Is it possible that Israel allowed the attack to go ahead so that they could exact the kind of revenge they have:
After all it’s not unknown for governments to ignore warnings for political expediency. This is from the wiki page on the Falklands war:
“The UK was initially taken by surprise by the Argentine attack on the South Atlantic islands, despite repeated warnings by Royal Navy captain Nicholas Barker (Commanding Officer of the Endurance ) and others. Barker believed that Defence Secretary John Nott’s 1981 Defence White Paper (in which Nott described plans to withdraw the Endurance , the UK’s only naval presence in the South Atlantic) had sent a signal to the Argentines that the UK was unwilling, and would soon be unable, to defend its territories and subjects in the Falklands.”
For the avoidance of doubt I can personally vouch for the accuracy of this. I knew Nick Barker well having served with him during my time in the Royal Navy. He also worked for me as a consultant when he left the navy (there are other things he told me about this war but they are for a different time). Although he was brought up in Cornwall he loved Newcastle and lived there after he left the navy. He considered himself a “Geordie” and was buried there when he died in 1997 at the young age of 63. I was fortunate enough to be invited to his funeral.
Yeah could be, who knows.
I would imagine all through history that what we are told differs from true reality,.especially in this country…all covered by the Official Secrets Act.
We wont know the half of it.
The politicians might have dithered but the navy didn’t. This is a pic taken on March 1st 1982, a full month before the navy got permission to launch a task force. This was part of a task force that had been conducting exercises in the Mediterranean. The navy was well prepared for what was to happen. The pennant numbers being painted over was to prevent fleet information being passed to the Argentinians. After all every Type 42 destroyer looks the same The admiral in charge of that task force (Sandy Woodward) had the title of Flag Officer First Flotilla. This was the staff that I worked on prior to leaving the navy in 1979. I had to do 3 years reserve service and on the same day that the news about the task force was announced I received a letter from the naval drafting division HMS Centurion. My first thoughts were “crap, I’ve been called up” but when I opened the letter it informed me that my reserve service had ended. Phew!!
Both HMS Coventry and Sheffield are in this picture
The Frigate HMS Plymouth which was involved in the Falklands war was a museum ship along with a sub, (the name escapes me) in Birkenhead (in early 2000s?)
My Dad is ex Navy, (in the 60s we lived in Rosyth) we went to took around them as anything like that interests him.
Unfortunately the museum ran out of cash and both vessels were scrapped.
We also went to see HMS Cavalier the last surviving wartime destroyer, the thing that surprised me was it had an open bridge.
It was docked at S.Shields at the time, not in great condition then, but it has been fully restored to it’s former glory at Chatham as a museum ship.
Another time we went to the Submarine museum at Gosport about 20 + years ago (my Dad was stationed there for a time) there is a WW2 Sub you can visit.
I remember the attempts to save Plymouth, sad but just a financial reality that not enough people were, or could, get the funds together. I had a look at Cavalier when I was down at Gillingham for a gymnastics competition a few years ago. The last ship that I was on was HMS Blake which had been built during the war but was only finished in the late 50’s. I can still recall the smell of the cordite when it fired off its 3 and 6 inch guns. It was due to be de-commissioned after the deployment we were on (to the west coast of the US) so very little maintenance was carried out. The galley was absolutely crawling with cockroaches. It’s funny what you’re prepared to put up with when your hungry
Blake was the Cruiser with the converted helo hangar wasn’t it?
I knew a guy on that ship, never seen him in ages, dont suppose you knew him but you never know..
Martin Irving…yeah a long shot.
Btw ..listen me ‘Helo Hangar’’ like I know what I am talking about.
I need to stop watching ‘Seal Team’.
Read the post. Neither CAV nor I were impugning the accuracy of the Americanism: we were challenging the need for an Englishman to use it when the English version was already accurate; which is precisely why I say ‘normality’ and not ‘normalcy’ *
Yes. The staff I was on used to go from ship to ship depending on the deployment so I was only on Blake from May - Dec 1978. The admirals staff were always seen as being a bit aloof (which we probably were) so we didn’t really gel with the ships standard crew so I don’t remember the name you gave. Blake did have a huge compliment though so even if you did serve on her for a couple of years you wouldn’t necessarily know a lot of the crew. Prior to that I was on Hermes which was an absolute bucket then. There were parts of her that you couldn’t go due to the asbestos. This was before it was converted to operate the Harriers. Coincidentally Plymouth is one of the ships in the pic I posted.
On that deployment we had a Sea King helicopter (Blake had 4 of them) ditch in the Gulf of America (other names are available ). We had to winch it on and secure it on one of the lifeboat davits. For the life of me I can’t remember what we did with the lifeboat. We then made for the US base, Roosevelt Roads, in Puerto Rico and off-loaded it. 4 hours later we were back at sea, didn’t even have a chance to explore the island.
Long shot but possible: did you ever know (Commander) Martin Duncan MacFarlan RN who was a Navigating Officer? He showed my wife and I around HMS Cavalier with many tales of navy life. (There is a bus connection)
Im sure Donald would love been part of the commonwealth, with the main focus been that the British ruled you at one time
I don’t think so i think it would be a big insult to king Donald
So totally harmony in eu, not so its looking like it would have been better if Germany won the war at least then you would have something or someone to stand up to Putin or the useful idiot
The admiral in charge of that task force (Sandy Woodward) had the title of Flag Officer First Flotilla. This was the staff that I worked on prior to leaving the navy in 1979. I had to do 3 years reserve service and on the same day that the news about the task force was announced I received a letter from the naval drafting division HMS Centurion. My first thoughts were “crap, I’ve been called up” but when I opened the letter it informed me that my reserve service had ended. Phew!!
