The undoubted positive factor of the Falklands War was the absence of civilian casualties.
The knightly duels of pilots and sailors were fought in an uninhabited environment. Smoke drifted, flashes of traps blossomed, traces of fired missiles melted. Sheffield and Coventry burned, and the fiery debris of Skyhawks fell.
Only silent rocks and heavy bursts of waves became witnesses of those battles.
The level of violence was an order of magnitude lower than in ordinary conflicts. No executions or war crimes. The British strictly observed the requirements of the Geneva Convention in relation to prisoners of war. The Argentine pilots immediately canceled the attack, identifying the hospital ship as their target.
This is such an unusual war. A one-of-a-kind maritime conflict since the end of WWII.
Technosphere of war
Replicas of warships against aircraft from the 1950s.
The only reason for the victory was the even weaker preparation of the Argentines. When 80% of bombs fail with fuses, there is nothing to hope for.
And yet the bombs flew and hit the target. Over 20 British ships had broken decks and sides (many more than once). This meant that the task of providing the air defense of the squadron was completely failed.
The main question is: which of the possible measures could provide the best protection against air strikes? Within the limits of the budget and funds available to the British.
According to one version, it was impossible to provide reliable air defense of the squadron with the help of air defense systems alone. Even if each of the frigates had modern anti-aircraft weapons (potentially available to the British), the end result would be the same.
This is evidenced by the statistics of losses of the Argentine Air Force, and tactics, and specific examples of the use of anti-aircraft weapons.
Three weeks of active hostilities at sea and in the air, when the Argentines tried to prevent the landing of British troops in the Falklands. In the decisive period from May 1 to May 25, anti-aircraft weapons of the ships shot down only … 8 Argentine attack aircraft.
3 victories - on the account of the Sea Wolfe air defense system.
2 victories - on the account of the Sea Dart air defense system.
1 victory - on the account of the "Sea Cat" air defense system.
1 victory - on the account of anti-aircraft guns of the frigate "Antilope".
Another plane crashed into the water, trying to evade the fired anti-aircraft missiles, which eventually shot down his comrades.
Of course, there were few cases when “Daggers” and “Skyhawks” found a target and tried to attack ships - less than three dozen episodes.
And only 8 shot down planes.
The results of the work of the ship's anti-aircraft weapons look disappointing. But is it really that bad?
In my opinion, the statement about the low efficiency of the air defense system is not true. Those who claim this are ignorant or unfamiliar with a number of little-known circumstances.
Without these factors, the event system cannot be considered complete. And any calculations give a fundamentally wrong result
To begin with, Admiral Woodward had only three modern destroyers and two frigates that could resist the Argentine air force.
After a couple of days, the number of destroyers was reduced to exactly two (Glasgow and Coventry). The third valuable figure, Sheffield, was lost due to criminal negligence at the very beginning of the war (May 4, 1982).
Instead of “Sheffield”, “Exeter” was sent to the Falklands, which was at that moment in Jamaica. Those.while the decision was made, while all the necessary preparations were made, while Exeter crossed the ocean with a call on the island. Ascension, while the defect of the chimney was eliminated (according to the crew's recollections, it distorted the radar radiation, and this was recalled at the very last moment). A lot of time has passed.
Equipped with the latest Type 1022, 992Q, 1006 radars, Exeter was superior to any of Admiral Woodward's destroyers, especially in detecting and countering low-flying targets.
In practice, this meant two downed Skyhawk attack aircraft in one attack (May 30), while both targets flew below the working boundary of the Sea Dart air defense missile system (30 meters). Great result.
But it's too late. The spectacular destruction of a pair of Skyhawks, coupled with the Lairjet scout (June 7), does not relate to the events from May 1 to 25, when the British squadron broke through to the islands.
As for the other pair of modern destroyers, they arrived even later, as part of the Bristol group. The flagship is the Type 82 Bristol destroyer, the Cardiff air defense destroyer and five frigates, incl. so important and necessary "Andromeda" (which will be discussed separately).
All these ships entered the war zone after May 25when the intensity of air attacks dropped sharply, and the actions of the Argentine Air Force could no longer affect the outcome of hostilities.
* * *
Why did the Falkland formation include only three modern destroyers out of nine in the Royal Navy? At the same time, not a single Type 42 destroyer of the second sub-series, with new radars that increased the effectiveness of firing at low-flying targets.
70% of the fleet was under repair? Yes now.
As soon as the order was received, Exeter rushed into the combat zone, and at the same time the modern destroyers of the Bristol group.
A couple of days after the start of the conflict, 5 British submarines (out of 11) were already rushing to the South Atlantic. The nuclear powered ships arrived at the islands, two or three weeks ahead of the main forces of the squadron!
There is an obvious underestimation of the enemy and the unwillingness of admirals to risk modern surface ships.
Initially, Woodward's formation was staffed mainly by outdated or notoriously "discounted" low-rank ships.
Conditionally combat-ready destroyers of the "County" type. A pair of rusty Rotsey-class frigates (at that time the oldest in the entire fleet). The frigate of the "Linder" class, which has not undergone a deep modernization. And five Type 21 ships with predominantly artillery weapons.
I don’t know if there was a grim calculation. The obvious comes to mind: the Admiralty hoped that the capabilities of these ships would be sufficient to counter the Argentine Air Force. And if they suddenly drown, then it's not a pity.
