… "Vanguard" ripped open the ocean, leaving behind thousands of fiery miles of military campaign. The battleship did not rise on the wave, as ordinary ships do. He, like a knight's sword, cut the water rolls, filling the air with an impenetrable curtain of spray and shreds of sea foam.
Abeam the left side, the air defense destroyer Bristol was rolling over on the waves. The silhouette of the Coventry was visible to starboard. The missile frigate "Brilliant" followed in the wake of the battleship. Somewhere off to the side, invisible behind a veil of fog, another ship of the British vanguard, the destroyer Entrim, was moving.
"Battleship Battle Group" (strike force, led by a battleship) for the fifth day plied the ocean in the combat zone, repelling sluggish attacks from the Argentine Air Force. As a result of another raid, one of the escort's destroyers, Sheffield, was lost. The "Vanguard" itself suffered - on the roof of tower "A" the pothole was darkened from being hit by a 500-lb. bombs Mk.82. On the starboard side, in the area of the armored belt, there was a furrow of peeling paint - a consequence of the ricochet of the AM.38 Exocet anti-ship missile. Another 1000-pounder struck the deck aft of the battleship, creating a hole about 2 meters in diameter. The explosion caused a swelling of the deck flooring, several adjacent bulkheads were destroyed. The radars and the aft rangefinder post were damaged by the fire of 30 mm aircraft cannons. Fortunately, the losses among the crew were small - less than 10 people. Krupp's magnificent cemented armor reliably protected the ship from any means of air attack.
Vanguard's booking scheme. Tell him about modern anti-ship missiles
Despite numerous attempts to destroy the Vanguard, its combat capability remained the same: movement, power supply, main caliber - their functionality was preserved in full. There was no damage in the underwater part - no prerequisites for flooding and loss of the ship. The failure of the rangefinders and radar station could have been fatal during the Second World War, but in 1982 it did not matter at all. Sea battles were not foreseen. The main and only task of the battleship was shelling large area targets - air bases, warehouses, garrisons on the enemy coast. Target designation was issued on the basis of aerial photography data and images from space; the fire was corrected with the help of multipurpose helicopters placed on board the escort destroyers.
The Skynet satellite communications system provided round-the-clock communication with London from anywhere in the Atlantic. All communication is protected. Numerous antenna devices are dispersed along the walls and roof of the superstructure. Walkie-talkies, satellite phones and ship radio posts are hidden inside, under a thick layer of armor.
The Argentine pilots had no bombs over 1,000 lb. (454 kg). And what was - the usual "Fugasks" (General Purpose, Mk.80), which, in view of the presence of the British naval air defense systems, have to be dropped from extremely low altitudes. The bombs did not have time to gain the necessary kinetic energy and hit the ship tangentially - they did not have a single chance to penetrate the Vanguard's armored deck.
Plastic anti-ship missiles "Exocet" only made fun of the old battleship - when hit against 35-centimeter armor, their warheads crumbled into powder, only scratching the paint on the powerful board. And at meeting angles over 45 °, an inevitable ricochet followed from the normal.
The only one that could pose a threat is the Argentine diesel-electric submarine ARA San Luis. However, she was not at her best. condition and was not able to attack such a fast and well-guarded unit.
The Argentines did not have the means to resist the old battleship. In the conditions of the Falklands conflict, the Vanguard proved to be an absolutely unstoppable and indestructible combat unit, capable of practically single-handedly solving most of the pressing problems and ensuring a safe landing on the Falklands.
The first to be hit by the battleship's guns was the Rio Grande, a large air base on Terra del Fuego (Tierra del Fuego), the closest and main base of Argentine aviation in the Falklands conflict. One of the features of the Rio Grande was its location - runway 07/25 was located just 2 kilometers from the Atlantic coast. While the maximum firing range of the Vanguard's guns exceeded 30 kilometers!
The battleship's standard ammunition load is 100 rounds for each main battery (381 mm) and 391 rounds for each "universal" caliber (133 mm, maximum firing range 22 km).
The explosion of one 862-kg high-explosive fragmentation projectile gave a 15-meter crater up to 6 meters deep. The blast wave tore leaves from trees within a radius of 400 yards (360 meters) - it's easy to imagine what the Rio Grande AFB has become after the British strike!
Mayhem on Tierra del Fuego
… Argentine Air Force aircraft found the battleship off the southern tip of the Falklands on the evening of May 3, 1982. At first, they did not attach much importance to this - the headquarters considered that the British were just providing a naval blockade of the islands. The next morning, a combat mission was planned - all night the technicians prepared the Skyhawks, Daggers and Super Etendars for flight, refueled the vehicles and hung up the ammunition. However, things didn't go according to plan.
