Aircraft carriers ‘would win new Falklands war’
THE Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers mean the UK would win a conflict like the Falklands once again, the former head of the Royal Navy has said in an interview marking the 40th anniversary of HMS Ardent sinking during the war.
Admiral Lord West of Spithead praised HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth during an interview to mark the sinking of HMS Ardent, which was under his command when it was attacked on May 21, 1982.
Lord West described the British action to retake the Falkland Islands following the Argentinian invasion as an ‘incredible achievement’.
He said: ‘I think the Falklands must be the closest to a just war that there’s been since the Second World War.’
He added: ‘Could we retake it if they (Argentina) took it over? I think now we’ve got two aircraft carriers, yes.’
Lord West had been in command of the Type 21 frigate for about 18 months when his vessel sustained serious damage from the incoming waves of air attacks in the Falkland Sound.
Lord West said: ‘We were under attack for most of daylight, we had 17 air attacks on my ship.
‘We were straddled by a bomb and we were then hit overall by seven bombs.
‘(One) bomb went in and took the top off one of the fuel tanks which all caught fire and basically killed all the damage control people who were busy trying to fight a fire there already.
‘The bomb came in and killed all of them except for two of them.’
Of a crew of 204, a total of 22 were killed during the attack.
Describing the difficult and heartbreaking decision to abandon ship as the hardest of his life, Lord West said: ‘I still sometimes wake up because I’ve been thinking about it at night.
‘There’s no doubt for the first couple of years after the event, one used to have nightmares all the time about what had happened. "What if I had done this?”’
Portsmouth is preparing to launch a series of celebrations across the region to help commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Falklands conflict and a new memorial plaque will be unveiled in Old Portsmouth, as well as a service and parade on Sunday, June 19.