Real war, in terms of order and organization, is remarkably similar to a brothel on fire. The Falklands conflict was no exception - the chain of naval and land battles in the South Atlantic, which raged in May-June 1982, was a good example of what modern military operations look like in practice.
A delusional conflict at the end of the Earth, in which not too wealthy Argentina “butted” with an impoverished Great Britain. The first urgently needed a "small victorious war" and she did not find anything better than to unleash a territorial dispute 150 years ago. The British accepted the challenge and went to defend the honor of the British Empire 12,000 miles from their home shores. The whole world watched with amazement the "dispute between two bald men over a comb."
As often happens, the "victorious little war" turned into a cruel defeat. Argentina turned out to be completely unprepared to conduct any serious military operations. A total of six AM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles, two tanker aircraft and two more or less serviceable SP-2H Neptune early warning aircraft. Fleet - stupid "bits" of the fleets of the leading powers:
- the formidable cruiser "General Belgrano" - the old American cruiser "Phoenix", miraculously escaped death in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. You can't escape fate - 40 years later, "Phoenix" - "Belgrano" was still sunk in the Atlantic.
- super-aircraft carrier "Bentisisco de Mayo" - the former Dutch "Karel Dorman", originally the British aircraft carrier HMS Venerable, launched in 1943;
- destroyers "Ippolito Bouchard" and "Luis Piedrabuena" - former American destroyers of the "Allen M. Sumner" type, also during the Second World War.
Isn't it a dubious force for an attack on a country that from 1588 to the beginning of the 40s of the twentieth century had no equal on the sea?
The Queen's Fleet Goes South
The "Great Victory" of the British Navy cannot be called anything other than an accident: a third of the ships of Her Majesty's squadron were hit by Argentine bombs! Fortunately for the British, Argentinean pilots used rusty American ammunition - after spending thirty years in a warehouse, for some reason they refused to explode.
The small frigate "Plymouth" received 4 "gifts" from the sky, but none of the bombs went off properly.
Destroyer Glasgow - direct hit from a 1000-pound aerial bomb. Having broken through several decks, the dangerous object rolled into the engine room, but … the explosion did not occur.
Frigate Antrim - Direct Hit 1000 lb aerial bombs. The Argentine pilots were again let down by the fuse.
Frigate "Brodsward" - unsuccessfully dropped 500-lb. the bomb ricocheted off the crest of the wave and tore the side of the frigate. It swept like a black shadow through the interior of the ship, destroying flimsy bulkheads and mechanisms on its way, flew onto the flight deck, crushed the helicopter, and … waving goodbye with stubs of stabilizers, fell into the water.
Frigate "Argonaut" - heavy damage from two unexploded bombs. The ship has lost its combat capability.
The British landing was hanging by a thread:
Landing ship Sir Lancelot - on approach to the Falkland Islands, received a direct hit of 1000-lb. aerial bomb. Fortunately for the British, the detonation did not occur - otherwise, the ship, loaded to the brim with marines and equipment, would have turned into a hellish brazier.
The landing ship, "Sir Galahad", could also have died on the way - in the open ocean, the "Sir Galahad" received a terrible blow of 1000-lb. a bomb that once again spared the British
However, the ship could not escape fate: the Argentine Air Force attack aircraft burned "Sir Galahad" during the landing at Bluff Cove. By that time, most of the Marines landed, however, 40 people were burned down with the ship.
The third landing ship, the Sir Tristram, was violently attacked by Argentine aircraft during the Marines' landing at Bluff Cove, leaving 500 lb. bomb. The British sailors and marines threw themselves in horror into the icy water - away from the dangerous "attraction". The "humane" bomb, after waiting for the last sailor to leave the ship, was immediately activated. The Sir Tristram burned for several hours - it’s scary to imagine if there were hundreds of Marines on board at that moment.
By the way, during the raid on Bluff Cove, the Argentines, in addition to two landing ships, managed to seriously damage one of the 200-ton lighters with the British landing (subsequently sank).
In total, according to statistics, 80% of Argentine bombs and missiles that hit Her Majesty's ships did not work in a regular way! It is easy to imagine what would have happened if they all exploded - Glasgow, Plymouth, Argonaut, landing ships - all of them would inevitably perish. Having lost a third of the squadron, Great Britain lost the opportunity to fight on the other side of the earth and lost the Falklands War. Indeed, the British were on the verge of disaster!
But 20% of the detonated ammunition was more than enough to destroy six ships of the British squadron!