At 4:30 in the morning, the pilot of the reconnaissance "Lairjet", barely taking the plane off the runway, shouted in fright into the air: “Group of six ships! Right on the shore, heading E."
"Diablos" - just had time to add an Argentine pilot, when a missile fired from one of the British destroyers hit the wing of the Lairjet.
The Argentines could not believe the reality of what was happening - overnight, the battleship and its escort quickly moved out of the Falklands area towards the Argentine coast. The entire journey at a speed of 25 knots took less than 13 hours.
The strike on Argentine territory meant additional foreign policy complications, but Miss Thatcher confidently gave a "good". The war flares up every day, there is nowhere to wait for help. The USA and NATO countries will support any decision of the Anglo-Saxons. The Warsaw bloc will undoubtedly condemn the British aggression … However, the Soviets will blame Britain anyway. Latin America as a whole is on Argentina's side, but their political statements have no real force. Don't give a damn about all the conventions! Full speed ahead! Let the battleship shoot at the military base, as far as possible without touching the nearby village of Rio Grande.
Argentine amigos felt completely safe. The planes were parked in open areas, without reinforced concrete shelters and caponiers - an ideal target in case of shelling
As soon as the first Dagger began to taxi for takeoff, something crashed and exploded on the right side of the airfield - the battleship fired the first sighting salvo at the enemy … In total, Vanguard made 9 full volleys (8 rounds each), 38 volleys of 4 and 2 rounds, and also fired 600 universal caliber rounds, turning the Argentine base into a lunar landscape.
Already on the way back, the Vanguard compound came under attack from planes from the Rio Galleros and Komodoro Rivadavia. As a result of the raids, the Sheffield was sunk, an unexploded 1000-pounder was stuck in the Entrim hull, and the Vanguard itself was slightly damaged. 10 hours later, the British formation went beyond the range of the Argentine military aircraft, going to a rendezvous with a tanker.
Having replenished the supply of fuel, the ships began to carry out the next mission - this time, the Vanguard was to bombard important targets in the Falkland Islands.
On the approach to Port Stanley from the battleship, they noticed a standing transport, along which several volleys were immediately fired, causing fires from bow to stern. After disabling the runway of the Port Stanley airfield, the battleship fired at designated targets at night and all the next day: the positions of the Argentine garrison, air defense objects, a radio station, a radar installation, a "jump" airfield on the island. Pebble …
Rare Argentine air raids from remote bases could no longer rectify the situation. Frightened by the battleship's shots, the Argentine muchachos left their positions and scattered to the sides in horror. On the crater-covered Pebble Island, the wreckage of the Pukar and the light stormtroopers of the Airmacchi was smoking. The entire stock of fuels and lubricants, ammunition were destroyed, anti-aircraft batteries were suppressed …
And this time, transports with expeditionary units of the British army were approaching the coast of the occupied islands!
The last battleship of the Empire. "Vanguard" was laid down in 1941, but it was completed after the war (1946) - as a result, the design of the battleship combined the latest technologies (20 radars, the Mk. X and Mk.37 FCS - about the appearance of such means in 1941. did not even dream), as well as some of those. solutions, the usefulness of which was revealed during the war years (additional protection of ammunition cellars, the absence of a super-protected conning tower, special security measures in reloading rooms). At the same time, the battleship was laid down in a great haste and was completed in the era of the collapse of the Empire - in conditions of austerity. As a result, it combined a number of notoriously outdated solutions. Instead of developing new guns, they installed old turrets with 15 '' cannons, which had been rusting in the warehouse since the 1920s.
How it was in reality
As the reader has already guessed, the battleship Vanguard did not take part in the Falklands War. The last of the British battleships, HMS Vanguard, was dropped from the fleet in 1960 and scraped into metal a couple of years later. After 22 years, the British will greatly regret their premature decision.
In order to avoid accusations of non-conformist thinking and a penchant for "alternative history", I would like to note that the idea of using Vanguard in the Falklands War is supported by the famous writer and historian of the navy, Alexander Bolnyh:
The British bit their elbows, because they sent the battleship Vanguard for scrap, because with its help they could complete the battles on the islands in a matter of days.
- A. G. Sick "XX century of the fleet. The tragedy of fatal mistakes"
All numbers, dates, place names and ships listed in the first chapter are real. The facts and description of the "combat use" of the battleship "Vanguard" are taken from the history of the Second World War (specifically, there are excerpts from the combat path of the battleships "Massachusetts" and "North Caroline").
The idea of BBBG - "battleship of battle groups" - is nothing more than the official concept of the combat use of the Iowa battleships developed in the 1980s (as you know, American battleships have undergone modernization and have survived to this day; they were last used in 1991. during the Gulf War). A typical BBBG consisted of a battleship, missile cruiser Ticonderoga (AA), multipurpose destroyer Spruance, three Oliver H. Perry-class missile frigates, and a fast supply ship.
