# British admiral talks about Royal Navy, Falkland War



## Devildoc (Mar 16, 2018)

Ol' Sandy doesn't mince words, describes well the plight of the Navy and the Falkland War.

Falkland Islands: Britain 'would lose' if Argentina decides to invade now


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## Gunz (Mar 16, 2018)

"The best we can do for an expeditionary force is a day trip to France." Bwwaaaaaahaaaa

But sadly true. No flattop til 2020, shitcanning the only two amphib ships in the RN...


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## AWP (Mar 16, 2018)

"For Christ’s sake, it’s 30 years later; if they’re still upset about it, they ought to be taken out and shot anyway.”

I want to party with this man.


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## digrar (Mar 16, 2018)

Unfortunately he died 18 months after that story was written. 

His book is a pretty good read on the Falklands. It certainly gave me a new appreciation for the harsh realities of Naval service in modern conflict.


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## AWP (Mar 16, 2018)

If the Argentinians had employed their bombs properly, those islands would not be British. A lot of blame is on the fuzes, but a few postmortums have the weapons being used outside of the fuzes operational envelope.

The RN went from controlling every ocean to barely retaking a few icy rocks....and now it is in even worse shape. Politicians and economics have done what navies could not.


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## CQB (Mar 17, 2018)

Exocet missiles sank the HMS Sheffield but the HMS Antelope was lucky as the Argentinian pilot let fly too close for the missile to arm. The hole in the hull is clearly visible. 

Google Image Result for https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/HMS_Antelope_1982.jpg/300px-HMS_Antelope_1982.jpg


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## AWP (Mar 17, 2018)

CQB said:


> Exocet missiles sank the HMS Sheffield but the HMS Antelope was lucky as the Argentinian pilot let fly too close for the missile to arm. The hole in the hull is clearly visible.
> 
> Google Image Result for https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/HMS_Antelope_1982.jpg/300px-HMS_Antelope_1982.jpg



Antelope was hit by a pair of bombs, neither of which exploded. Sheffield's Exocet didn't explode.

Argentinian attacks being pressed home on HWS Broadsword.


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## Gunz (Mar 17, 2018)

Ewen Southby-Tailyour...Royal Marines... he was the Horatio Hornblower of the Falklands War. A favorite character of mine and a ubiquitous presence during the campaign.


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## digrar (Mar 17, 2018)

I've always liked this one from the war.


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## CQB (Mar 17, 2018)

The SBS did pretty well in that one.


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## Gunz (Mar 17, 2018)

CQB said:


> The SBS did pretty well in that one.



Yes they did. The SAS gets all the media love but the Falklands was a Special Boat Service show.


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## Devildoc (Mar 19, 2018)

Ocoka said:


> Yes they did. The SAS gets all the media love but the Falklands was a Special Boat Service show.



Isn't it funny that navy special warfare gets all the press regardless of country, while the fighters stay in the shadows.....


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## Devildoc (Mar 19, 2018)

The Falklands was a few Argentinian miscues from having it gone sideways for the British.  It was a logistical nightmare for the British...the only analogy I can think of would be having tried to attack Japan from California in WWII.


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## Gunz (Mar 19, 2018)

Devildoc said:


> Isn't it funny that navy special warfare gets all the press regardless of country, while the fighters stay in the shadows.....



The Brits are pretty good about keeping their mugs off the front page. Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, our guys write books and hit the TV talk-show circuit.

I agree with you about logistical nightmare. I was in the NC Air Guard during this war and wondered if we'd be doing any support operations.


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