James G
Gone Fishin'
Part One
I – Beginnings
A pair of Exocets and what they wrought
It was on the morning of May 4th 1982 that HMS Hermes, the aircraft carrier which formed the flagship for the British Task force in the South Atlantic, which was engaged in the effort to retake the Falklands from the Argentinians, was hit and burnt out.
Two Argentinian Super Étendard strike aircraft managed to avoid the attention of escorting warships such as the destroyer HMS Sheffield and turn the protective flank around the carrier to attack from the south. They had been flying low and getting radar information from a Neptune maritime surveillance aircraft operating at distance which led them on a semi-circular course and avoiding Sea Harrier fighters flying from Hermes. At the last moment, they made a pop-up manoeuvre, activated their radars to acquire targets and then launched a lone missile each. The Super Étendards turned sharply away and headed for a distant refuelling tanker; the Exocet missiles launched by the attacking aircraft raced onwards under their own guidance just above the waves.
The Exocet was a sea-skimming missile. The pair of them flashed over the water and towards a target detected by the now-departed launch aircraft. There was a reaction ahead as the Royal Navy had watched the Super Étendards suddenly appear on radar screens and then caught the echoes of targeting systems on their electronic warfare displays. The British were unaware if the Argentinians had launched missiles, were still approaching on a bomb-run or had turned away. They didn’t detect those Exocets and were preparing to engage incoming aircraft. Warnings were sent to several ships though right ahead of the projected line-of-attack including both the Hermes and the frigate HMS Brilliant acting in the goalkeeper-role: brace for impact just in case. Chaff wasn’t fired to confuse missiles with false returns because incoming missiles hadn’t been detected and that would interfere with the guidance of defensive missiles planned to be used against attacking aircraft.
With seconds to spare, the Exocets were spotted closing-in upon the flagship. Brilliant tried her best and opened fire with her guns but those old Bofors-40 guns were no good against modern Exocets. Hermes had a Sea Cat missile system for point defence yet the guidance system couldn’t acquire the incoming missiles until it was too late. The most-important and most-defended ship within the Task Force was the one hit by the pair of missiles. The first Exocet hit the aircraft carrier on the starboard rear quarter above the waterline and penetrated the hull before exploding deep within Hermes amidships. The second Exocet again reached its target to starboard and from behind though a little higher than the first; it went into the ship’s hangars below the flight deck and a third of the way down the ship. There was no second explosion from that missile though as its warhead failed to detonate. Yet, its unspent rocket fuel went up and so too did several aircraft.
Either impact against Hermes was survivable alone. Yet, there were two of them. The well-trained crew moved to undertake damage control at once but they were suddenly faced with a bigger fire than they expected and one which was spreading fast. The damage from the first missile had been bad enough but the second had started an immense fire spread over some distance. Thick, poisonous smoke poured out of the aircraft carrier into the morning sky and also spread throughout the ship as well. There was panic in places, especially when there came explosions in the hangars from fires reaching aircraft and the belief was that the Hermes was under further attack. Men were killed trying to fight the fires and also overcome by smoke when they were caught by it. Internal power went out and there was darkness inside the ship. More and more of the aircraft carrier caught alight despite the very best efforts to stop that from many of those involved in damage control.
The order came to abandon ship when the Hermes was alight from bow to stern. A hundred were known to be dead by that point, probably far more. The heat of the fires was melting parts of the ship. The flight-deck was collapsing. Men couldn’t fight the fires effectively, some men just wouldn’t either due to the danger. Those fires higher in the ship could have been better dealt with if it wasn’t for the ones from below – which no one could get to – adding to them and releasing so much heat and smoke like they were. That was what doomed the Hermes: the separate seats of fire from where the Exocets ended up inside. Lifeboats went into the water and helicopters hovered nearby trying to pull out some of the worst of the injured. The island superstructure went up in flames and that was the sign of the end for so many of those watching their ship burn.
The Task Force flagship had been lost along with almost all of her air wing aboard: Sea Harrier fighters, Harrier ground-attack aircraft and Sea King maritime helicopters. The casualty count afterwards showed just over four hundred dead, missing or badly injured: a fifth of her crew. Argentina had gotten revenge for the sinking of the General Belgrano two days beforehand. The abandoned ship remained afloat but kept on burning throughout the day and later efforts to try to get near her to see if there was anyone left alive aboard were discovered to be impossible due to the heat and the smoke. The Task Force as a whole had been mortally wounded yet was still active. There was another carrier – the smaller HMS Invincible – along with other warships and the vessels laden with troops to recapture the Falkland Islands. Defeat had yet to come on the battlefield.
