OTS Part 5

Operation Tidespring Part.5

Somewhere outside Buenos Aires, Republic of Argentina, 15^th April 1983, 17:55 local (20:55 GMT)

“In Oslo the League of Nations General Assembly today voted to dismiss the Argentine motion that called on the League to recognize Argentine ownership of the Falklands Islands and bar the British Empire and her Allies from initiating military measures to retake them. Observers in Oslo say that the absence of the Korean Delegate and the clear statement by the Delegate from the People's Republic of China may indicate that...”

The Marshal of the Argentine Army and rule of the entire country switched off the TV set with disgust. Trust the British to put their propaganda machine into overdrive. Still, no one had expected the motion to amount to much of anything and at least the American vote in favour had clearly signalled to the British and their lapdogs that the Seattle pact stood united. It was not as if Marshal Fuentes was a true believer, for him and the faction of the military he controlled the Americans were merely means to an end. However the Junta had risen to power by co-opting the nascant Communist party that the Americans had funded and nurtured in the aftermath of the post-Peron unrest and to stay there the military Government had been forced to play along with them. Fuentes knew that his own seat was about to become very coveted by the 'New Guard' of Officers and party officials that had grown up under the regime and never known it differently, and the recovery of the Malvinas was as much a gesture to prove his own credentials to the Party as a 'simple exercise of logistics' in a very narrow time-frame. Diplomatic efforts to deter a British military reaction had obviously failed. The diplomatic pressure applied by the Americans, the efforts at the League had failed in spite of an un-expected statement of support by the PRC hadn't done much, and with the BBC so obviously trumpeting the news to the world it was now quite obvious that the British really intended to fight. Fuentes had to smile at that. He was confident that if a sustained, prolonged war could be avoided and the Air Force managed to smash or at least heavily damage the British Task Force then it was more than likely that a negotiated solution would be sought after by London.

The only problem was that his Chief Of Staff of the Army was one of the 'Young Guard' and he was more than eager to fight a protracted war with the hated British, but even his party training hadn't fully displaced his military one, so at least he knew that war was a risky thing. On the other hand the Minister for Information was a party hack of the first order. He actually believed the theory that the British were a paper tiger, that their constant oppression of their Colonial subjects and their bourgeoisie, decadent lifestyle wasn't enough to ensure loyalty of those of their subjects that were within their armed forces.

This hadn't been true during World War Two and Fuentes strongly suspected that in the two minor wars the British Empire had fought since this had been even less true. The spectacular failure to recruit defectors from the Marine Contingent using old-fashioned anti-colonial propaganda and speeches that smacked of what had come out of the old Soviet Union before the war was clear evidence of that and the sheer fact that it had happened against Fuente's express orders was evidence of Party credentials the Marshal himself couldn't hope to match and sooner rather than later the Party apparatus would rid itself of the troublesome old man who was at the top of the Government.

“Comrade Marshal, they are waiting.” came the voice of his secretary through the intercom, meaning that the chamber of delegates was awaiting his response to the League's refusal. Time to feed the vultures.

Avro Adelaide 'Littlebird One', somewhere north-east of Puerto Belgrano, 16^th April 1983 02:56 local (05:56 GMT)

The Avro Adelaide was approaching the base from the north, at least it had been. Wing Commander Christopher Blair and his co-Pilot, Todd Marshal were about to fly a wide circle out to the sea and approach the largest Argentine Naval base from the east. Puerto Belgrano was 700 miles to the south, and evading the Air defence systems around Buenos Aires had been easier accomplished by evading them over the sea, even though the eight Rolls-Royce Olympus engines in the two pods on the wings allowed the plane to fly at a speed that would make interception by missiles or aircraft a difficult proposition at least, especially since the whole fleet had been upgraded with new engines in the mid-70s.

“We are coming up on Point Able, Chris.” Marshal said through the Intercom.

“Roger that. Rising to 79.000 feet.”

Blair pulled the stick back and the black aircraft rose to the normal altitude.

[1]

Once there he pushed the throttle forward and the British reconnaissance aircraft increased speed until it cut through the air at Mach 2.5. The maximum safe speed was at Mach 3.2, but the speed of the actual target run was always at pilot's discretion, and Blair liked to have a speed reserve.

The mission Blair and Marshal were to fly tonight was not much different from their old one that had been scrubbed, photographing Argentine and Mexican harbours only differed in terms of Fighter and AAM systems on the ground and the fact that the Argies would have a less restrained trigger finger. True to form they picked up Littlebird One on their Air Defence RDFs almost immediately but at first the operators discounted it as a fluke because of the speed it was travelling at. Argentine Air Defences weren't as well developed as the systems in Canada and the UAPR, but about a dozen major installations were guarded by SAM-14 Nike-Protector batteries that could easily reach the altitude the Adelaides normally operated at. When the Operators in the Air Defence Command centre for the area around the Base realized what they had they followed the standard rules of engagement and fired two missiles from the nearest battery even though Littlebird One just spent seconds at the outer edge of their engagement envelope. Against anything other than the Avro Adelaide this would have been a major problem, but here Wing Commander Blair simply firewalled the throttle as soon as Marshal reported the target acquisition RDF and Littlebird One raced through the air at Mach 3.1. The two missiles were thus left with a side intercept they could not hope to win and the frustrated operators could do nothing more than alert the other commands and scramble their own Fighters, not that it would do much good.

