For many years colleagues had heard Captain Coward quote a well-known naval phrase which is considered by some to date back to the eighteenth century, by others to be the invention of the Navy’s legendary turn-of-the-century First Sea Lord, Admiral Fisher: ‘The essence of war is violence; moderation in war is imbecility.’ That was his philosophy for better or for worse, and now he would have the chance he had always longed for, to put it into stark and belligerent practice. While his Sea Wolf reaped havoc among the incoming raiders, he planned simultaneously to direct the Harriers on to their targets as the Args flew out of the ‘box’ and attempted to get home.
And now, as the two Daggers fled away to the south, Brilliant’s Ops Room directed the CAP on to them, but they were slightly too late. Undaunted the captain returned to the screen, refining the electronic process with his first lieutenant, confirming to everyone in his Ops Room, ‘Look here, I know damned well we can really take charge of this operation, and that’s what we’re going to do.’
He was very clear in his own mind as to the merits of the various ships. He knew that the long-range radar in ships like Antrim and Glamorgan was never going to be effective in the enclosed waters of Carlos Bay, and he also knew that the equipment of the two older frigates Yarmouth and Plymouth would be inadequate for this particular kind of warfare. Actually his phrases were slightly different – ‘Clapped out old ships, bloody useless radar’ – but Coward’s heart was in exactly the right place, and so was his brain.
His general plan was to catch the incoming aircraft on his radar as early as possible, hopefully in time to vector Sea Harriers onto them. Failing that he’d try to lock on with Sea Wolf and call up the Harriers again, letting them know in the following seconds exactly where the Args could be expected to burst out of the ‘box’ – if they were lucky enough to escape Brilliant’s Sea Wolf.
Meanwhile Ardent blew up a Pucara before it got off the runway at Goose Green – ‘quite by accident, actually,’ said Commander West. And Antrim made her way over to Fearless in Carlos Water where she was boarded by a bomb-disposal team and a squad of engineers.
The following couple of hours were fairly quiet, which gave the ships time to tend to the wounded and put out the fires. It also allowed the massive landing programme to continue – more than one thousand tons of kit during that day, including the parts for Rapier and the big 105mm guns which would help to defend the beach-head against Argentinian counter-attack.
At 1345, the Args Air Forces came again – two Pucaras nipping in from West Falkland down to the south. Ardent’s gun swung on to them, driving them off with the 4.5-inch shells, and launching another Seacat missile, which failed to hit. Shortly after 1400 they returned, determined, apparently, to get Ardent. But this time Brilliant caught them early, vectoring in the Harriers, whose leader Lieutenant-Commander Sharkey Ward instantly destroyed the front-running Pucara with cannon-fire. The pilot ejected, walked home.
One hour later the Args sent in another wave and these four Skyhawks coming in very low across the land were not spotted until they were two miles away. Ardent’s guns were not quick enough, but the bombs were not accurate enough either. They hit the sea and bounced majestically right over the frigate. One of the Skyhawks was so low he hit Ardent’s 992 radar aerial with his underwing fuel tank.
It looked rather as if all four of them might get safely away, but Coward’s Ops Room was very fast in calling to the new CAP, which had only just arrived, the range and bearing of the fleeing Args. The two Hermes-based Lieutenant-Commanders, Mike Blissett and Neil Thomas, brought their Harriers lancing down from fifteen thousand feet, fired their Sidewinders and blew two of the Skyhawks apart, killing both pilots.
Back in Carlos Water another hour went by before the Argentinians sent in their most lethal and sustained air raid of the day. It would last for just over half an hour and it did great damage. The opening assault was made by six Skyhawks flying extremely low along the north coast, out of sight of all of our radars. As swiftly as any of the opening attacks, they came through the narrows at more than five hundred knots. There they found Kit Layman’s Argonaut, from which the crew was desperately trying to evacuate their wounded by helicopter over to Canberra. At the last moment the Argonauts saw them and opened fire with everything they had, but they had no hope whatsoever of stopping all six. Five made it through, dropping a total of ten thousand-pounders, eight of which exploded in the water close to the embattled Leander Class frigate. The other two hit her, but mercifully failed to explode. The first one hit forward, going through a diesel fuel tank and coming to rest in the Seacat magazine, starting a fire and causing considerable structural damage. By the most extraordinary bit of luck, the escaping diesel fuel was cold enough to put the fire out without itself igniting and adding to the fire instead. The second bomb rammed through the bulkhead between the engine room and the boiler room, wrecking the steering mechanism and the reverse gearing.
