Signals From the Falklands

A Naval Anthology

John Winton

• Publisher: Leo Cooper
• Year: 1995
• Print ISBN:
  9780850524291
• eBook ISBN:
  9781473818217
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

A naval historian presents a collection of personal accounts from British naval servicemembers who contributed to victory in the Falklands.
Fearing that the achievements of Britain's Navy in the Falklands War would go unrecognized, John Winton let it be known that he was compiling a book of personal, firsthand accounts on the subject. The response was overwhelming, and Signals from the Falklands represents only a fraction of the stories, letters, journal entries, and recorded interviews he received.
Here is a candid recounting of that brief but successful campaign from those who served in all ranks and trades with the Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Some of the contributors, like the aptly named Sam Salt will be familiar to many; others are not well known. All who served on board any ship which 'went south' in that strange nut epic endeavor in 1982 will be grateful to John Winton for this lasting tribute to their bravery, their sacrifice, and their abiding sense of humor.

CONTENTS

Editor’s Preface

Glossary

Diary of Principal Events

LEAVING FOR THE SOUTH ATLANTIC, from HMS Invincible The Falklands Deployment 2nd April–17 September, 1992

LETTERS TO SUSIE: by C.P.O Arthur Gould, HMS Arrow

ENDURANCE’S WAR Letter of Fleet C.P.O. Geoffrey Cox of 13 JUNE, 1983

‘YOU’VE GOT TO GET ON, JOHN’: THE RESCUE OF THE SAS FROM SOUTH GEORGIA AND THE ATTACK ON THE SUBMARINE SANTA FE. Extracts from a diary kept by Lt C.J. Parry, RN, HMS Antrim, 2 April– June, 1982

DEALING WITH THE PRES by Lt Cdr Rupert Nichol RN, from Letters from the Task Force 1982

SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLAND [Ascension] by Vox Non Incerta (Captain Robert McQueen, CBE, RN), from The Naval Review, Vol.70, N0.4, October, 1982

LETTERS TO SUSIE: II

CONQUEROR’S WAR PATROL by Cdr Christopher Wreford-Brown, DSO, RN, from a lecture given at Cambridge University

THE LOSS OF HMS SHEFFIELD by Captain ‘Sam’ Salt, RN, from an interview of 18 January, 1984

HMS SHEFFIELD Statements for Probate

LETTERS TO SUSIE: III

DISBELIEF by Lt Cdr Rupert Nichol, RN, from Letters from the Task Force 1982

ATLANTIC CONVEYOR from Recollections of the Falklands Campaign from the Senior Naval Officer SS Atlantic Conveyor, Captain Michael Layard, CBE, RN

LETTERS TO SUSIE: IV

THE LOSS OF HMS ARDENT by MEAI Ken Enticknapp QGM, from an interview of 6 June, 1984

CASEVAC SORTIE by Surgeon Cdr Rick Jolly, OBE, RN, from an interview of 24 October, 1989

‘IT’S THEM ARGIES, SIR, THEY’RE GOING TO CAUSE A FLIPPIN’ ACCIDENT ONE DAY’ [HMS Argonaut] by CANOPUS [Captain C. H. Layman, LVO, RN], A Personal View of the Falklands Campaign from The Naval Review, Vol. 71, No.1, January, 1983

LETTERS TO SUSIE: V

‘IT SUDDENLY DAWNED ON ME WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT – WE WERE AT WAR’ [HMS Antelope], by Leading Seaman (Radar) Jeffrey (‘Bunny’) Warren

‘WE WERE DETERMINED, WE HAD THE KIT, WE HAD THE FLEET … ’ [HMS Plymouth], by Lt Cdr Ken Napier, RN, from a letter of 10 July, 1983

PREMONITION from letters of May, 1982, by Lt Cdr Glen Robinson-Moltke, RN, First Lieutenant of HMS Coventry, written to his wife Christine

HMS COVENTRY IN THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT – A PERSONAL STORY by Captain David Hart Dyke, LVO, RN, from The Naval Review, Vol. 71, No. 1, January, 1983

‘GIVE US YOUR HAND, MATE, AND CLIMB IN, STANDING ROOM ONLY, BUT THE BEER’S GOOD’ by Radio Supervisor R.S. (Sam) Mcfarlane, of HMS Coventry, from Everyone needs something to believe in Right now, I believe I’ll have another beer

THE THIRTY DAY WONDER [Atlantic Conveyor] from Recollections of the Falklands Campaign by Captain Michael Layard, RN

LIFE IN TWO YANKEE [HMS Andromeda] by Sub Lt N.J. Hall RN, from The Naval Review, Vol.71, No.1, January, 1983

