Falkland wars and deadly Exocet missiles

[airmarshal]

Interesting thread.

I would like to know how does Phalanx CIWS works against anti-ship missile.

I have seen these systems on only one side of the ship. How will it cover the whole ship? How will it destroy a missile homing on the front of the ship while most of the systems I have seen are installed at ship's rear?

 

[Catriel]

The .wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Ascension_Island"]Wideawake airfield on Ascension Island is a joint US-UK airbase

Yes, I was

 

[Catriel]

The Argentinians were not the only ones using anti shipping missiles

The patrol boat wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_Alferez_Sobral_%28A-9%29"]Alferez Sobral which was sent to rescue two downed Canberra pilots was attacked by British Lynx Helicopters carrying wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Skua"]Sea Skua missiles. The ship was badly damaged

Still surf, this in Ushuaia.

Interesting thread.

I would like to know how does Phalanx CIWS works against anti-ship missile.

I have seen these systems on only one side of the ship. How will it cover the whole ship? How will it destroy a missile homing on the front of the ship while most of the systems I have seen are installed at ship's rear?

British ship, had, no CIW phalanx

 

[Catriel]

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Why would any nation keep less then 1000 Exocet stock
How many Missiles are with Pakistani forces , we got plenty of Mirages to drop em YOU KNOW KNOW WHOSE ships

 

[Catriel]

When the military junta Malvinas recovery is not believed that one could go to war, because the CIA submitted a report that the UK did not have the weapons, fuel, and logistics, to put together a task force and send south Atlantic. And it was estimated that gather everything you need, I would have taken until May, and June had come near, and in June they could not combat the cold, so any attempt to re invacion any, had been for after September, or October. That's why most exocet not bought on the black market, or air-to-air missiles for our fighters or bomb Snakeye braking or underwater mines, and night sights for rifles. That's why they had to improvise everything.
And he had little time because the British had everything ready, and only took 48 hours to leave for the South Atlantic, and U.S. and had them in ascension, 200 AIM-9L, 57 million liters of fuel, weapons, spare parts, ammunition , a satellite gathering information.
At least this said John Lehman former Secretary of the U.S. Navy, he said he did so to save the UK from certain defeat.

 

[ashok321]

Yes at that time Argentine had about 10 Exocet missiles.

Margaret Thatcher warned that Britain’s relationship with France would suffer a “devastating” blow if the latter allowed Exocet missiles to be smuggled to Argentina during the Falklands War. Fortunately for Britain, only five of the missiles, manufactured by France’s Aerospatiale, had been delivered before the invasion of the islands on April 2 1982.
One had been used up in training and following the attacks on Sheffield and Atlantic Conveyor just one was left. The junta was desperate for more.

The secret war against Exocet would eventually be won, thanks mainly to a MI6 sting operation undertaken by the Hamburg-based agent, Anthony Divall. Posing as an arms dealer and equipped with a £16 million bank facility, he fooled Argentinian arms buyers into believing he could provide 30 Exocets. They were still undelivered when the Union Flag was hoisted over Port Stanley.

 

[Catriel]

If we had 10 exocet during the war, we had finished with the Royal Navy. Only five were ready for missile AM-39.
He tried to buy 12 missiles, with the help of the Peruvian Air Force.
If they had been 10 missiles instead of just 5, had finished with the Royal Navy, and the United Kingdom, had been forced to make a nuclear attack on Argentina.


Thatcher 'threatened to nuke Argentina'

Margaret Thatcher forced François Mitterrand to give her the codes to disable Argentina's deadly French-made missiles during the Falklands war by threatening to launch a nuclear warhead against Buenos Aires, according to a book.
Rendez-vous - the psychoanalysis of François Mitterrand, by Ali Magoudi, who met the late French president up to twice a week in secrecy at his Paris practice from 1982 to 1984, also reveals that Mr Mitterrand believed he would get his "revenge" by building a tunnel under the Channel which would forever destroy Britain's island status.

The book, to be published on Friday, is one of several on France's first Socialist president to mark the 10th anniversary of his death on January 8 1996. Despite a now tarnished reputation, he remains a source of fascination for the French in general and the left in particular. Rendez-vous provides revealing insights into the man's mysterious character, complicated past, paranoia and power complex, but nothing as titillating as his remarks on the former British prime minister.

"Excuse me. I had a difference to settle with the Iron Lady. That Thatcher, what an impossible woman!" the president said as he arrived, more than 45 minutes late, on May 7 1982. "With her four nuclear submarines in the south Atlantic, she's threatening to unleash an atomic weapon against Argentina if I don't provide her with the secret codes that will make the missiles we sold the Argentinians deaf and blind." He reminded Mr Magoudi that on May 4 an Exocet missile had struck HMS Sheffield. "To make matters worse, it was fired from a Super-Etendard jet," he said. "All the matériel was French!"

In words that the psychoanalyst has sworn to the publisher, Meren Sell, are genuine, the president continued: "She's livid. She blames me personally for this new Trafalgar ... I was obliged to give in. She's got them now, the codes."

