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CANBERRA IN THE FALKLANDS PAGE 1
CANBERRA IN THE FALKLANDS PAGE 2
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Into The War Zone
After refueling in Sierra Leone, CANBERRA sailed to Ascension Island where the
invasion force was forming. Upon sailing, the ship came entirely under military control.
However, Lane's role grew rather than diminished. "I went with the senior naval officer
everywhere to all of the different planning meetings to see how we were going to get the
ship into these places. This planning took a lot of time flying around in helicopters and a
lot of meetings. Many decisions had to be taken that were completely contrary to what I
had been trained up to that point."
As the task force moved south toward the Falklands, the military made full use of
CANBERRA's facilities. "CANBERRA had two restaurants. The first class restaurant
was kept open for the officers. You had regular service and the food was better than
you would normally have [and there was] wine. The other restaurant was used for
everybody else. They got all their meals on pressed trays. But, there were no
complaints about the food. Different bars became pubs for different levels. Where we
were fortunate was that we had a full military band onboard. It could play anything
from a full march to pop or disco things. [In addition to entertainment by the band], they
had beer night, quiz night, tugs of war and different games on decks between the
different divisions. They were trying to maintain pretty high morale.”
"I can remember having a [formal] dinner. I had dinner with quite a few senior officers
that were going to be involved in the landings, some of whom didn't come back."
The British plan for re-taking the Falklands envisioned that there would be an initial
assault by the troops traveling in CANBERRA and then at a subsequent point, these
troops would be reinforced by the troops traveling in QE2. Thus, the entire strategy was
dependent upon these two ocean liners.
"Somebody realized as we were approaching the Falklands, that now we were within
range of enemy aircraft. With 4,000 troops onboard had the ship been hit, that [would
have been] the end of the game. So, they decided in the middle of the South Atlantic
that we were going to transfer half these troops to other ships. Fortunately, we managed
to get a day when that was possible to do it. We transferred many of the troops over to
different landing craft. [However, the landing craft could only carry the troops for a
short time] because they didn't have the accommodations."
With the task force no in the war zone, there was "a lot of navigation without radar.
Of course, there were no lights either. So, you have got to occasionally flick it on to get
a position and turn it off again. You couldn't manage with it totally off. You just
wanted to not have it on long enough so that somebody could actually track it."
The Falklands consist of two large islands separated by a channel. The Argentineans
expected that the British would land near Port Stanley, the islands' main settlement
located on the eastern side of East Falkland Island. Accordingly, they had deployed the
majority of their 10,000 man force in that vicinity.
The British had no intention of making a frontal assault against a numerically superior
enemy in fortified positions. Therefore, the plan was to land the troops on the western
side of East Falkland and then approach Port Stanley overland from behind. However,
to do this the invasion force would have to enter the channel between the two islands
and remain in confined waters while the landings took place.
To reduce the task force's vulnerability to air attacks, the planners looked for a fjord-
like landing area - - a narrow inlet with steep mountains on either side. Such a place
would afford the Argentine pilots relatively little time to pick their targets and drop their
bombs. However, "that meant anchoring the CANBERRA in a situation where if the
stern had swung around, it would have hit the beach. If you hit the stern on the beach
and damaged the propellers, you would be there forever. So, you were totally dependent
on the wind and, of course, that was completely contrary to anything the captain of the
ship would have ever been used to. The idea was, if necessary, we would get a warship
to push the stern [to prevent it from swinging]."
The Landing
In the darkness of 21 May, CANBERRA, the landing ships, ships carrying tanks and
other equipment and their Royal Navy escorts entered the channel and then sailed into
an inlet called San Carlos Water. The escorts bombarded Fanning Head, a hill
overlooking San Carlos Water, which was known to be occupied by Argentinean troops.
While the bombardment was going on, CANBERRA anchored and lowered its lifeboats
to put the troops ashore in the same manner it would have landed vacationers during a
call on a Caribbean island. "We put 4,000 troops ashore. None of them were injured
getting to the beach. Quite a lot of them were injured subsequently but they all made it
to the beach."
The South Atlantic winter was rapidly closing in on the Falklands and the weather had
been mostly gray and stormy since the task force had arrived in the war zone.
However, on 21 May, the day dawned clear and beautiful. It was perfect flying weather.
Plans called for installing a surface-to-air missile battery on the top of Fanning Head.
Once the area was taken, the Army brought Blowpipe missiles to the top of the hill.