Argonaut was perilously close to the rocks around Fanning Head and still going ahead with effectively no brakes and no steering. With remarkable presence of mind, Sub-Lieutenant Peter Morgan raced off the bridge, collecting a couple of ratings as he went, and managed to let go the anchor, which dragged the three-thousand-tonner to a halt, just short of the shoreline. Seconds later they lost all power, there was almost total devastation in certain parts of the ship and, with two men killed in the magazine, Argonaut’s war was almost over.
Beyond her, the battle was increasing in pace. Joining the Skyhawk attack was a formation of three Daggers – there had been four but Brilliant had directed the CAP on to them a few minutes earlier and Lieutenant-Commander Fred Frederiksen had hit and destroyed one with a Sidewinder out over West Falkland. Now they ran into the Sound, right behind the Skyhawks, and as they did so all the British ships opened fire, Antrim, Plymouth and Intrepid, all with Seacat missiles, all of which missed. Fort Austin’s machine guns hit but failed to down one of the Daggers, but another of them drew a bead on Brilliant, by now positioned firmly in the middle of the anchorage.
Once again the computerized limitations of John Coward’s Sea Wolf system were exposed. His radar would not lock on, would not recognize the target, approaching fast, diagonally, because it was programmed to fire straight. John knew what had happened but was powerless at present to fix it.
Bill Canning’s men, however, did get a Sea Wolf away and very nearly hit the Dagger which was threatening Brilliant, possibly causing it to miss with its bomb. But its 30mm cannon was effective, one shell smashing through one side of the Ops Room and exiting through the other. I am afraid my history of the day does not record Captain Coward’s precise words at this interruption, but I understand they were not terribly complimentary.
At this time they were also busy directing the Harriers, and a metal splinter hit the vitally important aircraft director, Lieutenant-Commander Lee Hulme, in the back – quite a nasty injury. But when you fight for John Coward, minor problems like that tend to fade into the background. Lee Hulme faltered for just three seconds, with the words, ‘Just a moment, please.’ Then, discovering he could still walk, and talk, he pressed on with his task, instructing the Harriers precisely which end of the ‘box’ to watch for the homeward-bound Arg fliers.
By now another formation of Skyhawks, this time navy aircraft, had made a big swing around the Sound, swept over the land and, having cleared the Port Howard area, were heading, at sea-level, straight towards Ardent. They were positioned right on Commander West’s six o’clock (stern) away from the arc of his 4.5-inch gun, as the British frigate made its way up to the North-West Islands to join Yarmouth. Three of them made the attack together. Ardent could bring her Seacat to bear, but the launcher refused to fire. That left just his 20mm Oerlikon guns and two other machine guns to open fire.
Everyone who could help did. Lieutenant-Commander John Sephton, the Lynx helicopter pilot and his observer Brian Murphy, were up above the flight deck, Sephton with a Sterling sub-machine gun and his ass
istant with a Bren gun, both blasting away at the Skyhawks. But the situation was hopeless. The Argentinians dropped nine bombs, three of them hitting Ardent, two exploding in the hangar, the third failing to explode after smashing its way into the after auxiliary machinery room. The bomb that hit the hangar wreaked havoc, blowing the Seacat launcher, which was positioned on top of the hangar, into the air, only to crash down on to the flight deck killing Commander West’s cheerful supply officer, Richard Banfield. The blast also killed Lieutenant-Commander Sephton and Brian Murphy and one other crew member.
A large fire broke out in the stern section of the ship with the flooding that always takes place when a warship suffers bad fractures in its fresh water and fire-fighting systems. Ardent was still able to run on her Tyne engines and she could make over fifteen knots, but damage to her electrics had put the gun and Seacat firmly out of action. Commander West, with a great plume of black smoke pouring from his ship, ordered her to be turned to the north, to gain some respite for the firefighters and the medical teams.
