• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Interesting Falkland Islands Campaign Thread

Cloud Cover

Army.ca Fixture
Subscriber
Reaction score
2,095
Points
1,160
This is a really informative thread on X about the entire Falklands campaign. It started a few months ago and is updated every day.
He’s covered it from beginning and I suspect to the end. (Head adding new material every consistent with the date of the month).

I’ve learned lots of interesting things about tactics used by both sides, and how some things happened that were not widely known, for example:

A SeaWolf missile system was capable of (and did) intercepting artillery and naval gun rounds.

A mystery submarine (not a Royal Navy submarine) was harassing Argentine ships in Argentine waters and several times pinged destroyers in harbour or at anchor causing them to attack contacts.

A submarine operated by an unknown 3rd party actually fired a torpedo at a British destroyer, and the torpedo went clear underneath missing by inches and then detonated some distance away.

Argentine commandos repeatedly and successfully ambushed para recce patrols and even captured 1 and killed a few more. But more interestingly they captured comms gear and used it to monitor British movements and the Brits seemed not aware until an idiot in the Argentine press published a photo of the gear.

US Ambassador Haig had persuaded President Reagan to make the deck of the USS Eisenhower available to UK Buccaneers and Phantoms for the invasion, which the UK turned down.

Really interesting stuff:

 
This is a really informative thread on X about the entire Falklands campaign. It started a few months ago and is updated every day.
He’s covered it from beginning and I suspect to the end. (Head adding new material every consistent with the date of the month).

I’ve learned lots of interesting things about tactics used by both sides, and how some things happened that were not widely known, for example:

A SeaWolf missile system was capable of (and did) intercepting artillery and naval gun rounds.

A mystery submarine (not a Royal Navy submarine) was harassing Argentine ships in Argentine waters and several times pinged destroyers in harbour or at anchor causing them to attack contacts.

A submarine operated by an unknown 3rd party actually fired a torpedo at a British destroyer, and the torpedo went clear underneath missing by inches and then detonated some distance away.

Argentine commandos repeatedly and successfully ambushed para recce patrols and even captured 1 and killed a few more. But more interestingly they captured comms gear and used it to monitor British movements and the Brits seemed not aware until an idiot in the Argentine press published a photo of the gear.

US Ambassador Haig had persuaded President Reagan to make the deck of the USS Eisenhower available to UK Buccaneers and Phantoms for the invasion, which the UK turned down.

Really interesting stuff:


An interesting history of the submarine campaign FYI. IIRC that the Argentinian San Luis was responsible for some of those mysterious torpedo attacks.

A good reminder that countries who want to win wars will need, amongst other things, a sizeable and competent submarine service ;)


 
I found his account partway through last year and ai started following it from the start this year. Super interesting history, and he has a ton of fantastic small details. Plus the occasional Argentines still trying to yell at him in the relies about lingering myths from their own propaganda.
 
Likely he was involved in a equally fascinating discussion on military.photo's. Where veterans from both sides collaborated to fill in the blanks for a two sided look at the conflict. Sadly that disappeared when the site was shut down.
 
I have to say that so far in his threads, HMS Glamorgan is proving to be quite the scrappy warship. Pounding with NGS every night. Dodging artillery and missiles. Daring the Argentines to come out and fight. What an experience for the crew, really.
 
I have to say that so far in his threads, HMS Glamorgan is proving to be quite the scrappy warship. Pounding with NGS every night. Dodging artillery and missiles. Daring the Argentines to come out and fight. What an experience for the crew, really.

Got nailed by a land based Exocet though... there's alot of info about the campaign on this FB page FYI:

 
FAFO and all that, but they brought the stick against far more than they tragically lost.

I was doing some reading on the twin 4.5” mount. The crew preferred to manually load it rather than auto, and in one bombardment they pumped 144 rounds in 9 minutes.
After that they were told by the Admiralty to knock it off as the barrels were thought to have a life of about 800 rounds.

Fast forward to the 4.5” single mount of today, in auto fire- it can outshoot the twin 4.5 (in auto) and has barrel life of 3000 rounds. I would say the RN improved its NGS game by a wide margin because of the Falklands and ships like Glamorgan.
 
FAFO and all that, but they brought the stick against far more than they tragically lost.

I was doing some reading on the twin 4.5” mount. The crew preferred to manually load it rather than auto, and in one bombardment they pumped 144 rounds in 9 minutes.
After that they were told by the Admiralty to knock it off as the barrels were thought to have a life of about 800 rounds.

Fast forward to the 4.5” single mount of today, in auto fire- it can outshoot the twin 4.5 (in auto) and has barrel life of 3000 rounds. I would say the RN improved its NGS game by a wide margin because of the Falklands and ships like Glamorgan.

Talking to the guys who were there, immediately after the conflict, they were pretty clear that the '4.5 inch machine guns' on the frigates were a real game changer in the assault.

NGS has alot of fans in the Infantry in the UK as a result ;)
 
Very sad news...


'ABOVE & BEYOND'

Falklands War hero & renowned Harrier pilot Nigel ‘Sharkey’ Ward dies aged 81​


 
.A mystery submarine (not a Royal Navy submarine) was harassing Argentine ships in Argentine waters and several times pinged destroyers in harbour or at anchor causing them to attack contacts.

I may or may not have heard a rumor there exists a picture of HMCS Ojibwa in the falklands during that time. Rumor is Ojibwa is a VERY famous boat if her exploits were ever told.
 
I may or may not have heard a rumor there exists a picture of HMCS Ojibwa in the falklands during that time. Rumor is Ojibwa is a VERY famous boat if her exploits were ever told.
Broken Compass…
 
Back
Top