… The announcement of the start of the attack was not very impressive at first. Plymouth had been in the combat zone for the third week already, and the next meeting with the enemy was now perceived as a natural course of events.
The main thing is that the baby is not alone today. Abeam Plymouth is the modern anti-aircraft destroyer Sheffield, and a little further, invisible behind a veil of fog, the Yarmouth, another frigate of the leading British detachment, moved to the southern tip of the Falklands, rolls over on the waves.
- Reporting radar post "Type 993", two high-speed targets from a southerly direction, distance 10, altitude 150 feet.
An anxious look from the bridge in the indicated direction - there is nothing there, only a whitish veil of spray and slanting streams of rain …
- It is necessary to check. Contact Sheffield. The weather today is clearly not flying, the storm is 7, horizontal visibility is less than 800 yards.
“Sir, Shaffield is not responding. The targets go straight for us, the flight time is less than 1 minute.
- Damn it! Are they deaf there? Well, we'll have to act on our own.
… The frigate tilted sharply to one side, crushing the crests of the waves with its high side - the sailors managed to turn the Plymouth stern towards the flying missiles, minimizing its projection area as much as possible. The Corvus launchers rumbled like a drumbeat, coloring the air with fireworks of passive interference - the frigate disappeared from the missiles in a saving cloud of dipole reflectors.
The first Argentine Exocet whizzed past and disappeared in the middle of the raging ocean. But the second rocket …
“Sir, Sheffield is on fire!
Fortune sometimes gives too much, but never enough
The British frigate HMS Plymouth became one of the most efficient and successful ships in the 1982 Falklands War. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities, the most suitable place for "Plymouth" was service in the "second line" - a quiet post "colonial cruiser" somewhere in the West Indies. But life decreed otherwise: the outdated frigate had fierce naval battles on the edge of the Earth. Not at all hoping for success, the British equipped this "tub" for the campaign only because of the extreme scarcity of Her Majesty's fleet - anyone who was able to hold a weapon was sent to the South Atlantic.
The result is a naval curiosity:
The tiny obsolete frigate demonstrated miracles of versatility and effective use, smashing targets on the ground, at sea and in the air, providing combined arms and naval operations, repeatedly serving as a fire support, "evacuator" and rescue ship for its less fortunate colleagues. He planted "pinpoint" assault forces, was used to transport special forces groups.
At the same time, every time trying to destroy it, "Plymouth" desperately resisted, and, despite all Argentine efforts to send this miracle to the bottom, the frigate returned from the war without losing a single sailor from its crew. He was successfully overhauled, and after another six years he served in various parts of the world as a "British colonial cruiser".
The chronicle of the frigate's combat use is worthy of an entire aircraft carrier formation.
Her Majesty's frigate "Plymouth":
a) one of the first to arrive in the combat zone, at a distance of 12,000 km from the shores of Foggy Albion;
b) took part in the destruction of the Argentine submarine "Santa Fe";
c) deftly dodged the Exocet anti-ship missile launched at him;
d) with the help of his 4, 5 'inch cannon, he "hollowed out" the Argentine positions in the Falklands and the island of South Georgia, firing over 900 shells of 114 mm caliber.
e) claims to destroy two "Daggers" of the Argentine Air Force (according to British sources, the declared number of aircraft shot down by the frigate reaches five units);
In the end, the award found its hero - on June 8, 1982, Plymouth came under a massive attack from Argentine aviation. Wanting to absolve the frigate of all its sins, the Argentine Air Force pilots planted four 500-pound "gifts" in it - BUT, None of the bombs stuck in the Plymouth hull exploded!
As if spellbound, the frigate patched up its wounds and continued its missions in the South Atlantic.
Kismet, as the English say. Rock. Lot. Fortune.
Plymouth was definitely a favorite of fate. A 34,000-mile hike across the Atlantic, two months in a war zone in the "Furious Fifties", daily attacks and battle damage threatening shipwreck - how many of today's naval units can withstand this? However, even in a situation when much larger and more advanced ships perished around in batches, the old frigate remained calm and continued to perform its tasks, despite its small size, archaic design and lack of suitable weapons.