POET’S CORNER from HMS Penelope’s Ship’s Magazine

LETTERS TO THE TASK FORCE from HMS Broadsword Falklands, 1982

‘WHAT I DID DURING THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS …’ by Lt Cdr Robin Kent RN, 801 Naval Air Squadron, from HMS Invincible The Falklands Deployment, 1982

EVERY CORNER OF THE SKY by Lt D.A.B. Smith, RN, of 800 Naval Air Squadron, Letter from Captain of HMS Hermes to Director of Public Relations (Navy), 22 March, 1983

THE GLOOM ROOM, by SWEO, from HMS Broadsword Falklands, 1982

A FALKLANDS CRUISE [SS Canberra], by Lt Cdr Martin Reed RD RNR, from The Naval Review, Vol.71, No.3 July, 1983

FIVE STAR WARS [QE2], by Lt Cdr B. Warlow, RN, from Supply and Secretariat Newsletter April, 1983

EVERYONE WANTED STROMNESS, by Captain J.B. Dickinson, RFA, from The Naval Review, Vol.71, V0l.3, July 1983 (under the title ‘April Fool’)

MABEL, by Cdr Peter Moore, RN (Retd), Chief Officer RFA Stromness, from letter of 27 May, 1984

RFA SIR GALAHAD – THE DEMISE OF A GALLANT KNIGHT, by Captain P.J. Roberts, RFA, from The Naval Review, Vol.72, No.1 January, 1984

‘IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A NIGHTMARE …’,by Surgeon Cdr Rick Jolly, OBE, RN, from an interview of 24 October, 1989

TUESDAY 8 JUNE: THE DAY THE LUCK RAN OUT, by Lt Cdr Ken Napier, RN, of HMS Plymouth, from Diary of Events — Operation Corporate

THE 116-DAY WAR PATROL [HMS Onyx], by Lt Cdr Andrew Johnson, RN, Letter of 19 March, 1994

LETTERS TO SUSIE: VI

IMPRESSIONS OF THE FALKLANDS CRISIS, by the Rev Charles E.Stewart, BSc, BD, RN, of HMS Hermes, from the Church of Scotland magazine Life and Work

ACTION DAMAGE, by Constructor Cdr R.K. Pudduck, CEng, MRINA, RCNC, CinCFleet’s naval architect, Report of Proceedings

ADVANCE PARTY IN SAN CARLOS BAY, from NP 1810 MSV Stena Seaspread Falkland Islands, 1982

ENGINEERS’ INGENUITY, by Vice Admiral Sir Ted Horlick, KBE, FIMechE, MIMarE, from a lecture to the Fellowship of Engineering, 15 February, 1983

LEADERSHIP IN THE FALKLANDS CAMPAIGN [HMS Intrepid] by PEDE (Captain P. Dingemans, RN), from The Naval Review, Vol.71, N0.2, April, 1983

GOING HOME, by Captain ‘Sam’ Salt RN, from an interview of 18 January, 1984

ARGONAUT’S HOMECOMING, letter of 7 October, 1983, from a Staff Public Relations Officer

THE VIEW FROM THE FLAG BRIDGE, by Rear Admiral Sir John Woodward, KCB, from an interview of 25 October, 1982

EDITOR’S PREFACE

In spite of all that has been published so far about the Navy in the Falklands War, there has still been very little about the personal experiences of the men and women who went down south.

The Navy has never been noted for its flair for publicity. Whoever coined the phrase ‘The Silent Service’ has a great deal to answer for. The Navy seems chronically incapable of handling its own publicity with the skill and expertise shown, for example, by the RAF. Again and again during the Falklands War, it seemed to me that chances of giving the Navy a ‘chuck up’ were being fumbled.

When I read the newspapers and watched TV while the Falklands campaign was going on I realized that, once again, much of the Navy’s achievement was very probably going to be allowed to go by default.

So, when the ships began to come home, I let it be known as far and wide as I could that I was going to write, or rather compile, a book on the Navy’s part in the Falklands – and with ‘Navy’ of course I also included the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the Merchant Navy, the doctors and nurses ashore and in the hospital ship Uganda, and all the Sea Services – and I would welcome contributions of any kind, so long as they gave some idea of what life was like down there.

The response showed that I had touched a nerve. I soon accumulated a mass of taped interviews, individual accounts of ‘How I Won The War’, personal diaries, ship’s newspapers, poems, daily orders, signals, statements for probate, reports of proceedings from ships, engine room registers, lectures and presentations to societies, and copies of letters written to wives and girl friends. In the end, I had so much material I have had to make a fairly rigorous selection from it.

This material, virtually all previously unpublished, is the first and main source of this book. By far the greater part dates from the conflict itself, or within a few months of its end, because I wanted to avoid hindsight, and the excuses, embellishments and exaggerations which inevitably come with the passing of time. I did not want people remembering with advantages what feats they did that day – the feats they actually did would be quite good enough.