- the destroyer "Sheffield" - burned down by an unexploded anti-ship missile "Exocet";
- the destroyer "Coventry" - was killed under the bombs of Argentine attack aircraft;
- frigate "Ardent" - numerous hits of aerial bombs, explosion of ammunition storage;
- frigate "Antilope" - two unexploded bombs, detonation when attempting to clear mines;
- Atlantic Conveyor air transport - simultaneous hit by two Exocet anti-ship missiles;
- the already mentioned landing ship "Sir Galahad" - the damage was so severe that the British had to sink the ship in the Atlantic.
Argentine Air Force, road to victory
It's amazing how the Argentine Air Force was able to inflict such damage with its limited forces. At that time, the Argentines had only six (!) Air-based anti-ship missiles and the same number of their carriers - the newest French-made Super-Etandar fighter-bombers. Moreover, the last sixth "Super-Etandar", who managed to arrive in Argentina before the start of the war, could not take off for a completely banal reason - the absence of part of the avionics.
10 obsolete Canberra bombers purchased from Great Britain in the early 70s from time to time took part in the hostilities - the Argentines achieved only the loss of 2 aircraft, without any success.
Effective use of Argentine Daggers and Mirages proved impossible - the runway in the Falkland Islands was too short for modern supersonic aircraft, and the Argentine Air Force had to operate from airfields on the continent. Due to the lack of an air refueling system on the Daggers and Mirages, they could reach the combat zone with only a minimal bomb load. Combat sorties at the limit of the range did not promise anything good, and the active use of modern fighter-bombers had to be abandoned.
The A-4 Skyhawk subsonic attack aircraft became the key striking force of the Argentine aviation: already initially adapted for long-range combat missions, the old machines turned into a formidable weapon - the overwhelming majority of the British fleet's losses are attributed to them! Argentine pilots had to operate at a distance of hundreds of miles from the coast, to break through at extremely low altitude through rain and snow charges, avoiding encounters with enemy air patrols. The external sling carries a ton of bombs. Ahead is an endless ocean, in the vastness of which a British squadron is hiding. Find and destroy! And on the way back, you must meet an air tanker, otherwise the plane will fall into the cold waters of the Atlantic with empty tanks.
Only the stupidity and carelessness of the British command allowed the Skyhawks to attack ships so brazenly and feel like “kings of the air”. The British went to war, saving even on self-defense anti-aircraft artillery systems (such as "Falanx", AK-630 or "Goalkeeper"). The destroyers and frigates had nothing but imperfect air defense systems, unable to deal with low-flying targets. In the near zone, British sailors had to rely, at best, on a pair of hand-guided Oerlikon cannons, and at worst, firing at low-flying aircraft with rifles and pistols.
The result was predictable - a third of Her Majesty's ships came under missile and bomb attacks and were severely damaged.
In terms of order and organization, the Falkled War was indeed a hell of a mess. An explosive mixture of mistakes, cowardice, negligence, original solutions and unsatisfactory characteristics of military equipment. With a close acquaintance with the episodes of the Falklands Conflict, it seems that the fighting was filmed in the pavilions of Hollywood. The actions of the British and Argentines sometimes look so naive and paradoxical that it is impossible to believe that this could happen in life.
A striking example is the triumphant sinking of the newest destroyer Sheffield
“The newest destroyer“Sheffield”was in fact a small“pelvis”with a displacement of about 4000 tons - now such ships are called frigates. The combat capabilities of the "newest destroyer" were identical to its size: the Sea Dart naval air defense missile system with 22 missiles ammunition, a universal 114 mm gun, an anti-submarine helicopter … that is, perhaps, all that the Sheffield team could count on.
However, even the newest American super-destroyer Zamwalt would not have saved the British sailors. On the fateful morning, while in the combat zone, the commander of the Sheffield ordered to turn off all radars and electronic devices of the ship - so as not to interfere with his conversations on the Skynet satellite communication channel.
The flying missile was visually noticed from the bridge only a second before it hit the destroyer. The Exocet crashed through the side, flew through the galley and collapsed in the engine room. The warhead of the Argentinean missile, as expected, did not explode, but the torch from the rocket engine was enough for the destroyer - the aluminum hull structures flared up, the synthetic decoration of the premises blazed into unbearable heat, the cable sheaths crackled. The tragicomedy ended sadly: "Sheffield" completely burned down and a week later sank while being towed. 20 people from the crew of his team were killed.
Victory was not easy for the Argentines: the aircraft AWACS SP-2H "Neptune", due to the failure of onboard equipment, was only able to establish radar contact with the ships of the British formation from the fifth time - which is not surprising, it was an aircraft of the mid-40s.