Stories like these are the adornments of any Navy. The legendary Russian brig "Mercury", the British minesweeper "Bengal" and, finally, "Plymouth" … Desperate courage, professionalism and a drop of luck - sometimes it gives absolutely incredible results.
Technical reference
HMS Plymouth is one of 14 Rothesay-class frigates designed to provide escort missions, anti-submarine defense of convoys and formations of warships in the coastal zone, in the open sea areas and in the vast oceans. In addition to the Royal Navy of Great Britain, frigates of the "Rothesay" type were operated by the Navy of South Africa and New Zealand.
Full displacement - up to 2800 tons;
Crew - from 152 (draft) to 235 (after modernization);
Power plant: 2 boilers, 2 steam turbines with a total capacity of 30,000 hp.
Full speed - 28 knots;
The frigate's fuel tanks with a capacity of 400 tons of fuel oil provided a cruising range of 5200 miles at an economic speed of 12 knots;
Armament:
- a universal paired Mark VI naval gun of 114 mm caliber;
- 2 anti-submarine bombs Limbo (caliber 400 mm, firing range up to 900 m)
- small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery: 40 mm Bofors installation or several 20 mm Oerlikon assault rifles;
- anti-submarine / multipurpose helicopter "Wasp", aft landing pad, hangar.
In the foreground is the Limbo triple-barreled bomb launcher and the Wasp light helicopter. A strange, toy-like structure sticking out in the rear of the superstructure is nothing more than the Sea Cat air defense system
The modernization carried out in the late 1970s involved the dismantling of one of the Limbo installations - instead of the frigate, the Sea Cat naval air defense system and modern fire control systems were installed. Also, for self-defense of the ship from the newest means of destruction - Soviet anti-ship missiles, two 8-barreled installations "Nebworth / Corvus" were mounted on the frigate for setting clouds of passive interference.
The 12 533 mm torpedoes planned for the project were never installed in reality.
The Plymouth itself was laid down in 1958, launched in 1959 and admitted to the British Naval Forces in early 1961.
Even a cursory glance at the characteristics of the Plymouth is enough to admit that by the beginning of the 1980s the ship was completely outdated and worthless. Particularly embarrassing is the air defense, which consisted of the Sea Cat air defense system, a paired universal gun and a pair of Oerlikons from the Second World War.
At the same time, as expected, the firing sector of the 114 mm Mark VI gun was limited to the nose angles. And the "formidable" anti-aircraft missile system "Sea Cat" was inferior in its capabilities even to the "Stinger" MANPADS - at "Stinger" at least the speed of the rocket was 2 times higher than the speed of sound, while the British miracle "Sea Cat" fired subsonic (!) SAM.
Considering all of the above, the frigate "Plymouth" was completely defenseless when attacked from the air.
In its "main specialty" - providing anti-submarine defense, "Plymouth" looked no less weak - there is no need to consider the Limbo three-gun mortar as an effective anti-submarine weapon at the beginning of the 1980s. There are no missile torpedoes, and there are no homing anti-submarine torpedoes in its arsenal either. The only intelligible means - a light helicopter "Wasp", however, expect from this "dragonfly" with a max. with a takeoff weight of 2.5 tons, there were no feats either.
Anti-ship cruise missiles? Automatic anti-aircraft guns with radar guidance? Any serious constructive protection? None of this was on the Plymouth. British sailors seriously risked their lives, going on this "bucket" in the thick of the battles.
Combat use statistics
Having gone on a campaign as part of the forward formation, "Plymouth" was ahead of the main forces of Task Force 317 by at least ten days, arriving in the combat area already in the twenties of April 1982. The frigate wasted no time and, together with the icebreaker and destroyer Entrim, he immediately got involved in the "cleanup" and return to British control of the island of South Georgia (a tiny piece of land in the open ocean, east of the Falkland Archipelago).
No hot fighting in that region was planned - each side had a modest amount of forces, so the matter was limited to the transfer of special forces groups by helicopters and a short shelling of the Yuzh coast. George, after which the Argentine garrison of one and a half hundred people threw out a white flag.