Minutes after this, Brilliant’s Ops Room located the next raid, coming in from the west. Lee Hulme contacted the CAP which was circling over the Pebble Island area and vectored Lieutenant-Commander Ward and Lieutenant Steve Thomas down towards Port Howard. Below them, the two Harrier pilots saw three Daggers making a northward course towards the British ships. Anti-aircraft fire from the small arms of the Arg garrison in Port Howard came up towards the Harriers as they dived towards the sea at six hundred knots. Lieutenant Thomas’s Harrier took three fortunately unimportant hits, but they pressed on, loosed off their Sidewinders and destroyed all three of the Daggers. More importantly, they both made it home to Invincible, Lieutenant Thomas now having hit a total of three Argentinian aircraft.
But back in the Sound, yet another formation of Skyhawks was already on its way over West Falkland, streaking across the land to the south of Mount Rosalie and crossing Many Branch Harbour, leaving themselves with the option of a swing north-east towards the anchorage. Unhappily the first thing they saw was Ardent, in which the fires were now just about out of control.
Once more Commander West swung his weapons on to the enemy. His 4.5-inch gun was now repaired, but even as they aimed it, the Arg pilots swung away, making a long two-mile circle back towards West Falkland. Everyone feared they would not be gone for long, but, though Ardent was in a poor way, they weren’t giving up yet. One of her machine guns now had no one to fire it, so the ship’s NAAFI canteen manager, John Leake, an ex-regular Army man, ran through the carnage on the decks to take it over.
In less than a minute the Skyhawks were on their way back. John Leake hit one of them in the wing – it later crashed trying to land at Port Stanley, after the pilot ejected – but nothing Ardent possessed could possibly have stopped this attack. She was hit by seven bombs, one after the other, the force of the blasts lifting the ship almost out of the water, blowing men who were lying prostrate on the decks more than three feet into the air, blowing three more into the sea. One of the five-hundred-pounders that hit the stern killed or wounded the entire fire-fighting team. By any standards of any sea-battle, from Cape St Vincent to Jutland, it ranked as one hell of a hammering.
The Args might have got away with it too, except that, high above it all, was a CAP from 800 Squadron, Lieutenant-Commander Clive Morrell and Flight Lieutenant John Leeming. They had both been told by Sharkey Ward and by Brilliant of the presence of the Skyhawks, and now they dived down to make the intercept as the Argentinian bombers banked away from the mortally wounded Ardent. Leeming hit and destroyed the leader with two bursts of 30mm cannon shells. Morrell coming in behind him hit and wiped out the second Arg with a Sidewinder. His next missile refused to fire, but he had time to shoot at the remaining aircraft, hitting it in both wings, blowing the undercarriage away and forcing the pilot to eject.
These three ‘kills’ helped to even the score, but Ardent had twenty-two officers and men dead with thirty-seven more wounded. As the fire blazed they struggled to get the 4.5 ready to face the enemy once more, but Ardent could no longer steer, the fires were heading inexorably towards the missile magazines and ice-cold sea water was pouring in through a hole on the water line. Ardent was sinking and, with the greatest reluctance, Commander West, in conference now with Commander Morton who was alongside in Yarmouth, gave his last order as captain: ‘Abandon ship.’
Yarmouth placed her stern on Ardent’s bow and the wounded were transferred. In the next half hour her remaining company of one hundred and forty-two officers and men also stepped across, many of them unashamedly crying, until finally it was the turn of Commander West himself. The last to leave his ship, he hesitated just briefly, glancing back at the terrible fire. And then, at 1755, he too stepped on board Yarmouth, tears of anger and frustration streaming down his cheeks. HMS Ardent burned all night and sank eleven hours later.
The final attack of the day took place with just ninety minutes of daylight left: five more Skyhawks of 5th Air Brigade came in on their now familiar route towards the narrows – but heavy fire from Antrim, Intrepid, Plymouth and Fearless drove them away. No one hit anything and everyone lived to fight another day.