Mr Mitterrand - who once described Mrs Thatcher as "the eyes of Caligula and the mouth of Marilyn Monroe" - went on: "One cannot win against the insular syndrome of an unbridled Englishwoman. Provoke a nuclear war for a few islands inhabited by three sheep as hairy as they are freezing! But it's a good job I gave way. Otherwise, I assure you, the Lady's metallic finger would have hit the button."

France, he insisted, would have the last word. "I'll build a tunnel under the Channel. I'll succeed where Napoleon III failed. And do you know why she'll accept my tunnel? I'll flatter her shopkeeper's spirit. I'll tell her it won't cost the Crown a penny."


Thatcher 'threatened to nuke Argentina' | World news | The Guardian

 

[Echo_419]

Why would any nation keep less then 1000 Exocet stock
How many Missiles are with Pakistani forces , we got plenty of Mirages to drop em YOU KNOW KNOW WHOSE ships

On voldemort ships I think
But I don't think he has a navy or even a cost guard

 

[UkroTurk]

I think: very easy, slow, interesting and relaxed war . While they were sending missiles to each other, sun was shining
Today fighters can fly closely to warships?

 

[Penguin]

hello everybody,
Although it is clear that the British easily won the Falkland wars.But It also exposes the weakness of the destroyers against air launched anti-ship missiles.I head read somewhere on the internet that at the time of the war the Argentina only had less than 10 Exocet missiles and with such few missiles they had destroyed 3 British destroyers.And if Argentina had more of them it would had been deadly for the British.I just wanted to confirm is this statement.Did Argentina really had less than 10 Exocet.And also what do you people think about this whole scenario.Are the Air Launched Anti-Ship missiles so deadly.thks for help.

Please note:

• Argentine Navy Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard warplanes carrying the AM39 Air Launched version of the Exocet caused irreparable damage which sank the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Sheffield on 4 May 1982.
• Two Exocets then struck the 15,000 ton merchant ship Atlantic Conveyor on 25 May.
• Two MM38 ship-to-ship Exocet missiles were removed from the old destroyer ARA Seguí, a retired US Navy Allen M. Sumner-class vessel and transferred to an improvised launcher for land use, a technically challenging task which also required reprogramming. One of these was fired at, and caused damage to, the destroyer HMS Glamorgan on 12 June.

The Exocet that struck the Sheffield did not explode. Accounts suggest that the initial impact of the missile disabled the ship's electrical distribution systems and breached the pressurised sea water fire main, severely hampering any firefighting response and eventually dooming the ship to be consumed by the fire. During the four and a half days that the ship remained afloat, five salvage inspections were made and a number of photographs were taken. Members of the crew were interviewed, and testimony was given by Exocet specialists (the Royal Navy had 15 surface combat ships armed with Exocets in the Falklands War). There was no evidence of an explosion, although burning propellant from the rocket motor had caused a number of fires, which could not be checked as a fire main had been put out of action.

The Atlantic Conveyor was a container ship that had been hastily converted to an aircraft transport and was carrying helicopters and supplies. The missiles had been fired at a frigate but had been confused by the frigate's defences and instead targeted the Atlantic Conveyor nearby. The Exocets—it is not certain whether the warheads exploded or not—caused a fire in the fuel and ammunition aboard which burnt the ship out. Atlantic Conveyor sank while under tow three days later.

The Exocet that struck Glamorgan detonated, (a number of crew members witnessed this, as did the Argentines who fired it, the whole event being recorded by a film crew), on the port side of the hangar deck, punching a hole in the deck and galley below, causing fires. The missile body travelled into the hangar and caused a fully fuelled and armed Wessex helicopter to explode. Prompt action by the officers and men at the helm saved the ship.

So, strictly speaking, Exocet did not sink any ships in the way that the missile was intended. It often (relatively speaking)failed to explode. Ship loss was determined by the effectiveness of damage control in general and extinguishing fires in particular.

Likewise the USS Stark in 1987:
The pilot fired the first Exocet missile from a range of 22.5 nautical miles (41.7 km), and the second from 15.5 nautical miles (28.7 km), just about the time Stark issued a standard warning by radio. The frigate did not detect the missiles with radar; warning was given by the lookout only moments before the missiles struck.The first penetrated the port-side hull and failed to detonate, but left flaming rocket fuel in its path. The second entered at almost the same point, and, leaving a 3-by-4-meter gash, exploded in crew quarters. 37 sailors were killed and 21 were injured.
On fire and listing, the frigate was brought under control by its crew during the night. The ship made its way to Bahrain where, after temporary repairs by the tender USS Acadia to make her seaworthy, she returned to her home port of Mayport, Florida, under her own power. The ship was eventually repaired at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi for $142 million.

One should remember that the surface to air missile systems on these ships (if any) weren't specifically designed to deal with sea skimming missiles, unlike e.g. the British Sea Wolf or the US/German RAM. Failure to intercept is often due to surprise (no systems on) or failure to acquire (i.e. fire control / engagement dead angles )

Cannon fire and old fashioned dumb bombs were more effective than Exocet in the Falklands war.
British Ships sunk and damaged - Falklands War 1982