However, the planners had failed to consider that some time would be needed to
calibrate the missiles. As a result, the ships were on their own.
"You have to picture a fjord and you are looking out the bridge window, and around
this head came a solitary aircraft. As soon as it came around, the warships that were
shielding us attacked it and shot it down. So, I thought 'That's good, if they carry on
like that we will be fine."
"About an hour later, eight or nine enemy aircraft came in for attack. I guess that is
the first time I realized 'now we are in trouble. Here we are, stuck here in the middle of
these rocks, there is nowhere to go and these guys are trying to kill you.' They were
flying very, very low and you could actually see the pilots. If they came in low and fast,
the Sea Wolf missiles and [other antiaircraft defenses] could not get them."
However, "they hadn't primed their bombs properly [for] flying low like that. The
bomb had to drop a certain distance before the bomb would actually explode. So, many
of them were not actually detonating. They were putting holes in ships but not actually
going off. Others, however, were actually going off. HMS ARDEN, for example, was
very close to us and I saw it hit numerous times in the stern. She sank soon afterwards.
All her survivors came to us."
"Another ship was the ANTRIM. It was hit and the bomb didn't go off. But, then
they sent a team to take the charge out of the bomb and it went off while they were
attempting to defuse it."
"The air attack went on all day. On the bridge, the senior naval officer would watch
the aircraft coming in and would broadcast over the ship: 'Take cover, take cover, take
cover.' The planes would come in and there would be a lot of loud banging. We would
run from standing out on the bridge wings keeping a lookout to trying to lay down on the
deck to take some kind of cover. All around the ship, there were masses of tracers and
everything else these guys had."
"By this stage, troops that were being hurt on the shore were coming to us. It was the
first time I had seen a triage. The doctors were standing there as these poor kids were
coming off the helicopters - - This guy goes this way, this guy goes that way, this guy
has got a chance. One of the main ballrooms was being used as the main operating
theater. Other parts were also used for surgery so they had nets hanging between
where the different surgeons were operating. And that was all there was, just curtains.
There were not [operating] rooms in the usual sense."
"The Argentineans could not fly at night. So, that night once it became dark, we took
the ship out to safe water out of enemy aircraft range. We thanked our lucky stars that
we had survived."
However, this did not end CANBERRA's time under fire. After landing her
troops, CANBERRA was summoned to rendezvous with QE2 at South Georgia, which
was once again in British hands. Early in the conflict, a British submarine had sunk the
Argentinean cruiser BELGRANO, which was the pride of the Argentinean Navy.
Argentina had threatened to get revenge by sinking the most famous British ship, the
QE2, and had leased long range aircraft to seek her. The large and not very
maneuverable ship would be particularly vulnerable in the confined waters surrounding
the Falklands. Therefore, it was decided to transfer the troops that had been brought
south on QE2 over to CANBERRA. In exchange, the wounded and the survivors of the
ships that had been sunk would go to QE2. Accordingly, the exchange was made using
the two ships' boats in an icy bay.
This meant that CANBERRA would have to enter San Carlos Water again. "That
wasn't pleasant because having survived it once, you didn't feel like going back in there
again - - risking your life again. By that time, it was known as Bomb Alley."
Once again, CANBERRA managed to land her troops without incident. However, the
large container ship ATLANTIC CONVEYOR, located about half a mile from
CANBERRA was not so lucky. "An Exocet seeks out the largest target. There was not
much difference in size between the CANBERRA and the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR,.
The ATLANTIC CONVEYOR sank pretty quickly with helicopters, Harrier jets, tanks
and equipment onboard. It was a big loss."
"Having landed all the troops, we were sent off into a holding area between the
Falklands and South Georgia, out of enemy aircraft range. Every so often ships would
come by and drop off casualties but for a long time we were just going around in a big
box of water."
Meanwhile, the troops that had been landed by CANBERRA were proceeding across
East Falkland Island and after some fierce engagements, the Argentinean troops laid
down their arms.
Although the islands had been liberated, the Argentinean junta on the mainland refused
to acknowledge that the war was over. This left the British with a serious problem.
They now had thousands of prisoners and no practical means of taking care of them for
an extended time. Accordingly, it was decided to attempt to return them to Argentina.
"We were tasked to take them back to Argentina while the war was still on, which again
shows you how pathetic the whole thing was. We were playing a sort of chess game
over here in the Falklands and meanwhile we are going to take some of the players back
to their homeland. We loaded them all up, put them in nice cabins, gave them showers,
fed them and everything else."