Littlebird One raced along the coast of South America and three more missiles were launched at them over the next half-hour, but even though Blair had again reduced speed to Mach 2.5 by the time most of them reacted, let alone fired the British Aircraft had moved beyond their engagement range, and over the base itself it was little different.

Once 'near' the base Marshal flipped a switch on his controls and the side-ways looking RDF and Camera sets that were arrayed along the centreline of the aircraft went to automatic recording, so all Blair had to do was fly over the Naval Base at no more than Mach 2.2 for the quality of pictures desired by the egg-hats at High Wycombe wanted, but due to the speed with which Littlebird One had made most of the run it appeared over the base itself only less than a quarter minute after the Alarm had been sounded, and by the time the two F-106E/imp[2] on the nearby Airstrip scrambled, Littlebird One was already on the way back out to sea and heading north.

The pictures the mission had yielded were of great interest to the Admiralty, for they showed the remaining surface ships of the Argentine Navy. This meant that save for the Carriers and their escorts the Argentine Fleet was not yet at sea. Most importantly the two Cruisers, the ARA General Belgrano and the ARA Nueve de Julio were present, even though Infra-red Imagery showed that both were taking up steam and preparing to sortie. Satellite coverage down here was spotty at best, so it was more than likely that the base would be visited again soon. Overall though the Admiralty would be pleased. Between this and three more nuclear Submarines in the South Atlantic the Navy was able to account for all the capital units of the Argentine Navy. That one critical unit was missing never entered the mind of anyone, as no one in London or Aldershot was aware of it's existence in the first place.

HMS Coventry, Central Atlantic (exact location classified), 16^th April 1983, 11:22 GMT

“Action Stations, all hands to Action Stations, Captain to the Battlebridge, I repeat Action Stations, Captain to the Battlebridge.”

Yoxall was in the shower when the call came and cursed loudly as he hastily rinsed off the remainder of the foam and scrambled into his uniform. Once outside the cabin that he shared with the Assistant Chief Engineer he struggled into his anti-flash garb and ran towards his own station on the Battlebridge.

He ran through the hatch at about the same time the Captain came in from one on the opposite site.

“What do we have, Guns?” Fleming asked.

Yoxall's eyes quickly flew over the various screens, and within seconds he replied: “Six bandits coming in low and fast from Green-four-niner. No IFF, flight profile suggests F-4 Bombers.”

“Time to AAM range?”

“Thirty seconds at present Speed, Captain.”

“Red dog! Red dog! Red dog! We have missile separation on Contacts Sugar One through Six, six birds in the air!”

“Sea Dart, lock on targets and fire at will.”

The Fire Control computer was still a bit dodgy but for the moment worked properly and immediately took over the firing of the Sea Darts. The first missile was fired scant seconds later as the Harpoon missiles entered the engagement envelope. Thanks the enemy approaching this close there would only be time for two-three salvos. The second salvo was just fired when three Harpoons entered minimum engagement range. Normally now the CIWS turrets would take over, but the Fire Control Computer decided that it was an opportune time to crash, and also the main power grid decided to fail in sympathy and so the Battlebridge was dark as the missiles streaked closer.

After a few more seconds Fleming spoke up: “Well Gentlemen, it's save to say that we are all dead.”

The lights came back on together with the Fire Control Computer and normally they would have now shown that the simulated Argentine Aircraft we swatted out of the sky by the equally simulated Standing Air Patrol from Ark Royal.

“Terribly sorry, Captain.” Yoxall said and wished his face to remain calm. The Fire Control Computer was as much his responsibility as of the Electronics department.

“Just get this fixed. The Argies won't disappear when we shut off the Computers.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Stand down Action Stations.”

Captain Fleming turned around and Yoxall was surprised to hear him mutter something along the lines of: 'That never happens in Pa's books.' as he left the Battlebridge. Shacking the thoughts away Yoxall instead turned to the Fire Control Computer. He picked up the intercom receiver mounted next to his station on the bulkhead and before summoning the electronics Officer he leaned down towards the monitor that now showed the dignostic programme: “We need to have a little chat, Computer.”

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Comments, questions, rotten tomatoes?

I am perfectly serious about the Avro 730. It was a for-real project in the 1950s when OR.330 specified an high-altitude high-speed recce aircraft/bomber that could penetrate Soviet Airspace without being exposed to their Air Defences. As with so many things it died with the 1957 Defence White paper, but then again it would most likely never have flown anyway. ITTL however it did and some 30 were built over the years in all variants (recce only) once it became apparent that the Canberra wasn't fast or long-ranged enough to fly into Seattle Pact airspace from Africa and Canada. OTL it was supposed to be powered by some Handley-Page engines, but I figured that at some point during it's service life ITTL they were replace with Rolls-Royce Olympus power plants. The performance data is shamelessly pinched from the SR-71.#

[1] This is the closest equivalent to what I picture her I could find. Imagine it in a black paintjob.

[2] The OTL F-106E proposal, with some more upgrades over the years with the exception that the American AWACS is TTL not as advanced. I envisaged that the F-102/F-106 are TTLs Mig 21.