Up to the north of the Sound, Plymouth now joined Argonaut, securing alongside and hooking up a power line which would help them weigh anchor and get the ship further into the shelter of Carlos Water. Captain Pentreath’s galley was also active serving hot food for the crew. Bill Canning positioned Broadsword outside the bay – the only ship there – to guard the entrance off Chancho Point. At 1930 the survivors of Ardent boarded Canberra, from which 3 Commando were actually still disembarking to go ashore.
Over in Antrim, Chief Petty Officer Fellows and his team were in the final stages of removing the unexploded bomb by cutting out a ‘tunnel’ and lowering it into the water. The Chief would be highly decorated with a rare Distinguished Service Cross upon his return to England. Argonaut too was trying to return to normal life – with Lieutenant-Commander Brian Dutton and his team successfully removing that unexploded bomb from the Seacat magazine, an act of gallantry which would see him become the most junior officer ever to be awarded the DSO. While Brian Dutton worked, CMEM Townsend actually patched a four-foot steel plate over the hole near the water line, working only six feet or so from the bomb itself!
By now the full reports from what was rapidly becoming known as ‘Bomb Alley’ were beginning to arrive in the Ops Room of Hermes. With Ardent sinking, Argonaut and Antrim both severely battered with unexploded bombs in them and Brilliant and Broadsword damaged, it was clear that the Args were doing at least something right. It seemed to us that the first priority must be to get those troop ships out of there as quickly as possible. There had been a total of twenty-seven men killed on this day and unless we moved the big ‘ferries’ away forthwith that number could rapidly be increased.
We agreed a latest departure time of 0130 when Antrim would escort Canberra, Europic Ferry and Norland out of Carlos Bay to safer waters east of the Battle Group. Everyone was dumbfounded as to how the Args had come to miss the Canberra, the Great White Whale, as she came to be called. She had sat, gleaming white, bang in the middle of the bay all day and never been hit by anything.
The fact was, the Args had screwed this operation up very badly indeed. Not only had they failed to provide their bombers with any top-cover fighter escort which could take on the Harriers, they had also made the crucial mistake of going for our frigates and destroyers, rather than the amphibious ships and troop carriers, which were there for the taking, not to mention the three-thousand-odd men they carried.
By contrast, the Royal Navy had planned and carried out one of the most successful landings in military history. We had got our forces ashore, with most of their equipment, on the first day of the amphibious operation – always the most dangerous. Casualties to the land forces: Zero.
It was the Royal Navy which had taken the punishment in order that the troops should land safely, not that that ha
d been in our gift. The Argentinians, possibly more by bad luck than bad judgement, had gone for the warships, but then I suppose if you are travelling at five hundred knots very low over the water, with only split seconds after you lift over a hill or swerve round a headland in which to make your decision, you may very easily be tempted to go for the first ship you can line up. If you hang about to give it more thought, you will have probably over-flown it before you decide. And you don’t much want to come back for another pass; they will be ready for you next time. To operate these aircraft at all you need the reflexes of a Formula One Grand Prix driver – and the South Americans are traditionally pretty good at that – but they also hadn’t been properly briefed, which is, I suppose, why our escorts took so much stick on 21 May, and not the troopships.
History has more or less accorded with our calculations for that day and shown that we had destroyed fourteen of their aircraft in return, plus the three helicopters on Mount Kent. Our list showed three Pucaras, six Daggers and five Skyhawks. Nine of them were hit by the Harriers, the SAS got one with a Stinger missile, Ardent got one of the Pucaras (on the ground) and the small-arms fire of John Leake accounted for a Skyhawk. Plymouth and Broadsword got one each with missiles. As far as we could tell the Argentinians had launched some fifty sorties at Carlos Water, almost all of them from the mainland, which, considering the amount of TNT we had dropped on and around Port Stanley airstrip, was scarcely surprising.
The part played by Brilliant was extremely important; but for them, at least eight more Arg bombers would probably have got through to the ships. Captain Coward and Lieutenant-Commander Hulme somehow set up four interceptions, the last of which brought such welcome revenge on those Skyhawks which had signed the final death warrant of Ardent.
One Hundred Days Page 37