"As we were approaching [the mainland], an Argentinean warship came out to escort
us - - and we are still at war. They escorted us into the harbor. They put a curfew on
the town. No one was allowed to see [the disembarkation] and then they discharged all
the prisoners. Then, the question was whether they were going to let us out, which they
did. It was all a matter of honor."
After returning to the Falklands to re-embark some of the British troops, CANBERRA
sailed for home. "When we went ashore [on the Falklands] there were just piles of
ammunition, just stacks and stacks of it, just like bonfires made of guns. You could take
whatever you wanted. You could pick up a magnum here, something else there. We all
had these mementos. As we are coming up the English Channel, the Deputy Captain
made an announcement that British Customs are quite aware that you have picked up
mementos and you might be taken to prison if you are found coming ashore with
weapons. It would be a very serious offense. Soon all down the side of the ship there
were guns being tossed over."
"We came home to a fantastic reception. We had about three and a half thousand men
on board. The [Southampton] docks were totally open to the public and there were
masses and masses. It was a lovely summers day and there were boats all over the
place, tugs with flowers. Prince Charles flew onto the ship and so I met Prince Charles."
"As we were approaching the docks, we suddenly realized that the ship had such a list
to it caused by all the men looking for their wives and girlfriends that [the ship would
collide with the cranes that lined the docks]. So, they had to order these men to get
back on the other side. Of course, nobody was too keen to go to the other side because
their wives and girlfriends are down there. So, the guns came out. The poor guys had
gone through all this and now the military police orders them back to the other side of
the ship or else."
"Once we got home, there were street parties, all kinds of celebrations. Once you've
been home, reality sets in about what you have done and seen. Then, the reaction is
quite bad for awhile. You would have a lightning storm and you would be pulling
mattresses over you on the floor. It makes you wonder even now, quite how much that
affected all of us. It was very quick, very intense. It wasn't long and drawn out. There
was a lot of carnage in a short time on both sides."
"It was very intense, very grey, not too many highpoints, really. Having said that, it is
one of those things you are glad to have been on for the experience and even more glad
to have come back."
After refueling in Sierra Leone, CANBERRA sailed to Ascension Island where the
invasion force was forming. Upon sailing, the ship came entirely under military control.
However, Lane's role grew rather than diminished. "I went with the senior naval officer
everywhere to all of the different planning meetings to see how we were going to get the
ship into these places. This planning took a lot of time flying around in helicopters and a
lot of meetings. Many decisions had to be taken that were completely contrary to what I
had been trained up to that point."
As the task force moved south toward the Falklands, the military made full use of
CANBERRA's facilities. "CANBERRA had two restaurants. The first class restaurant
was kept open for the officers. You had regular service and the food was better than
you would normally have [and there was] wine. The other restaurant was used for
everybody else. They got all their meals on pressed trays. But, there were no
complaints about the food. Different bars became pubs for different levels. Where we
were fortunate was that we had a full military band onboard. It could play anything
from a full march to pop or disco things. [In addition to entertainment by the band], they
had beer night, quiz night, tugs of war and different games on decks between the
different divisions. They were trying to maintain pretty high morale.”
"I can remember having a [formal] dinner. I had dinner with quite a few senior officers
that were going to be involved in the landings, some of whom didn't come back."
The British plan for re-taking the Falklands envisioned that there would be an initial
assault by the troops traveling in CANBERRA and then at a subsequent point, these
troops would be reinforced by the troops traveling in QE2. Thus, the entire strategy was
dependent upon these two ocean liners.
"Somebody realized as we were approaching the Falklands, that now we were within
range of enemy aircraft. With 4,000 troops onboard had the ship been hit, that [would
have been] the end of the game. So, they decided in the middle of the South Atlantic
that we were going to transfer half these troops to other ships. Fortunately, we managed
to get a day when that was possible to do it. We transferred many of the troops over to
different landing craft. [However, the landing craft could only carry the troops for a
short time] because they didn't have the accommodations."
With the task force no in the war zone, there was "a lot of navigation without radar.
Of course, there were no lights either. So, you have got to occasionally flick it on to get
a position and turn it off again. You couldn't manage with it totally off. You just
wanted to not have it on long enough so that somebody could actually track it."