By the way, on the 15th day of the war, both Argentinean "Neptunas" were completely out of order, and in the future, naval reconnaissance was carried out in even more sophisticated ways: with the help of a Boeing-707 airliner, an air tanker KS-130 and a business-class aircraft Liarjet 35A.
The sinking of the destroyer "Coventry" looks no less wonderful.
Argentine Skyhawks overtook him 15 miles from Pebble Island - suddenly emerging from behind the rocky cliffs of the island, four stormtroopers unleashed a barrage of free-fall bombs on the destroyer and accompanying frigate Brodsward.
The British formation was covered by carrier-based SeaHarriers, but at the time of the attack, the fighters were withdrawn due to the threat of being hit by anti-aircraft fire from the ships. However, it was not possible to cope on its own - the destroyer's air defense system did not work. "Coventry" tried to drive off enemy aircraft with universal gun fire, but to no avail - the aircraft were already on a combat course. As luck would have it, the Oerlikon anti-aircraft machine gun jammed - as a result, the destroyer's team fired off low-flying aircraft with rifles and pistols.
The frigate got off relatively easily - one of the bombs pierced it through and through from the bottom up (this case was considered a little higher) and did not explode. The destroyer "Coventry" was less fortunate - of the three that hit it, 500-lb. bombs, two exploded - 20 minutes after the attack, the ship capsized and sank.
The Argentines also had a lot of problems that time - of the six planes of the strike group, only four flew to the target. Another dilapidated Skyhawk was unable to carry out the bombing due to the failure of the bomb release mechanism.
The events of the Falklands War were distinguished by a whole range of amazing decisions and army ingenuity.
Having used up the supply of air-based anti-ship "Exocets", the Argentines switched to improvisation. From the old destroyer Segui, local craftsmen removed and reprogrammed two ship-based Exocets - both missiles were airlifted to the Falkland Islands, where they were secretly deployed to the coast in anticipation of British ships. The target designation was issued by the army mobile radar RASIT.
On June 12, 1982, the destroyer Glamorgan came under fire from the shore - the first missile missed, the second struck the upper deck near the helipad and exploded, forming a 5-meter hole. Debris and explosion products penetrated into the helicopter hangar, where at that time there was a fully fueled helicopter. The fire raged for four hours, 14 sailors were killed in the fight against the fire. The next day, with the help of floating workshops, the destroyer managed to regain limited combat capability.
As in any war, it was not without a drop of black humor.
Trying to stop the offensive of Her Majesty's fleet, the Argentines began to use as bombers everything that could fly and bomb, including the military transport aircraft C-130 "Hercules" (analogue of the domestic An-12). On May 29, 1982, the Hercules spotted the lone naval tanker British Way - 500 lb. bombs rolled by hand from the folded down cargo ramp. Despite the absence of any sighting devices, more than half of the ammunition hit the target and, naturally, did not explode.
The bold raids of the C-130 "bomber" ended sadly - two days later the Argentinean "Hercules" was discovered and attacked by the deck "SeaHarrier". However, shooting down a military transport plane turned out to be difficult - the huge Hercules ignored the impact of the AIM-9 Saudwinder missile, continuing to pull towards the coast on the three remaining engines. The pilot of the SeaHarrier, Lieutenant Ward, had to release the entire ammunition load of the cannons - which is 260 rounds - to destroy the Argentine "sea corsair".
The tragicomedy in the South Atlantic lasted 74 days and cost, according to official figures, 907 lives. It is worth recognizing that both warring parties sought to minimize human losses - at the slightest threat, the units preferred not to tempt fate and surrendered. Fortunately, the fighting was conducted over the ocean and over deserted, almost uninhabited islands, which made it possible to exclude civilian casualties - the military solved their problems in a fair fight.
The traditions of the Wehrmacht played a certain role in the undoubted military successes of Argentina - after the end of World War II, South America became a refuge for many German military specialists. And we have to admit that they did not eat their bread in a new place in vain - the training of Argentine officers turned out to be much better than anyone expected.
Alas, despite all the efforts, Argentina lost the Falklands War to smithereens - when 80% of the bombs hitting the target do not explode, one cannot dream of victory. The British fleet turned out to be not an easy adversary - with the help of nuclear submarines, the British drove the Argentine fleet into its bases in a matter of days. The Falkland Islands garrison was isolated, and victory was only a matter of time. The British avenged dearly for the death of their warships - 74 Argentine Air Force planes did not return to the airfields. It is noteworthy that the carrier-based fighters "SeaHarrier" accounted for only 28% of the destroyed Argentine aircraft, the rest of the machines were chalked up to the SAM and anti-aircraft artillery of Her Majesty's ships.
