THE FALKLANDS CAMPAIGN 1982

HMS BRILLIANT BREAKS THE 100 DAYS AT SEA MARK

Three Argentinean bombs meant for the Devonport-based frigate, HMS Brilliant, ricocheted off the sea and bounced right over her. That escape came on May 12th when HMS Brilliant, the first British warship to sail for the South Atlantic, was operating close to the Falkland Islands.

She went on to escape serious damage in "bomb alley" after the British landings at San Carlos, although she was hit be cannon shells from an Argentinean jet.

HMS Brilliant, which was accepted into service in April, 1981, had been at sea for 107 days and nights when she returned from the South Atlantic to a hero's welcome.

She was the first surface ship in the Royal Navy to break the 100 days at sea barrier since the Second World War. Her other Falklands 'firsts' included being the first ship to use the Lynx helicopter and the Sea Wolf missile in action.

Captain John Coward commanded the Type 22 frigate during the Falklands campaign and was awarded the DSO. Six of his ship's company were Mentioned in Dispatches. Her laundryman, Mr. Kang, from Singapore, was awarded the BEM.

HMS Brilliant was ordered to sail from Gibraltar on March 28th. Her voyage south from Ascension Island was made at breakneck speed.

She strained against the weather and came through with flying colours.

HMS Brilliant was detached from the group of ships she was with to steam at full speed to South Georgia. Her two Lynx helicopters were much needed after two Wessex helicopters, which had been carrying SAS troops on operations in South Georgia, crashed.

As she raced to join HMS Antrim, HMS Plymouth and HMS Endurance for the operation to seize South Georgia back from the Argentineans, there was a very real threat from an Argentinean submarine known to be in the area.

The decision was made to locate and destroy the enemy submarine and it was to play into British hands in a most unexpected way.

As HMS Brilliant closed with South Georgia, the presence of an enemy submarine was not her only preoccupation. A number of satellite reported indicated icebergs and brash ice in the area. She could not slow her dash towards Grytviken and Captain Coward could not use radar because it would have given his ship's position away.

Her Lynx helicopters were launched at first light as she closed the coast and two hours later came the staggering news that the Argentinean submarine, A.R.A. Santa Fe, had been spotted on the surface leaving Grytviken.

Beside her helicopter's, Endurance, Antrim and Plymouth all had their aircraft up searching for the submarine. "They descended on the submarine like a swarm of bees, dropping everything they had", said Captain Coward.

A Wasp helicopter dropped small depth charges, one of Brilliant's Lynx dropped a homing torpedo and the other strafed the submarine with machine-gun fire.

Santa Fe's captain had turned back for Grytviken in his stricken boat. The bridge was damaged and he was conning her through the periscope. As she beached alongside in Grytviken, her crew abandoned her and later Brilliant's diving officer, Lt. Chris Sherman, went down to place a charge to disable the submarine further. Once the Santa Fe was out of the picture the submarine threat was removed and the Army commander decided the he would not wait a minute longer to go ashore. The ships formed in a line under the towering glaciers of Grytviken and started what must have been the first British Naval bombardment since World War II. Captain Coward said : "The noise was incredible. It was multiplied because Grytviken had towering vertical mountains coming down into the sea. Every shell burst was accompanies by a hundred echoes. It must have put the fear of God into the Argentineans".

Brilliant's helicopters ferried ashore parties of SAS men, who had earlier been cross-decked to the ship. Soon the white flag was flying over Grytviken and the Argentinean commander was offering his surrender over the VHF radio.

Four days later, HMS Brilliant sailed from South Georgia to rejoin the carrier battle group which was approaching the Total Exclusion Zone (T.E.Z). A few days later she was detached for hush-hush operations close inshore.

May 12th saw her close to the Falklands with the Type 42 destroyer HMS Glasgow, which had been ordered to bombard Argentinean positions around Port Stanley.

HMS Glasgow began shelling, but the British radars soon detected enemy aircraft approaching. HMS Brilliant positioned herself between HMS Glasgow and the threat and prepared to fire the first Sea Wolf missiles used in a real attack.

Twelve Skyhawk jets were broken into four waves for the attack and the Sea Wolf missiles destroyed two in the first wave. A third plane crashed into the sea taking evasive action and the fourth turned away after dropping bombs and was thought to have been shot down by Argentinean fire over Port Stanley.

The second wave of Skyhawks managed to release some bombs. One went through the engine room of HMS Glasgow. It entered the starboard side and shot out of the port side - without exploding !

Three bombs meant for HMS Brilliant bounced over her after ricocheting off the sea. One went over the flight deck, one between her masts and one bounced over the bridge.

The bomb in Glasgow had been close to the water line, but she was escorted back to the main group of ships where repairs were put in hand.

On May 19th, HMS Brilliant recovered eight SAS men, who survived when their helicopter ditched. Tragically, 21 of the crack regiment died in that crash just two days before D-Day and the British landings at San Carlos.

Lt. Cdr. Morris, Brilliant's S.O. recalls the early hours of D-Day as being sunny, calm and you could see sheep grazing on the hillsides of Falkland Sound. Then the Argentinean planes started to come in. It was a day of savage air attacks against the British ships. The Devonport frigate HMS Ardent, was sunk and other ships damaged.

When HMS Antrim was damaged, HMS Brilliant took over control of the defending Sea Harriers and her First Lt., Lt. Cdr. Hulme, directed the British planes in many successful engagements.

Captain Coward moved from a position in Falkland Sound into the neck of the anchorage to improve close in air cover. This had two effects, it improved air defence of the anchorage, but it put the radar in the shadow of the land which was only a matter of yards away. Techniques had not yet been developed that were successful for using Sea Wolf under these conditions, so once again, close in defence fell back to the Mark I eye ball and the Bofors and machine-guns.

A Mirage jet attacked Brilliant with cannon fire and shells swept up her starboard side. One shell penetrated the operations room and three men had to be transferred to the hospital ship SS Uganda with slight injuries.

Some electrical compartments were damaged, but Capt. Coward said his engineers managed to get the systems working again by nightfall.

HMS Brilliant left 'bomb alley' on May 25th to rejoin the carrier group. It was Argentine's national day and a day for massed air attacks on the British ships. HMS Broadsword, Brilliant's sister ship was hit, the destroyer HMS Coventry, was sunk and the container ship Atlantic Conveyor was hit by an Exocet missile. The container ship was about 4½ miles from Brilliant and the warship picked up 24 survivors.

Lt. Cdr. Morris said that the Atlantic Conveyor's older men look very cold and very shocked, but one of her officers had a survival suit on. He came into the wardroom, unzipped the suit, stepped out in full Merchant Navy uniform and asked when the bar opened.

From then until the Argentinean surrender on June 14th, HMS Brilliant was engaged in convoy duties before she started the 8,000 miles voyage home.

Captain Coward said the campaign had been a fine vindication of HMS Brilliant's design. "The ship's company demonstrated the thoroughness of modern naval training," he said "I have no worries about any of them at any time, If they had any worries, they certainly never showed them."

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