However, that defeat was to come from the reaction at home.
The news of the destructions of the Hermes, including the immense loss of life aboard, reached London soon enough. Admiral Woodward followed the correct chain of command in informing his superiors of the situation. He had transferred himself to the Invincible and stated that the Task Force could fight on but he awaited further instructions on how best to proceed. The Argentinians had shown a capacity to wipe out an aircraft carrier and he wanted to move the remaining one back. Furthermore, Woodward also wanted news on when the Invincible’s sister ship HMS Illustrious would arrive in the South Atlantic: two aircraft carriers were needed.
There was a meeting of the War Cabinet in Downing Street early in the afternoon. The number of two hundred dead had been sent to them and when the Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Lewin spoke to the politicians he told them that such a figure was likely to rise. Lewin was a man of sturdy character though was with those who suddenly found lost their nerve.. most of them anyway. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was keen for the operation to continue onwards in recovering the Falklands and liberating them from the illegal Argentinian occupation but others weren’t so sure. The implication of the loss of a vessel such as the Hermes along with the aircraft she carried were discussed. Could the planned invasion be supported from the one remaining aircraft carrier? Would the Invincible alone be able to protect the rest of the fleet from the air? How would the Task Force manage if it had to wait until the Illustrious (being commissioned early and with hasty work being done to complete the ship) showed up therefore leaving the war to continue in the worst of the coming South Atlantic winter? Foreign Secretary Pym and Defence Secretary Nott were joined with Attorney General Havers in doubting that the operation could continue. Deputy Prime Minister Whitelaw and Conservative Party Chairman Parkinson called upon their colleagues to wait until more was known about the casualty numbers – they could be overstated – yet that wasn’t really the point. Neither of the two men, loyal to the Prime Minister, expressed such determination to fight on as she did. Lewin caught wind of this but his job was not politics: the British Armed Forces were what he had to consider, not which way the wind was blowing politically.
That evening saw a statement released by the Ministry of Defence and that was broadcast on the airwaves for the British public. The Task Force in the South Atlantic had suffered an attack and the aircraft carrier Hermes was damaged with a loss of life whose numbers weren’t specified. Such news came alongside unofficial leaks that the BBC, among others, broadcast. ‘Senior government figures’ were saying that the war couldn’t be won now because the Hermes was more than damaged, she had been destroyed instead; there was also wild speculation on the number of dead, missing and injured.
The newspapers the next morning were a little more restrained. There had been some negative backlash against the headline in The Sun the day before – ‘Gotcha’ – but there was still a feeling of patriotism among most of Fleet Street for the war that Britain was fighting. The headlines following the official news that the Hermes had been damaged and the unofficial remarks that it had been destroyed were more careful in how they spoke of the reports about the attack the day before against the flagship. Yet, inside those same newspapers, the editorials of some displayed some handwringing over whether the Falklands War should be continued. It appeared that hundreds might have died on the General Belgrano when she was sunk by a Royal Navy submarine and now that attack might have been mirrored in terms of significance by what could have occurred to the Hermes. Was the war really worth it?
Admiral Woodward was the on-scene commander in the South Atlantic yet he reported to Admiral Fieldhouse at the Northwood command centre with the latter officially heading the operation to liberate the Falklands. Fieldhouse offered his resignation during a meeting he attended with the War Cabinet after presenting the news that the casualty count now stood at three hundred and he believed it would reach four hundred. Thatcher refused to accept it by informing Levin that she was against such a sign of weakness. Chancellor of the Exchequer Howe and Employment Secretary Tebbit were at the same meeting due to additions being made to the War Cabinet; there was nothing to stop the prime minister from asking anyone whom she wished to attend. The two of them joined with Thatcher and Parkinson (who had met with his prime minister overnight alone) in pushing for the war to continue. The requisitioned civilian ship Atlantic Conveyor was on its way to the Task Force carrying aircraft that would be added to the air wing on the Invincible. It was regarded as possible to fight the war with just one aircraft carrier carrying a strong air wing, so ran the argument, and the recapture of the Falklands was a national priority. Pym, Nott and Havers all disagreed and did so openly: Whitelaw joined them and told Thatcher that the fighting needed to stop to allow chance for a renewed international settlement in the place of further mass loss of life.