The Falklands consist of two large islands separated by a channel. The Argentineans
expected that the British would land near Port Stanley, the islands' main settlement
located on the eastern side of East Falkland Island. Accordingly, they had deployed the
majority of their 10,000 man force in that vicinity.
The British had no intention of making a frontal assault against a numerically superior
enemy in fortified positions. Therefore, the plan was to land the troops on the western
side of East Falkland and then approach Port Stanley overland from behind. However,
to do this the invasion force would have to enter the channel between the two islands
and remain in confined waters while the landings took place.
To reduce the task force's vulnerability to air attacks, the planners looked for a fjord-
like landing area - - a narrow inlet with steep mountains on either side. Such a place
would afford the Argentine pilots relatively little time to pick their targets and drop their
bombs. However, "that meant anchoring the CANBERRA in a situation where if the
stern had swung around, it would have hit the beach. If you hit the stern on the beach
and damaged the propellers, you would be there forever. So, you were totally dependent
on the wind and, of course, that was completely contrary to anything the captain of the
ship would have ever been used to. The idea was, if necessary, we would get a warship
to push the stern [to prevent it from swinging]."
The Landing
In the darkness of 21 May, CANBERRA, the landing ships, ships carrying tanks and
other equipment and their Royal Navy escorts entered the channel and then sailed into
an inlet called San Carlos Water. The escorts bombarded Fanning Head, a hill
overlooking San Carlos Water, which was known to be occupied by Argentinean troops.
While the bombardment was going on, CANBERRA anchored and lowered its lifeboats
to put the troops ashore in the same manner it would have landed vacationers during a
call on a Caribbean island. "We put 4,000 troops ashore. None of them were injured
getting to the beach. Quite a lot of them were injured subsequently but they all made it
to the beach."
The South Atlantic winter was rapidly closing in on the Falklands and the weather had
been mostly gray and stormy since the task force had arrived in the war zone.
However, on 21 May, the day dawned clear and beautiful. It was perfect flying weather.
Plans called for installing a surface-to-air missile battery on the top of Fanning Head.
Once the area was taken, the Army brought Blowpipe missiles to the top of the hill.
However, the planners had failed to consider that some time would be needed to
calibrate the missiles. As a result, the ships were on their own.
"You have to picture a fjord and you are looking out the bridge window, and around
this head came a solitary aircraft. As soon as it came around, the warships that were
shielding us attacked it and shot it down. So, I thought 'That's good, if they carry on
like that we will be fine."
"About an hour later, eight or nine enemy aircraft came in for attack. I guess that is
the first time I realized 'now we are in trouble. Here we are, stuck here in the middle of
these rocks, there is nowhere to go and these guys are trying to kill you.' They were
flying very, very low and you could actually see the pilots. If they came in low and fast,
the Sea Wolf missiles and [other antiaircraft defenses] could not get them."
However, "they hadn't primed their bombs properly [for] flying low like that. The
bomb had to drop a certain distance before the bomb would actually explode. So, many
of them were not actually detonating. They were putting holes in ships but not actually
going off. Others, however, were actually going off. HMS ARDEN, for example, was
very close to us and I saw it hit numerous times in the stern. She sank soon afterwards.
All her survivors came to us."
"Another ship was the ANTRIM. It was hit and the bomb didn't go off. But, then
they sent a team to take the charge out of the bomb and it went off while they were
attempting to defuse it."
"The air attack went on all day. On the bridge, the senior naval officer would watch
the aircraft coming in and would broadcast over the ship: 'Take cover, take cover, take
cover.' The planes would come in and there would be a lot of loud banging. We would
run from standing out on the bridge wings keeping a lookout to trying to lay down on the
deck to take some kind of cover. All around the ship, there were masses of tracers and
everything else these guys had."
"By this stage, troops that were being hurt on the shore were coming to us. It was the
first time I had seen a triage. The doctors were standing there as these poor kids were
coming off the helicopters - - This guy goes this way, this guy goes that way, this guy
has got a chance. One of the main ballrooms was being used as the main operating
theater. Other parts were also used for surgery so they had nets hanging between
where the different surgeons were operating. And that was all there was, just curtains.
There were not [operating] rooms in the usual sense."
"The Argentineans could not fly at night. So, that night once it became dark, we took
the ship out to safe water out of enemy aircraft range. We thanked our lucky stars that
we had survived."