1986 year. The battleship "New Jersey" is surrounded by its escort and ships of the allies. Ahead of all - nuclear missile cruiser "Long Beach"
An Iowa-class battleship that underwent intensive modernization in the early 80s. The Americans retained a full set of main battery artillery and half of the universal anti-aircraft guns. At the same time, the ship was armed with modern weapons: 32 Tomahawk SLCMs, 16 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 4 Falanx anti-aircraft complexes.
It is curious what kind of weapon a "Vanguard" modernized on the same principle could carry? Four automatic anti-aircraft guns? A pair of Sea Wolfe air defense systems?
The purpose of this story is to discuss the possibility of using highly protected artillery ships in the "ship against shore" format. The Falklands became the clearest example of when the need arose for such ships.
Perhaps some of you will laugh at the phrase about "absolutely unstoppable and indestructible battleship." There is opposition for every action! However, in the conditions of conducting hostilities against a not too prepared, but at the same time - far from the weakest enemy (Argentina model 1982), an elderly battleship could become an invincible weapon capable of deciding the outcome of the war in the shortest possible time.
Alas, the Britons decommissioned their Vanguard in 1960.
Due to the lack of a powerful, perfectly protected battleship, Her Majesty's fleet had to deal with various "nonsense":
- to release 14,000 shells from 4, 5 "universal" pukalok "(there was no artillery with a caliber of over 114 mm on the British ships);
- to land troops from helicopters to eliminate the airfield on the island. Pebble;
- constantly chase VTOL fighters "Harrier" and "Sea Harrier" to suppress points of resistance and fire support of the advancing landing.
The Royal Air Force had to conduct six not very successful raids using strategic aviation - with the hope to disable the radar and runway at Port Stanley airfield (series of operations "Black Deer"). The decrepit Avro "Vulcan" operated in extreme conditions, at a maximum range of over 6,000 km. However, the result of their "work" also does not cause delight: the Port Stanley airfield continued to operate until the end of the war. "Hercules" constantly arrived here with ammunition, food, medicine - in general, everything necessary for the continuation of hostilities. Argentine transport aircraft were even able to deliver anti-ship missiles to the island - on June 12, 1982, they were used to disable the British destroyer Glamorgan.
Her Majesty's destroyer HMS Glasgow (D88)
The bloody fuss dragged on for two months. During this time, several hundred people died on both sides. Argentine aviation bombed a third of the British squadron (luckily for the Britons, 80% of the bombs did not explode). The British were on the verge of failure. So close that the destruction of the Rio Grande airbase was seriously discussed. Alas, in this case, the desires clearly did not coincide with the capabilities: the British fleet did not have the means to carry out such an operation. The crews of submarines patrolling off the coast of Tierra del Fuego, only powerlessly clenched their fists, watching through the periscope the next group of Argentine Air Force planes take off. All they could do was raise the antenna and warn the main forces of the fleet of an imminent enemy attack.
All these troubles could have been avoided if a battleship was part of the British formation.
Shot! Shot! Recharge. Shot!
The Vanguard is firing at the Tierra del Fuego base. Not a single plane managed to take off before a volley of heavy shells fell across the airfield, completely paralyzing its work. The destructive impact of a "pig" from a battleship is tantamount to a 2000-pound bomb dropped from a height of 8 kilometers!
A new volley that shook the surface of the ocean. On the shore, something jerked violently: the flash of the explosion was momentarily reflected in the low clouds, illuminating the coast with an alarming orange light. Obviously, the shell hit the base's fuel storage or arsenal. We continue in the same spirit!
All eight anti-aircraft guns on the left side rumbled, pouring a shower of hot metal on the enemy. The roar became stronger and more persistent, turning into a ringing noise …
Admiral Woodward opened his eyes and suddenly realized that a telephone was popping and bursting over his ear. Leaning his wet back against the bulkhead in the admiral's cabin of the Hermes, he felt apathy and faintness - instead of a happy dream, there was a terrible reality around him. There is no battleship. But there are 80 pelvis that are drowned by unexploded missiles. And on them there are thousands of sailors who trust their admiral. And he? He does not know how to save the squadron from total extermination from the air.
“Woodward's in touch.
“Sir, the southern compound has been hit again. This time Glasgow.
- What about the destroyer?
- Fortunately, nothing happened. An unexploded bomb in the engine room. The only problem was that the bomb penetrated the side just a couple of inches above the waterline. The ship is forced to constantly make a circulation with a strong roll to starboard - until the repair crew repairs a hole in the damaged side.
A new day and a new sacrifice. No, he can't just sit there and watch his ships die. It is necessary to take special measures to protect the squadron.
