Ricky D Phillips - Military Historian

For everyone following my retelling of the build-up to the Falklands invasion, please remember I have two books on the subject: The First Casualty and its companion Pictorial History, both available on Amazon 😊 amazon.co.uk/s?k=ricky+d+ph…

Cartoon Rick here, drawing May 4th to a close, and it's my biggest one to date so far... lots to digest, but for the British, the war has taken a decidedly dark turn. So far it had been a walkover, but with a Sea Harrier down and a Destroyer hit and on fire, things look bad. 1/2

May 4th 1982: Woodward writes to CINCFLEET Fieldhouse after a long and trying day: "Not a good day, and a poor exchange for a clapped out cruiser, a search & rescue tug and a job lot of spics flying ageing Canberras..." 1/2

May 4th 1982: Sheffield continues to burn. In all, 20 men are killed and 26 injured. British casualties in the Falklands war are now 22 killed, 28 injured in total, almost all of whom from Sheffield... 1/2

May 4th 1982: The Argentine Super Etendard pilots land back at base. Already there is an announcement that an Argentine Exocet has hit a British Destroyer. "What about the other one?" asks one of the pilots... 1/2

May 4th 1982: Twenty of Sheffield's crew are killed, the rest are saved though many are wounded. Captain Sam Salt is flown to Hermes, where Sandy Woodward greets him with; "Sounds like you've been pretty careless, Sam..." which Salt recalled "didn't help my rock-bottom morale".

May 4th 1982: As HMS Yarmouth fights fires on Sheffield, someone calls out "Torpedo!" and men look down to see what looks like a torpedo sails past her, narrowly missing, but the crew on deck see the bubbles as it passes by... 1/2

May 4th 1982: As HMS Sheffield is abandoned and the fire spreads towards the Sea Dart ammunition, the remaining crew gather on the foredeck singing "Always look on the bright side of life".

May 4th 1982: HMS Yarmouth joins in the rescue and over 200 sailors clamber to safety, as every effort is made to save the ship, with many resorting to buckets of water. Captain Sam Salt recalled that it was "Something I'll never forget. A pathetic attempt but marvellous spirit".

May 4th: HMS Arrow is quickly on the scene to help fight the fires on Sheffield. It is obvious that she has taken a serious hit. The fires are raging and black, poisonous smoke is filling the ship as the crew are taken off...

May 4th 1982: The Exocet's remaining fuel erupts into flames, and the missile has struck the vital nerve centre of the ship, knocking out damage control & fire suppression systems, as thick smoke from melting cables becomes unbreathable, but the crew still fight the raging fires.

May 4th 1982: The first Exocet, decoyed by chaff, races past HMS Yarmouth and crashes into the sea, but the second Exocet ploughs into HMS Sheffield. In seconds, she is engulfed in flame and smoke. A lone voice on the radio suddenly announces the words: "Sheffield is hit".

May 4th 1982: "Handbrake!" Exocets are detected, and HMS Yarmouth deploys chaff and sees one missile sail past, as everyone on every ship is on the deck or bracing... Everyone except the crew of HMS Sheffield which is transmitting and temporarily blind....

May 4th 1982: The position of the British ships facing the Argentine attack... The first Exocet was fired at the biggest target, HMS Hermes, the second at the closest, HMS Sheffield, so as to at least get one hit...

May 4th 1982: Argentine pilots keep their radars locked on. Out front of the British ships are Type 42 Destroyers HMS Sheffield, Glasgow and Coventry. One Argentine pilot takes an easy shot, the other aims for the biggest blip, Hermes, but knows it's only a half chance at best...

May 4th 1982: The two Super Etendards fly at just 50 feet from the sea for 200 miles, then "pop-up" to switch on tracking radar, selecting a large contact before diving low again. At twelve miles out, the pilots select their targets and prepare to fire Exocet...

May 4th 1982: At 10.05 the Neptune finds the two Super Etendards now in company, and uses its long range radar to guide them in closer towards the largest targets, hopefully, for them, the British carriers...

May 4th 1982: A fascinating map (in German, but you can work it out) showing in purple, the route of the Argentine Neptune spotter simulating search and rescue patterns whilst acquiring target data, and in green, the Super Etendards approaching. British ships are marked by an X.

May 4th 1982: The Argentine forces scramble two Super Etendard jets armed with the deadly AM-39 Exocet, determined to sink a British warship; ideally an aircraft carrier. Argentina had five of these war-winning weapons, although the UK was unaware that they were operational.

May 4th 1982: At 07.15 an Argentine Neptune reconnaissance aircraft takes off and simulates a search & rescue pattern to fool the British that it is searching for Belgrano survivors, whilst tracking RN radar emissions. It soon reports back three contacts of the Destroyer screen.

May 4th 1982: The hunt for Belgrano survivors goes on. Now most of the rafts found are empty or have dead men on board, but the very last raft found contains Captain Hector Bonzo & 19 others, two of whom have passed away, and all are dragged to safety by the tiny tug Gurruchaga.