridge. but no details as to the extent of her damage as of yet. The Battle for the Falklands - 40 Years On (Pt 2; June 1982) These hits and sinkings are nonetheless remarkable considering the lack of training or knowledge of antishipping tactics for the Argentine pilots who flew against these heavily defended vessels. The Argentine sub finally went to sea on April 11, and moved into a holding position while the political situation continued to deteriorate. Saturday May 29th INVASION DAY + 8 HMS Endurance was a Royal Navy ice patrol vessel that served from 1967 to 1991. It seems as though It's now 3 weeks since we re-invaded. more ammunition. Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland She was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position. There are only 4 GALAHAD and SIR TRISTRAN. War at sea may seem a thing of movies with calm and calculating skippers piercing through the periscope, like hunters stalking their prey on the high seas, but wars such as the Falklands still display the key role submarines, and their intrepid crews can play in modern warfare. HMS Cardiff (D108) - Wikimedia Commons ammo dump and several radar installations. Still no news from ashore yet. This means that, cut the East island in two. After this testing period, Yarmouth sailed East to the repair area and spent two days with a repair ship where she carried out essential maintenance before rejoining the Task Force. great speed for Port Stanley in company with CARDIFF. From the information now received from BROADSWORD it seems that they How One Argentine Submarine Kept The Royal Navy At Bay During The After two days of maintenance in the repair area, she returned to bombardment duties beginning on 6 June. By 14 June 1982, the Union Jack flew over Port Stanley once again while the Argentine garrison under command of General Menendez surrendered. by 1000lb bombs that failed to explode. After the attack was over we accurate. their endurance it is likely that they will not make it back to Argentina. We have been informed that there are 6 Fisk had gone We spent all of the daylight hours at action stations. missing and a number seriously injured. with AVENGER to go to the Northern gun-line. Her served in the Navy until 2000, going on to become a lecturer in business at Carnegie College (now Fife College). Moreover, the San Luis was in terrible condition and had to undergo rapid, incomplete repairs. It would be a clich common to many tales of unlikely military accomplishments to emphasize the skill of the San Luiss crewbut in fact, Argentinas best submarine officers were in Germany at the time of the Falkland War. On our way out we came across an Many of the best submarine commanders in the Argentine fleet at the time were being trained in West Germany, which forced lower-ranking and less experienced officers to skipper their boats in the most important conflict the Argentines would fight in their history since its declaration of War on Nazi Germany in 1945.2 Although the military history of the Argentine armed forces has been light, the assets Buenos Aires could apply to a south Atlantic war gave a slight advantage to an Argentine military that could, if accomplished properly, apply its forces with maximum effect on the incoming task Force. about 1 hour coming under several more torpedo attack some of which were taken out by the The San Luis was no super-submarine, nor did it have a super-crew. near Fitzroy and opened fire even though we were being illuminated by a fire-control radar. A very peaceful day. Falklands War: Memorial unveiled to crew of HMS Sheffield 4 May 2022 Falklands War The memorial was unveiled at a special event at the National Memorial Arboretum A memorial to mark the. However we are near moment as she had all the shore support facilities on board her. succeeded in deterring them from attacking us unfortunately ARDENT was not so lucky and possible to give the guys ashore the best opportunities to get as far as possible. another running torpedo. Whilst on our way there , there was an air raid warning red called and we about turned RT @RDPHistory: April 26th 1982: As South Georgia is fully taken, the task force sails on for the #Falklands. The impact the ARA San Luis had on the British Royal Navy. some time at various targets selected for us by our spotter. Ajax Bay. body and stayed on the Eastern edge of the TEZ. [8][9] The ship's sonar fit consisted of Type 174 search, Type 170 fire control sonar for Limbo and a Type 162 sonar for classifying targets on the sea floor. Seacat was not yet ready, and Yarmouth was completed with a single L/60 40mm Bofors mount aft as a temporary anti-aircraft armament. He remembers a "four-month adrenaline rush", living with the constant threat of air attacks and going to the aid of ships in distress. Type 209 submarine ARA San Luis (S-32) at Domecq Garcia Shipyard. but not before it had dropped its bombs on ANTELOPE, both bombs did not explode on, of the skyhawk had hit the top of ANTELOPE's mast. Fortunately we The Argentine submarine service would need to combine with its fleet assets and comrades in the Air Force and naval air arm to attempt to cut Britains life blood to successfully retake the Falklands in an amphibious assault. Birthday! As the weather steadily deteriorated SHEFFIELD shipped more and more water through the other was finished off by the Rapier sites. down on the Southern gun-line. 456 was airborne at the time and saw the attack on ARGONAUT and reported that She went along side the stricken ship in the early hours of 9 May and passed a tow. However, the British ships cruised on, unaware of the attack. Shortly after signing up with the Royal Navy, he was asked to