On Saturday 22nd, the
two assault ships, five LSL's, and RFA's "Fort Austin" and
"Stromness" were still in San Carlos Water. Of the original
escorts, only "Brilliant", "Plymouth", "Yarmouth" and the
damaged "Argonaut" remained in direct support, and
"Broadsword" spent
some of the time north of Pebble Island with "Coventry"
as a missile trap for incoming aircraft.
"Antrim" had gone, but "Ardent's" place was taken by newly
arrived "Antelope", although sadly not for long. Next day,
they were joined by LSL "Sir Bedivere" and frigate "Arrow"
which had structural damage but could still share in the air
defence. Of the merchantmen that left on Friday, "Norland"
was back in to disembark her remaining troops and later take
on board "Antelope's" survivors, and "Canberra" out in the
holding area transferred stores to RFA "Resource" for
delivery on Monday.
From now on, only
the more important ship movements can be followed.
As air supremacy was slowly won, the carriers continued to
provide the only fixed wing airpower, the destroyers and
frigates escorted the transports into and out of San
Carlos Water and protected them there, and also carried
out bombardment, special forces insertions and other
patrol duties. Meanwhile the merchantmen and RFA's kept
the Task Force supplied with fuel, ammo, food and water,
and other stores, and played their part in moving the
troops towards Stanley. All this took the ships to various
parts of the TEZ and around the Falklands, to South
Georgia, and when in need of repair, to the TRALA.
At the
northern end of the beachhead,
3 Para patrolled to the west and north of Port San Carlos,
while 42 Cdo followed up the retreating Argentine troops,
but only as far as Cerro Montevideo to stay within
artillery range. To the west, 45 Cdo was
dug in above Ajax Bay and on the east, 40 Cdo above San
Carlos and destined to spend a frustrating war mainly
defending the area. In the south, 2 Para
on Sussex Mountains was about to be the first unit to
prepare for action. While waiting for more supplies to be
unloaded and for General Moore to arrive, Brigadier
Thompson at his mobile
HQ at San Carlos made plans to push forward. Apart from
the special forces patrols scattered about the Falklands,
Marines of the Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre
had been flown to Bull Hill and Evelyn Hill on the way to
Stanley. He also decided to launch a battalion raid
against the enemy forces at Goose Green, and on Sunday
23rd ordered
Lt Col Jones to prepare
2 Para for this task. On the same day, 42 Cdo was ordered
back from its exposed position to join in the defence of
Port San Carlos, and just to the north, 3 Para suffered
wounded casualties when two patrols accidentally clashed.
Meanwhile as
General Menendez attempted
to supply his outlying forces, more Argentine ships and
helicopters were lost. Late on Friday
21st, patrol craft "Rio Iguaza" left Stanley with Pucara
spares and 105mm guns for
Goose Green, and next morning
was found and strafed in
Choiseul Sound by two
No.800 Sea Harriers on CAP. She ran ashore, but two of the
guns were recovered and reached their destination.
Then on Saturday evening "Brilliant" and
"Yarmouth" searched for the captured coaster "Monsunen"
known to be heading for Stanley from Darwin, and early on
Sunday, "Brilliant's" Lynx located her off the east coast.
A small SBS boarding party tried to capture the ship by
helicopter, but gunfire drove them away. The frigates then
ran "Monsunen" aground in
Lively Sound, but next day she was towed into Darwin by
"Forrest". Now into
Sunday, "Yarmouth" returned
to San Carlos Water, but
"Brilliant" headed for the carriers. Finally the damaged
cargo ship "RIO CARCARANA" was finished off in Port
King at midday by Sea Skuas fired by "Antelope's" Lynx.
Still on Sunday morning (23rd),
three Army Pumas carrying ammo and stores
for Port Howard, and
escorted by an Agusta, were on the last leg of their
dangerous flight from Stanley when they were sighted near
Shag Cove House by two No.800 Sea Harriers. One Puma flew
into the ground trying to escape [a45], the crew getting
clear before it exploded, and cannon fire destroyed the
Agusta [a46] and disabled a second Puma. Two No.801 Sea
Harriers shortly arrived and finished off this one by
strafing [a47]. Just one Puma survived to fly the three
crews to Port
Howard.
Over the weekend, RAF GR.3's
mounted a number of denial attacks against airstrips, and
the Sea Harriers continued to fly CAP although bad weather
over southern Argentina meant they were hardly needed on
Saturday 22nd. The next heavy raids were mounted on Sunday
when the FAA also started using Grupo 1 Learjets as
pathfinders and decoys. First to arrive in the early
afternoon were four A-4B Skyhawks of Grupo 5 which found
"ANTELOPE" in San
Carlos Water. In a
confused action which put two UXB's in her and killed one
man, an attacker clipped her mast and another was shot
down by possibly a Sea Wolf from "Broadsword" or a Rapier
[a48]. That evening as the bombs were being defused, one
exploded killing
Sgt Prescott RE. Catching
fire, she blew up and sank next day with a broken back.
Minutes after the
Grupo 5 attack, three Skyhawks of CANA 3 Esc came in but
failed to hit any ships, and one crashed on landing back at
Rio Grande. Two hours
later, two incoming Grupo 6 Daggers were sighted by two
No.800 Sea Harriers, and as they tried to escape, one was
destroyed over
Pebble Island by
Sidewinder [a49]. That same afternoon, two CANA Super
Etendards flew from
Rio Grande on a third
Exocet mission, but returned to base without finding any
targets. However that evening did see the loss of a fourth
Sea Harrier. As four No.800 aircraft took off from
"Hermes" to bomb
Stanley airfield, one hit the sea and exploded killing Lt
Cmdr Batt [b15].