The Full Story of the Air and Sea Battles of the Falklands War

Michael Robert Ibbotson

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781036148539
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• Index: History

Despite the Falklands War between Argentina and the UK lasting only ten weeks, it still had an enduring impact on military technology worldwide. Not since the Second World War had two capable navies and air forces clashed in open ocean. In a logistical master class, the British mustered 115 ships with no warning and sent them 8,000 miles south within days/ weeks. They initiated their campaign by sinking a large Argentine warship with a nuclear-powered submarine (SSN); the only time this has happened.

It was also the first time that sea-skimming anti-ship missiles dominated naval tactics. In addition to this, the British launched an amphibious landing in the jet era, with only 28 serviceable Harrier fighters against 112 fighter jets – it was also the first time air-to-air combat depended entirely on a fighter aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing (the Harrier). On the first day of Britain’s recovery effort, an RAF Vulcan bomber dropped twenty-one bombs to get one on target. After considerable ‘research under fire’, on the war’s last full day an RAF Harrier dropped a single laser guided bomb and scored a bullseye. As such, the war marks an important transition in British aviation technology.

While both sides had six ships sunk, the British use of SSNs forced the entire Argentine navy to retreat to port. High British ship losses remain controversial, and they are compared here with losses in Operation Pedestal, the long-range naval action on a similar scale to save Malta in the Second World War. Losses were overall lower in the Falklands War, and the reasons behind this are discussed. The book also reveals what might have happened if the Argentine dictators had launched their war several months later, as originally considered.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• Comment from the Author
• Acknowledgements
• Maps
• Chapter 1: Britain, Argentina and the Falkland Islands
• Chapter 2: Build-up to War
• Chapter 3: Argentine Invasions
• Chapter 4: The Argentine Navy and the Exocet Threat
• Chapter 5: The British Fleet
• Chapter 6: Harrier Fighters and Lynx ECM/ESM
• Chapter 7: The Fleet Heads South
• Chapter 8: Submarine Warfare
• Chapter 9: Argentine Air Defences
• Chapter 10: The RAF’s Four-Engine Heavies
• Chapter 11: Exocet in Combat
• Chapter 12: Fuerza Aérea Argentina
• Chapter 13: 1–20 May War of Attrition
• Chapter 14: 1–20 May Air-to-Air Combat, Part 1
• Chapter 15: 1–20 May Harrier Ground Attack, Part 1
• Chapter 16: 21–24 May Bomb Alley
• Chapter 17: 25 May Argentina’s National Day
• Chapter 18: 21–25 May Air-to-Air Combat, Part 2
• Chapter 19: 21–25 May Harrier Ground Attack, Part 2
• Chapter 20: 26 May Onwards
• Chapter 21: The 8 June Catastrophe and Consequences
• Chapter 22: 26 May–14 June Air-to-Air Combat, Part 3
• Chapter 23: 26 May–14 June Harrier (and Sea Slug) Ground Attack, Part 3
• Chapter 24: Evaluating Ship Losses
• Chapter 25: Death Toll
• Chapter 26: Aftermath
• Bibliography and Sources
• Index
• Plates