The fallout from that fateful War Cabinet meeting came over the next few days. It was confirmed to the press and therefore the public that the Hermes had been destroyed by fire and that she later sunk due to weather when unmanned. Disagreements within the War Cabinet turned to arguments between members of the government and the ruling Conservative Party. Fieldhouse eventually resigned but that did little good. Down in the South Atlantic, Woodward pulled back the Task Force just a little but that was something overblown back home by those who used that secret military maneuver for political point scoring. Statements made in the Commons and editorials in the newspapers turned against the war. There was a small demonstration in Whitehall near the Ministry of Defence from relatives of sailors aboard the Hermes… it was later discovered that such an event had been hi-jacked by those who didn’t have family at war but wished to make a political point. There were talks with the Americans where there were queries about whether one of their marine assault carriers could be transferred to the Royal Navy for use to replace the Hermes; cold water was poured upon this by President Reagan’s UN ambassador who crowed in her own self-importance stating that it was time for international mediation. Moreover, Levin first and then politicians – from the Government and the Opposition – asked who was going to crew such a vessel in addition to pointing out how long such a thing would take. The Commons Defence Select Committee wanted to hear from the departed Fieldhouse and also Pym as well. There were concerns expressed from General Bramall as Chief of the General Staff about the troopships laden with Paras and Royal Marines being attacked before or during landing operations on the Falklands with inadequate air cover, remarks which were leaked and twisted to suit political ends.
The men in grey suits came for Thatcher. She had never been popular within the Conservative Party and during her premiership unemployment had risen sharply and the recession was biting hard. They asked her to compromise: she refused. When they returned, they asked her to consider her position: she once again refused. Conservative backbenchers were uneasy when they were told of the steadfast or arrogant (it depended upon your point of view) outlook from their prime minister. They heard that neither Whitelaw or Havers were at the next War Cabinet meeting while the views of Pym from the Foreign Office and Nott who headed the Ministry of Defence were drowned out by others present. It had become personal for Thatcher and she saw it as a battle of wills. Others declared that they were thinking of the country rather than their leader. The men in grey suits went back to Thatcher again.
On May 14th, Thatcher resigned. She had been betrayed and wouldn’t forget it yet stood down with as much grace as she could muster.
Whitelaw stepped in as acting leader for a short period and served as Prime Minister. Britain had no constitutional requirement for a Deputy Prime Minister to take over upon the fall of a superior (the position of deputy was only sometimes used) but Whitelaw had the support of his fellow ministers. He relinquished his Home Office duties while in Downing Street though on the condition that when the Conservatives chose a new leader he would return to the role of Home Secretary not a deputy prime minister though. He wasn’t running to replace Thatcher, others were.
Following rules from the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, a short contest commenced. Norman Tebbit was an outsider and seen as a continuation of Thatcher. He went and won though, surprising many; Geoffrey Howe, Nigel Lawson and Jim Prior fell by the wayside. Whitelaw stepped aside and Tebbit entered Downing Street as prime minister.
Away from the political drama in Westminster, a United Nations agreement on the Falklands was reached while Whitelaw was holding the fort. Negotiations took place between Britain and Argentina first through intermediaries then face-to-face with the United States acting as a middleman… or middlewoman in the form of Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Both sides agreed to withdraw military forces and there would be a diplomatic settlement when it came to the islands’ future. Whitelaw stuck to the agreement and the Argentinians appeared to do so at first. The junta in Buenos Aires quickly stopped abiding by the terms and announced delays that weren’t their fault in the pull-out of the last of their troops; British ships had long sailed home. Those last troops never left the islands and in the months ahead more arrived. Tebbit’s government complained to the UN yet the Falklands were no longer the issue that they had been. Nothing was done in the end and Argentina ruled over the Falkland Islands: now the Islas Malvinas.
Britain’s new prime minister by then had another enemy to fight: trade unions in Britain and the fascist, undemocratic principles that he saw in many of their practices. Tebbit had stated that belief in the past and during his tenure as Employment Secretary. Now he was prime minister and determined to take them on to put things right.
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