Peter von Bleichert
Dragon Fire: The Battle for the Falklands
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my teachers: Jonathan E.; Bruce H.; Paul M.; Karen S.; and, Panayiotis Z.
And, a special thanks to: Robert N. (UK).
DEDICATION
Michael Muxie, III (in memoriam).
And, to those lost on both sides of the real Falklands War: ‘Sleep well you Bonnie Lads/Duerme bien valientes muchachos.’
CHARACTERS
Cabo Segundo (Corporal Second Class) Gaston ‘Raton’ Bersa
Teniente de Fragata (First Lieutenant) Santiago Ledesma
Capitán de Navío (Captain) Jaime Matias
…and, Doctor Waldemar Amsel; Ministro de Defensa (Minister of Defense) Juan Cruz Gomez; & Capitán de Fragata (Lieutenant Commander) Augusto Moreno.
Captain Lawrence Fryatt
Leading Seaman John Mcelaney
Lieutenant Commander Nigel Williams
…and, Ordinary Seaman Rodi Dando; Lieutenant Angus Lowry; & Lieutenant Seamus McLaughlin.
NOTES
A British Overseas Territory, the Falkland Islands are a stark, wind-ripped South Atlantic archipelago some 400 miles east of Argentina’s Patagonian coast, and 850 miles north of the Antarctic Circle. Comprising East Falkland, West Falkland, and 778 smaller islands, the Falkland Islands are roughly the size of the American State of Connecticut — about half the size of the country of Wales — and the capital is in the port city of Stanley on East Falkland. Falklanders are primarily of British, Chilean, and St. Helenian descent.
BRIEFING
The Argentine Republic claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
Called Las Islas Malvinas by Argentinians, the archipelago is viewed as part of the South Atlantic Department of the Province of Tierra del Fuego.
The United Kingdom has never recognized this claim.
Although Falklanders have expressed a clear preference to remain under British rule, in hopes of easing tensions during the 1960s, London engaged in talks with Argentine foreign missions. The talks, however, failed to reach any meaningful conclusion.
In the early 1980s, a ruthless dictatorship ruled Argentina. Accordingly, it suffered a crippling economic crisis. In an attempt to distract and unify its restive populace, Argentina initiated Operación Rosario on April 2, 1982, and invaded the Falklands.
Argentine forces outnumbered the British garrison 10-to-1. Resistance was rapidly subdued, and within hours, Argentine forces occupied Government House in Stanley — the Falklands’ capital — and flew their flag over this symbol of British hegemony.
British Prime Minister Thatcher — dubbed the ‘Iron Lady’ by the Soviets — immediately denounced the invasion. She roused her military, organized and commenced Operation Corporate, and dispatched a Task Group to retake the islands.
After fierce air and naval battles, British forces landed on East Falkland. By mid-June of 1982, British marines and soldiers held the high ground around the capital city. Soon thereafter, the routed Argentine occupation forces surrendered.
Despite this clear-cut defeat, Argentina has continued to claim the South Atlantic archipelago as her own. In 1994, the Transitional Provisions of the Constitution of the Argentine Nation were amended, thereby alleging ‘legitimate and everlasting sovereignty’ over Las Islas Malvinas, South Georgia, and the Sandwich Islands, as well as the corresponding maritime and insular areas.
With this legislation, the capture of said territories became a permanent and unswayable objective of the Argentine people…
PROLOGUE: FLYING FISH
“Who hears the fishes when they cry?”
Her Majesty’s Ship Sheffield was the lead hull of the Royal Navy’s premiere Type 42 guided-missile destroyers. Christened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1971, Sheffield was located south-east of the Falklands, patrolling the Total Exclusion Zone, an area within which Great Britain had promised to destroy any intruding Argentinian vessels. Sheffield was accompanied by HMS Coventry and Glasgow—also Type 42s — sailing to her north. Together, the three ships ran a radar picket for the Task Group. Aside from these three ships, the Task Group was composed of the aircraft carriers Hermes and Invincible, the landing platform docks Fearless and Intrepid, several other destroyers, as well as various container ships, ferries, freighters, frigates, liners, logistic ships, patrol vessels, submarines, supply ships, tankers, trawlers, and tugs. Even an ice patrol ship — HMS Endurance—had been thrown into the mix. The group was on ‘defense watch’ routine and at ‘air warning yellow’ as, two days prior, a British nuclear attack submarine had sunk Argentina’s cruiser, the General Belgrano. Retaliation was expected.
Hermes and Invincible had launched Sea Harriers on combat air patrol, and ahead of the steaming group, Glasgow and Sheffield swept the skies with their long-distance radars (Coventry was experiencing difficulties with hers).
At 9:45 that morning, two Argentine Navy Super Étendards had departed Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego. Each of the French-built strike aircraft carried a single Exocet AM39 anti-ship missile at the right wing hard point, with the long, heavy weapon counter-balanced by a fuel tank on the other side. Vectored out to sea, the Super Étendards met a Hercules tanker and topped-off their fuel. Then they headed for the last reported position of the British Task Group.
The Argentines also included Type 42s in their inventory, and had used them to practice missile runs. Using the British-made destroyers, their pilots had learned to ‘pick the lobes’ of the Type 42’s elderly air-search radar. They would fly in low and listen for their cockpit radar warning to sound. Whenever it did, they would shed more altitude, and thusly became proficient at sneaking in without detection. This was how the two Super Étendards got within 40 miles of the Royal Navy’s Task Group this day.
Glasgow got the first inkling that something was amiss when she got a brief, fleeting radar contact. She immediately put up chaff — a radar-deceiving cloud of aluminum needles — and reported in to the group’s flagship, Hermes. Not long thereafter, the carrier Invincible got her own radar hit and vectored her airborne Sea Harriers — affectionately called ‘Shars’—to investigate. When the Shars found nothing, the contacts were declared ‘spurious’ by the group’s anti-air warfare commander. Meanwhile, with Sheffield on their nose, the two Argentine Super És sped in at near wave-top.
Sheffield’s Operations Room was nestled deep in the destroyer’s hull. This is where the Air Warfare Officer — the AWO — manned a radar display. Like the others huddled in the dimly-lit and cold room, he wore anti-flash gear composed of a white fire-resistant hood and elbow-length gloves. The AWO’s partially masked face glowed yellow in the screen light as he watched the line sweep around the screen. When the radar’s beam of radio waves struck something airborne and solid, it backscattered and boomeranged back, to be collected by the antenna mounted high on Sheffield’s superstructure. On the screen, the line came around again. This time, it revealed three blips.