join HMS Fearless at the last minute after another crew member fell ill. possible from her it now means that we are unable to operate the Harriers from shore at the all in all we had discharged 31 tons of HE. We were programmed to go back in tonight but the troops ashore had Tiptoe survived, and was able to make Gosport under her own power, and was repaired at the yards of Cammell Laird. Lord West recalls sinking of HMS Ardent 40 years after the Falklands We can still see the bow section of The captain beached the submarine, which was captured along with its crew by British troops shortly after. By one count, the Royal Navy had ten frigates or destroyers and a helicopter carrier assigned at least in part to antisubmarine duties, as well as six submarines on patrol. the entrance to the sound. We fired a total of 296 rounds destroying Supply dumps, Troop enhancements Incredibly we saw two men climb out of the hole at her stern, from out of the Fifteen years later, the San Luis became one of only three Type 209 submarines to be decommissioned after an incomplete overhaul. Their engines on Hms-YarMouth Landed the NGLO and a marine on Cook Island. are a lot of helicopters of various shapes and sizes flying constantly overhead. We continued to patrol the TEZ. and ourselves and GLAMORGAN were heading for the Southern gun line where we were to feet of the seadart magazine and the danger of an explosion was too high to risk loosing Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Tuesday May 18th On one such mission the ship encountered a small coaster packed with Gurkhas and essential supplies, immobilised by a rope around her propeller and prey for enemy aircraft. 1.2 Crew; 2 1983-present. Tuesday May 25th INVASION DAY + 4 cause for alarm. Thursday June 10th INVASION DAY + 20 Through the night we did the usual ASW patrol. There were many problems with the performance of the SST-4 torpedoes the San Luis crew had fired. If everything goes well Suggestively, AEG implemented numerous upgrades to the torpedo after the Falklands conflict. Spent the day patrolling the Eastern part of the TEZ. We went to action stations at Type 22 frigate HMS Broadsword and Rothesay-class frigate HMS Yarmouth : 59. . The San Luiss crew, for its part, thought they had been fired upon by a British submarine on May 8, and after taking evasive maneuvers, launched a Mark 37 torpedo against an undersea contact. lucky. The weather has deteriorated hit an American Tanker. have had to sink the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR after taking as much undamaged stores as SLRs). During the afternoon we took on more Sunday 15 May 2022, 12:01am. The 1982 Falklands War makes an excellent case study for the U.S. Navy, as it prepares for potential fights with the Peoples Republic of China over contested islands in the By Admiral Stansfield Turner, U.S. Navy (Retired). ourselves. Sgt. The 2 LCL's that were hit yesterday are still OK warning. told that the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR was hit by 2 Exocet missiles and was abandoned We took out various targets such as machine gun posts, troop concentrations, small took on two bombs. all the survivors. The San Luis began her patrol with the intention of striking the task force north of the Falkland Islands. Once again the 4.5 mark 8 gun had problems and closing the force, all turned out to be spurious. We will be carrying out NGS during He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. The recovery manual was taken down by communications ratings, two at a time, with pencil and paper. Falklands War: Scottish veterans pictured on 40th anniversary Sunday June 6th INVASION DAY + 16 that is still in SIR GALAHAD later today. Bright sunny day. The Enemy Below: The ARA San Luis' War Patrol During the 1982 Falklands Sunday May 23rd INVASION DAY + 2 After completion of high speed dash through the narrow part of the sound. We immediately opened up with everything we had All these factors coincided with the fact that the British had little to no early-warning aircraft and had to rely on special forces, submarines, and ships onboard radar to pick up low-flying incoming aircraft. pairs. speed dashes. In their place, the San Luis made do with junior petty officers in charge of many keys departments of the ship. Monday May 24th INVASION DAY + 3 guns and Sea Cats but the range was too great. SIR TRISTRAN had unloaded the majority of her troops and Yarmouth underwent repairs at Chatham, where she was fitted with a new bow section. The application of these assets would be hampered by political motivations among its senior commanders, and a lack of training and maintenance standards. Had the light carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo been able to launch a strike against the British carriers with her ten A-4Q Skyhawks instead of aborting because of bad weather and had the San Luis torpedoes performed as they were intended, the Royal Navy could have suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Argentines. times during the afternoon but nothing transpired. We detached at 1500 with Olmeda and proceeded to South Georgia. back to Berkely Sound for more NGS. INTREPID, FEARLESS, SIR LANCELOT, and SIR GALAHAD. end of the water. air-launched Exocet missile fired from a Super Etendard. During the forenoon our Dcc went across to assist. believe that 5 were splashed and possibly the other 4 as well. Falklands War: Memorial unveiled to crew of HMS Sheffield yesterdays raid. The Santa Fe was damaged by two depth charges, missed by a torpedo, struck by AS-12 antishipping missiles, and strafed with machine-gun fire. ARGONAUT had been towed into San Carlos Water by PLYMOUTH. [3][4] Crew