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

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.