Garrison Commander Captain de Corbeta Alfredo Astitz signs the Act of Surrender in the wardroom of the frigate Plymouth
During a short skirmish at Yuzh. George, the British managed to capture (destroy) the only Argentine ship in that square - the Santa Fe submarine used to deliver reinforcements. The Plymouth also took part in the attack - a helicopter sent on a mission shot the Santa Fe with small AS-12 anti-ship missiles, finally damaging the boat and forcing it to surrender. However, the boat was old - "Balao" of American construction, during the Second World War, moreover, it was in a terrible technical condition and lost the ability to dive. However, the Argentine Navy suffered their first loss. The warm-up for Plymouth was a success.
Having resolved the issue with South Georgia, the frigate moved 500 miles to the west, to the Falkland Islands - where the real hostilities began. The new area of combat maneuvering was located in the zone of action of the Argentine aviation, and every British ship was at risk of being hit from the air every minute. And so it happened - on May 4, 1982, the British radar patrol got acquainted with the Argentine "wunderwaffe" - supersonic missile carriers "Super Etandar", armed with anti-ship missiles AM39 Exocet.
Small "Plymouth" detected the threat in time and safely hid under the "umbrella" of dipole reflectors. The professionalism of the British team + a drop of luck worked. Unlike the air defense destroyer Sheffield, whose commander hoped for bad weather and turned off the search radar (the operating radar interfered with satellite communication channels). As a result, Sheffield was burned up by an unexploded missile, the crew lost 20 people killed and the name of the destroyer is forever included in the list of naval curiosities.
As for the miraculously escaped Plymouth, the only one whose actions in the current situation were correct … there was not a word about it in the press, because the ship received no combat damage, the crew was intact … there was no sensation here.
Fortunately for the Plymouth crew, the frigate did not have a chance to meet with the AM39 Exocet. The enemy was seen only briefly - the dark shadows of Argentine planes rushing over the water itself.
… "Ardent", "Antilope", "Coventry", "Broadsward", "Entrim", "Glasgow", "Sir Galahad", "Sir Lancelot", "Atlantic Conveyor" … "cardboard" ships of the British, one after another turned into blazing ruins, by the end of May Her Majesty's squadron thinned by a third.
Plymouth is shelling Argentine positions
Amazingly, the little Plymouth was still unharmed. Anti-aircraft gunners regularly repelled attacks by Argentine aviation, alas, all Argentine aircraft flew past, as did the released anti-aircraft missiles of the Sea Cat complex … Post-war studies showed that none of the losses of the Argentine Air Force can be reliably attributed to Plymouth - it seems that all the missiles released went into "milk" or their combat units worked at too great a distance to inflict fatal damage on the enemy. However, what else to expect from the Sea Cat air defense system with subsonic missiles and manual missile guidance at the target?
On May 21, Plymouth evacuated Her Majesty's frigate Argonaut - this unlucky ship received two unexploded bombs from the sky. With exploded boilers, a broken radar antenna and a fire in the cellar of anti-aircraft ammunition, the "Argonaut" completely lost its combat capability and owes its salvation only to the timely arrival of the "Plymouth". The sailors from the Plymouth helped to bring down the flames and literally pulled the damaged Argonaut out from under enemy attacks.
Two weeks later, the same fate will befall the Plymouth itself - four unexploded bombs! Hmm … looks like fate has a good sense of humor.
Despite the failed fuses, the bombs caused serious damage, and depth charges detonated aft and a serious fire broke out. However, the crew of "Plymouth" and this time managed to cope with the troubles without losing a single person.
July 14, 1982 "Plymouth" under its own power returned to the metropolis, leaving 34,000 nautical miles astern.
The old frigate was finally decommissioned only in 1988. "Plymouth" stood for 16 years as an exhibit on the Clyde River (Glasgow), until another cut in the military budget raised a question mark in its future fate. In 2012, there was information about the sale of Plymouth for scrapping, an Argentine name flashed among potential buyers … The fate of the legendary ship could have an enchanting ending - the Argentines, having spent so much effort on destroying the elusive frigate, could finally complete what they had begun by dismantling the rusty Plymouth on nails. However, according to the latest data, Turkey will nevertheless become the buyer of the "Falkland veteran".
Combat damage
"Rusty bucket". HMS Plymouth today