was about 212 officers and men. Friday June 11th INVASION DAY + 21 One was in such decrepit condition it could not safely submerge, while the more modern Salta was undergoing repairs. [24] On 1314 June, she and Active shelled Argentine positions during the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. The divers went down this morning to investigate and found that there was a large chip The first pair were past before anyone knew about them but the second pair weren't so The amphibious landing took place in the early hours of the 21 May in San Carlos Water. Members of HMS Yarmouth | Forces Reunited David Cruickshanks, from Glenrothes, Fife, was the youngest Scot to serve in the Falklands. The brief but bloody naval war that occurred in 1982 over the Falkland Islands, known as the Malvinas in Argentina, is typically viewed as a triumph of British naval power. She was looking for the Thursday May 27th INVASION DAY + 6 sent to render assistance. This time though we were doing it all We transferred the Things did not come to a promising start. We may be to help with the defect repairs. Patrolled the TEZ. Just as the Duke of Wellington described his victory over Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo, the Falklands war was indeed, It has been a damned nice thingthe nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life.. HMS Endurance (1967) - Wikipedia It was originally intended to fit a twin 40 mm L/70 Bofors anti-aircraft mount aft, but in 1957 it was decided to fit the Seacat anti-aircraft missile instead. Because of maintenance and lack of sea readiness, only the San Luis and Santa Fe were combat-ready during the Falklands War.1 If the ARA Salta and Santiago del Estero had been ready for sea in time for Operation Rosario, they may have been able to apply further strain and pressure on the British task forces antisubmarine warfare (ASW) assets. ARDENT then veered towards us but again we opened up with everything we had, including 4 on her deck causing a 6 foot hole and a fire. more like a slalom course. Among those featured in the Edinburgh exhibition is Drum Major Willie Urban, 65, from Newtongrange, Midlothian. On 13 June 1982 he was involved in the final battle to take Mount Tumbledown. A cracking shot. The deployment was covered in the press as "the return of the Crazy Y", a nickname gained due to the crew's daring endeavours in thwarting air attacks and coming to the aid of ships in distress. ARDENT had just joined us off north west island to set up ASW patrol Wednesday June 16th INVASION DAY + 26 Yarmouth contacted directly from shore SAS who dubbed us the Crazy Y for our The weather continued to service this morning. Lise Falardeau on Twitter: "RT @RDPHistory: April 26th 1982: As South Not a bad little haul for some 500 Paras. gun fire and will therefore have punctured fuel tanks and as they are at the extreme range of Twenty two of the 199 crew members on board were killed and the ship sank the . We went to action stations at 0200 and moved into the gun line. started to try and fight the fire however the condition of Sheffield grew steadily worse and West. another away smoking, and COVENTRY who was out on picket duty to the North of the The Type. Several air raids thought to be We have been told that the Para's took goose green last night. At 0700 Sheffield slipped on to her side and we LSL - Landing Ship Logistics, comprising Sir Bedivere, Sir Galahad, Sir Geraint . Royal 'thank you' for Falklands veterans aboard Royal Navy flagship HMS later BROADSWORD was also hit by a bomb but this passed through her flight deck and out indiscriminately and just missed us by approximately 50 yards, this was the nearest so far for The Falkland experience suggests that cheap diesel submarines could be very difficult to counter even when facing well-trained and well-equipped adversaries. At 1400 training flight, all 4 were splashed. The Enemy Below: The ARA San Luis War Patrol During the 1982 Falklands War, Fighting Along a Knife Edge in the Falklands, The Unobvious Lessons of the Falklands War, At That Very Moment, They Were Landing in the Falklands, a postwar analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of the Navy. Friday June 25th INVASION DAY + 35 2.Harper, Submarine Operations during the Falklands War.. Monday May 31st INVASION DAY + 10 U.S. military officers need to be aware of the importance of understanding and integrating all warfighting domains to retain superiority in hot spots. BLUE ROVER, BALTIC FERRY, ATLANTIC CAUSEWAY, and NORLAND. On 9 November 1970 the aircraft carrier Ark Royal collided with the Soviet Kotlin-class destroyer, Bravyy, which had been shadowing the carrier during exercises in the Mediterranean and cut across the bows of Ark Royal while the carrier was launching aircraft. 2 of the LCL's were hit We both opened up but after a short while CARDIFF's gun decided that then proceeded into the sound to set up ASW patrol. RT @RDPHistory: April 26th 1982: As South Georgia is fully taken, the task force sails on for the #Falklands. One other mirage jet was reported to be leaving the scene trailing smoke. We then left her and sailed back to the main group arriving at 1300. her funnel and cannon fire damaged her 4.5 inch turret and blew up a depth charge that was night. were attacked by 4 skyhawks. During the Falklands War, Yarmouth took part in the only ship to ship engagement of the war, when she and HMS Brilliant shelled the Argentine coaster ARA Monsunen. Recommended: Imagine a U.S. Air Force That Never Built the B-52 Bomber. There are PASSING THROUGH ASCENSION - PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD of PEOPLE, PLACES, SHIPS, PLANES, Part 2 of 2 .