However, this did not end CANBERRA's time under fire. After landing her
troops, CANBERRA was summoned to rendezvous with QE2 at South Georgia, which
was once again in British hands. Early in the conflict, a British submarine had sunk the
Argentinean cruiser BELGRANO, which was the pride of the Argentinean Navy.
Argentina had threatened to get revenge by sinking the most famous British ship, the
QE2, and had leased long range aircraft to seek her. The large and not very
maneuverable ship would be particularly vulnerable in the confined waters surrounding
the Falklands. Therefore, it was decided to transfer the troops that had been brought
south on QE2 over to CANBERRA. In exchange, the wounded and the survivors of the
ships that had been sunk would go to QE2. Accordingly, the exchange was made using
the two ships' boats in an icy bay.
This meant that CANBERRA would have to enter San Carlos Water again. "That
wasn't pleasant because having survived it once, you didn't feel like going back in there
again - - risking your life again. By that time, it was known as Bomb Alley."
Once again, CANBERRA managed to land her troops without incident. However, the
large container ship ATLANTIC CONVEYOR, located about half a mile from
CANBERRA was not so lucky. "An Exocet seeks out the largest target. There was not
much difference in size between the CANBERRA and the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR,.
The ATLANTIC CONVEYOR sank pretty quickly with helicopters, Harrier jets, tanks
and equipment onboard. It was a big loss."
"Having landed all the troops, we were sent off into a holding area between the
Falklands and South Georgia, out of enemy aircraft range. Every so often ships would
come by and drop off casualties but for a long time we were just going around in a big
box of water."
Meanwhile, the troops that had been landed by CANBERRA were proceeding across
East Falkland Island and after some fierce engagements, the Argentinean troops laid
down their arms.
Although the islands had been liberated, the Argentinean junta on the mainland refused
to acknowledge that the war was over. This left the British with a serious problem.
They now had thousands of prisoners and no practical means of taking care of them for
an extended time. Accordingly, it was decided to attempt to return them to Argentina.
"We were tasked to take them back to Argentina while the war was still on, which again
shows you how pathetic the whole thing was. We were playing a sort of chess game
over here in the Falklands and meanwhile we are going to take some of the players back
to their homeland. We loaded them all up, put them in nice cabins, gave them showers,
fed them and everything else."
"As we were approaching [the mainland], an Argentinean warship came out to escort
us - - and we are still at war. They escorted us into the harbor. They put a curfew on
the town. No one was allowed to see [the disembarkation] and then they discharged all
the prisoners. Then, the question was whether they were going to let us out, which they
did. It was all a matter of honor."
After returning to the Falklands to re-embark some of the British troops, CANBERRA
sailed for home. "When we went ashore [on the Falklands] there were just piles of
ammunition, just stacks and stacks of it, just like bonfires made of guns. You could take
whatever you wanted. You could pick up a magnum here, something else there. We all
had these mementos. As we are coming up the English Channel, the Deputy Captain
made an announcement that British Customs are quite aware that you have picked up
mementos and you might be taken to prison if you are found coming ashore with
weapons. It would be a very serious offense. Soon all down the side of the ship there
were guns being tossed over."
"We came home to a fantastic reception. We had about three and a half thousand men
on board. The [Southampton] docks were totally open to the public and there were
masses and masses. It was a lovely summers day and there were boats all over the
place, tugs with flowers. Prince Charles flew onto the ship and so I met Prince Charles."
"As we were approaching the docks, we suddenly realized that the ship had such a list
to it caused by all the men looking for their wives and girlfriends that [the ship would
collide with the cranes that lined the docks]. So, they had to order these men to get
back on the other side. Of course, nobody was too keen to go to the other side because
their wives and girlfriends are down there. So, the guns came out. The poor guys had
gone through all this and now the military police orders them back to the other side of
the ship or else."
"Once we got home, there were street parties, all kinds of celebrations. Once you've
been home, reality sets in about what you have done and seen. Then, the reaction is
quite bad for awhile. You would have a lightning storm and you would be pulling
mattresses over you on the floor. It makes you wonder even now, quite how much that
affected all of us. It was very quick, very intense. It wasn't long and drawn out. There
was a lot of carnage in a short time on both sides."
"It was very intense, very grey, not too many highpoints, really. Having said that, it is
one of those things you are glad to have been on for the experience and even more glad
to have come back."
CANBERRA IN THE
FALKLANDS
(CONTINUED)
FALKLANDS
(CONTINUED)
Cruise ship article - - Canberra In The Falklands War - page 2