In terms of air defense, they all corresponded to the era of World War II, which allowed jet aircraft to bomb and shoot ships with impunity.
Eight out of ten frigates were equipped with the Sea Cat air defense system, a parody of anti-aircraft missiles. SAM had a subsonic speed of 0.8M, which gave the jet "Skyhawks" the ability to: a) make an anti-missile maneuver; b) fly away from the missile, since the Sea Cat's firing range did not exceed 5 km.
Of the 80 Sea Cat launches, only one missile reached its target.
The only hope remained the long-range Sea Dart (equipped with 2 destroyers) and the Sea Wolf short-range anti-aircraft complex aboard the Brilliant and Broadsward frigates.
The third carrier of the Sea Wolf, the Battlax frigate, did not reach the Falklands due to problems with the propeller shafts.
But there was also a fourth carrier.
Andromeda
Upgraded frigate of the "Linder" type, equipped with cruise missiles and new generation air defense systems.
Unfortunately for the British, this ship was part of the Bristol group and did not have time to take part in the database.
SAM "Sea Wolf" was the complete opposite of the outdated "Sea Cat". Two-channel, fully automated, with supersonic missiles (Mach 2), during exercises, it could shoot down low-altitude targets the size of a soccer ball.
In combat conditions, its effectiveness was expectedly lower, but remained at a decent 40%.
In other words, if the Sea Wolfe anti-aircraft system was installed on the rest of the galoshes of Admiral Woodward's frigates (instead of the outdated and incapacitated Sea Cat), then:
80 missiles fired with an efficiency of 40% gives reason to hope for about 30 downed attack aircraft. Incidentally, this is one and a half times more than the Sea Harrier fighters destroyed. With significantly lower financial costs.
The seven to eight additional Sea Wolves in the spring of 1982 is neither a fantasy nor a dream. All these are foolishly lost opportunities. Associated with the sluggishness of thinking of admirals, who preferred the construction of non-aircraft carriers to a simple modernization of air defense frigates and destroyers.
As of April-May 1982, the Royal Navy had 4 frigates equipped with Sea Wolfe air defense systems, three of which were even able to reach the combat zone.
Further more.
Just a couple of weeks after the end of the war, two air defense frigates were introduced to the British fleet at once - the new Braisen (type 22) and the modernized Charybdis (type Linder).
The British, frightened by the results of the air attacks, completed these ships ahead of schedule, and, after an accelerated test cycle, sent them to patrol the Falklands. Wave your fists after a fight.
In total, five Linders were modernized (1978-84). The work could have been completed faster, if not for a long and senseless debate over the allocation of funds.
The modernization of the first ships began in 1978. This means that fears that the newest Sea Wolf, which was officially adopted only in 1979, could not appear en masse in the Navy, look frivolous.
Mass character is a relative concept. We are talking only about 8 additional frigates.
Where can I get the necessary funds?
Gallery of facts
The cost of building the aircraft carrier "Invincible" was 184 million lbs. Art.
The cost of a large-scale modernization of the frigate Linder is 60 million. With the overhaul, replacement of radars and sonar, the installation of anti-ship missiles and the Sea Wolf air defense system.
To ensure the combat operation of the aircraft carrier, another ten to twenty VTOL fighters (several million lb. per unit) are required, and the crew of the aircraft carrier outnumbered the crew of the frigate by 4 times.
Conclusions, as they say, do it yourself.
There was also an even simpler and cheaper way of enhancing air defense. The project received the designation Lightweight Sea Wolf, the essence was the modernization of the 4-charge launcher of the Sea Cat air defense system for firing Sea Wolf missiles. With the appropriate update of the radar and the "electronic filling" of the frigates.
But the admiralty attached importance to things, to put it mildly, strange. Instead of efforts to upgrade air defense, priority was given to projects that have little to do with the war, but, undoubtedly, outwardly attractive.
And it doesn't matter that the rest of the fleet went naked with them. And for this reason, it is not suitable not only for participation in a global war, but even for a conflict with backward Argentina.
The bet on light aircraft carriers did not materialize. Large, but stupid ships "gobbled up" a fair share of the budget, showing that they are unable to prove themselves even in the fight against an aviation group equipped with aircraft developed in the 1950s.
Moreover, they also demanded the diversion of solid forces to cover them.
The aircraft carriers were at a great distance from the amphibious forces, and with them remained two Type 42 destroyers (Glasgow and Coventry), a County-class destroyer (Glamorgan) and two Type 21 frigates (Arrow and Alacrity)).
Cold calculation
In the conditions of the Falklands, the best results could be demonstrated by naval air defense systems, if the British were at least somewhat serious about this problem.
Why rush to sell two newest destroyers for export, when such ships themselves have only a few pieces? And sold to whom? Who does not know will laugh - Argentina. As a result, in order to distinguish “friends” from the Argentine “Santisima Trinidad” and “Ercules”, black stripes on the sides of the destroyers had to be painted.
The main thing was that there were not enough ships with modern air defense systems. The modernized "Linder" ("Andromeda"), the Lightweight Sea Wulf project, if there was absolutely no time left, to equip a couple of frigates with the American Sea Sparrow (freely supplied to all NATO countries). Which, despite its shortcomings, looked far more decent than the useless Sea Cat air defense systems.
It is interesting that immediately after the end of the war, in the summer of 1982, Britain bought a batch of Falanx automatic anti-aircraft guns from the United States. Only a couple of such systems in a combat zone could save more than one ship.