I have also drawn on the ‘Falklands Books’ some ship’s companies produced as souvenirs, for the sailors to keep and to give to their families and friends. The books vary in quality and in production. Some were just photocopied A4 sheets stapled together, but HMS Invincible The Falklands Deployment, on the other hand, is an elegant hardback, privately printed for the ship by Eyre & Spottiswoode, Her Majesty’s Printers.

The contents also vary greatly in quality, but there are many vivid eye-witness accounts of what it was like to have to abandon ship and hope to be picked up, what it meant to come under air attack, to be closed up at Defence Stations, six hours on, six hours off, for weeks on end, to appreciate Mars Bars as the delicacies they became; there is some appropriate doggerel verse, cartoons which hit the nail on the head, scripts of Sod’s Operas, orders of service held before going into battle, and letters of encouragement from Girl Guide troops in that ship’s adopted city.

A third source is the small but important amount of Falklands material which has already appeared in publications with a very limited or purely Service circulation, but which I thought was well worth reprinting for a wider readership.

I am very grateful to the contributors and copyright holders, who responded to my appeals for material and whose names appear in the text, who gave me permission to print their work, and to all the others who also responded but whose ‘Falklands dits’ I had no space to use.

I must also thank the Editors of The Naval Review, Navy News, Flight Deck, The Globe and Laurel, Force 4: The Newsletter of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, The Supply and Secretariat Newsletter, The Journal of Naval Engineering, and The RN Supply & Transport Service Journal for all their help.

I have made a great effort to trace copyright holders and I apologize for omissions where I have failed.

Due to the pressure of work and other difficulties, this book has taken much longer to complete than I originally intended and expected, but here it is at last: an anthology of personal experience of what it was like to serve at sea during the Falklands War, written by the men and women who were there, with my linking and explanatory commentary.

JOHN WINTON

GLOSSARY

AAA	Anti-aircraft armament
AAF	Argentinian Air Force
AAW	Anti-aircraft warfare
AAWC	Anti-Aircraft Warfare Control
AER	After Engine Room
AMR	Auxiliary Machinery Room
AOA	Amphibious Operating Area
AS12	Air-to-Surface missile carried by Wasp helicopters
ASW	Anti-submarine warfare
Avcat	Kerosene-based aviation fuel
AVO	Aviation Officer
BAS	British Antarctic Survey
CAP	Combat Air Patrol
Casevac	Casualty Evacuation, usually by helicopter
Chacon	Cargo container
CO	Commanding Officer
COMAW	Commodore, Amphibious Warfare
CPO	Chief Petty Officer
CTG	Commander Task Group
CVBG	Carrier Battle Group
DG	Diesel Generator
Dieso	Diesel fuel
ETA	Estimated Time of Arrival
EWD	Electronic Warfare Department
FDO	Flight Deck Officer
FMB	Fleet Maintenance Base
FMG	Fleet Maintenance Group
FOF1	Flag Officer First Flotilla
FW	Fresh Water
GDP	Gun Direction Platform
GPMG	7.62 mm General Purpose Machine Gun
GR3	RAF Harrier
GRP	Glass Reinforced Plastic
HC	Helicopter Control
HDS	Helicopter Delivery Service
HQ1	Damage Control Headquarters
LCU	Landing Craft Utility
LCVP	Landing Craft, Vehicles and Personnel
LMG	Light Machine Gun
LPLL	Landing Platform Large
LRO	Leading Radio Operator
LS(L)	Landing Ship, Logistic
MCO	Main Communication Office
Minicon	Small container carrying 4–5,000lbs
MoD	Ministry of Defence
NAS	Naval Air Squadron
NBCD	Nuclear Biological Chemical Defence
NGS	Naval Gunfire Support
NP	Naval Party
Nutty	Chocolate
Oggies	Cornish Pasties
OOW	Officer of the Watch
OpDef	Operational Defect
POMEM(M)	Petty Officer Marine Engineering Mechanic (Machinery)
PWO	Principal Warfare Officer
RAMC	Royal Army Medical Corps
Rapier	Trailer-mounted surface-to-air missile system operated by Royal Artillery and RAF Regiment batteries
RAS	Replenishment at Sea
RAS (L)	Liquid
RAS (S)	Solid
RCNC	Royal Corps of Naval Constructors
RCT	Royal Corps of Transport
RFA	Royal Fleet Auxiliary
ROE	Rules of Engagement
RS	Radio Supervisor
RU	Ready Use
SAR	Search and Rescue
SAS	Special Air Service
S & S	Supply and Secretariat
SATCOM	Satellite Communications
Sitrep	Situation report
SMEO	Senior Marine Engineer Officer
SNO	Seni...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright Page
• Contents