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The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
This is a list of the naval forces from the United Kingdom that took part in the Falklands War, often referred to as "the Task Force" in the context of the war. For a list of naval forces from Argentina, see Argentine naval forces in the Falklands War.
The Type 42 or Sheffield class, was a class of fourteen guided-missile destroyers that served in the Royal Navy. A further two ships of this class were built for and served with the Argentine Navy.
The Exocet is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
The Type 22 frigate also known as the Broadsword class was a class of frigates built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen were built in total, with production divided into three batches.
HMS Arrow was a Type 21 frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Sheffield was a Type 42 guided missile destroyer and the second Royal Navy ship to be named after the city of Sheffield in Yorkshire. Commissioned on 16 February 1975 the Sheffield was part of the Task Force 317 sent to the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War. She was struck and heavily damaged by an Exocet air-launched anti-ship missile from an Argentine Super Étendard aircraft on 4 May 1982 and foundered while under tow on 10 May 1982.
HMS Glasgow was a Type 42 destroyer of the Royal Navy. The last of the Batch 1 Type 42 destroyers, Glasgow was commissioned in 1979. The destroyer fought during the Falklands War, and on 12 May 1982 was damaged by a bomb from an Argentine A-4 Skyhawk. Glasgow was part of the Royal Navy’s 3rd Destroyer Squadron along with HMS York, HMS Edinburgh and HMS Liverpool. The 3rd Destroyer Squadron was based in Rosyth during the 1980s and early 1990s before being moved to Portsmouth when Rosyth Dockyard was privatised and re-purposed. The destroyer was decommissioned in 2005 and was broken up for scrap in 2009.
HMS Onyx was an Oberon class submarine of the Royal Navy.
HMS Penelope was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy. In the Falklands War, Penelope fired on an Argentine patrol boat and claimed to be the last ship attacked by Argentine aircraft over the course of the war. In 1991, she was commissioned into the Ecuadorean Navy, and renamed Presidente Eloy Alfaro.
HMS Yarmouth was the first modified Type 12 frigate of the Rothesay class to enter service with the Royal Navy.
The Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CINCFLEET) was the admiral responsible for the operations of the ships, submarines and aircraft of the British Royal Navy from 1971 until April 2012. The post was subordinate to the First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Naval Service. In its last years, as the Navy shrank, more administrative responsibilities were added.
A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers.
These are some of the key weapons of the Falklands War used by both sides.
The Rothesay class, or Type 12M frigates were a class of frigates serving with the Royal Navy, South African Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy.
HMNZS Waikato (F55) was a Leander Batch 2TA frigate of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). She was one of two Leanders built for the RNZN, the other being the Batch 3 HMNZS Canterbury. These two New Zealand ships relieved British ships of the Armilla patrol during the Falklands conflict, freeing British ships for deployment.
The 1981 Defence White Paper was a major review of the United Kingdom's defence policy brought about by the Conservative government under the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The main author was the then Secretary of State for Defence, John Nott. The aim of the review was to reduce expenditure during the early 1980s recession and to focus on supporting NATO rather than out of area operations. It was ultimately judged however to have been extremely detrimental to the Defence of the Realm, being among other things widely considered to have been one of the contributing factors that led to the outbreak of the Falklands War.
In 1989 the Royal Navy was under the direction of the Navy Department in the UK Ministry of Defence. It had two main commands, CINCFLEET and Naval Home Command.
Exercise Spring Train was an annual Royal Navy-led NATO maritime exercise conducted in the Eastern Atlantic. It is most notable for the 1982 exercise which involved seven warships that were subsequently sent to the South Atlantic after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. Because the vessels involved already had full crews and were able to crossdeck supplies from other ships in the exercise the British response was more rapid than would have otherwise been possible. Two of the vessels involved in the exercise, the Type 42 destroyers Sheffield and Coventry, were sunk during the war. There has been speculation that some of the ships sent to the Falklands from Exercise Spring Train were carrying tactical nuclear weapons, which were routinely carried when on NATO deployments. The 1983 edition of the exercise was criticised by the Spanish and Soviet government who considered it provocative.
References
- ↑ Moore, J., ed. (1982). Jane's Fighting Ships 1982-83 (85th ed.). London, UK: Jane's Publishing Company. ISBN 0710607423.
- 1 2 3 Woodward, John (2012). One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander (3rd ed.). Hammersmith, London: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-00743-640-8.
- 1 2 3 Sunday Express Magazine Team (1982). War in the Falklands, The Campaign in Pictures. London, UK: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0297782029.
- 1 2 Hart Dyke, David (2007). Four Weeks in May: The Loss of HMS Coventry, A Captain's Story. London, UK: Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-84354-590-3.
- 1 2 Freedman, Lawrence (2005). The Official History of the Falklands Campaign, Vol.1 - The Origins of the Falklands War. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-71465-206-1.
- ↑ Inskip, Ian (2012). Ordeal by Exocet: HMS Glamorgan and the Falklands War 1982. Chatham: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-84832-131-1.