Operation Tidespring Part 7
Somewhere East of the Falklands, 22nd April 1983, 09:33 local (13:33 GMT)
“Eagle Six, this is Control, we have four contacts approaching at high speed from 0-4-5.”
The two Argentine F-4s changed their course in that direction. Their own Carriers were on their way back to base for re-provisioning so this could only mean that the British Fleet had arrived. Neither of the groups of Fighters had their own RDF engaged and instead relied on their ARCS[1] aircraft to provide them with intercept data until they were close enough that detection of Fighter RDF made no difference. Both the F-4s and the Rapiers carried an Air-superiority load-out, and due to the proximity of Port Stanley Airport and two British Carriers respectively neither wasted a hard point with fuel tanks. Both sides had detected each other almost simultaneously, but the British had the advantage that they could conceal their home base whereas the Argentine fliers couldn't. The Argentine Aircraft were, like the British armed with a mixed load-out of Infrared and RDF guided missiles.
“Eagle Six, flight profile suggests British Carrier aircraft. You are ordered to intercept the enemy immediately.”
“Roger that, Control.” the Flight leader replied. The two F-4s engaged their afterburners to close the distance. Their threat receivers showed them that they were painted by an RDF set out to sea but for the moment no fighter had locked onto them.
“Eagle Six, Control. Contacs are on relative bearing 010 from your present course 12 miles out, be advised we have scrambled the Alert-Five aircraft to reinforce you.”
“Acknowledged. Preparing to engage.”
He flipped the switch that armed the Sidewinder 12[2] ATAMs and his RIO turned on the RDF set in the nose of their Fighter. Almost immediately they saw the four planes that had to be Rapiers. The British planes bore in, having superiority in numbers, but the moment they detected the four Alert-Five Fighters they turned away and engaged their own afterburners. They were at the very edge of the engagement envelope of Eagle Flight so the Argentine Pilots followed them in and fired two missiles each. The British took evasive manoeuvres and ejected flares when the missiles came close, all four avoiding being hit.
Eagle flight, now reinforced to six planes, followed them, always wary of a trap and was drawn ever farther away.
What they did not know was that the four Rapiers had merely been a diversion, designed to draw the Argentine defenders out. The real strike was coming in at wavetop level in the person of two Blackburn Buccaneers, each armed with two Red Top Mk.VI[3] for self-defence and two Green Arrow Anti-Radiation missiles. They had flown a wide arc out to sea in order to approach Port Stanley Airport from the south-west, they had re-fuelled from a third Buccaneer and were now flying as low as they could to avoid detection for as long as possible.
The tanker Blackburn Buccaneer about to launch from HMS King George VI[4]
At eighty miles out they rose to five-hundred feet and fired their missiles before turning away. The Green Arrows rose to 12 kms height and then began to search for the frequencies for which their seeker heads had been programmed. The Buccaneers and the missiles had been detected almost immediately and the Mobile RDF sets that had been placed near Port Stanley and the guidance sets of the AAM battery on the ground immediately shut down. The missiles went into loiter mode, slowly floating downwards on small parachutes while the Argentine Fighter Controller tried to decide if it was prudent to re-engage his systems, because for all he knew the strike Aircraft which had to be Buccaneers were the forward edge of a massive Able strike coming in from the two British Carriers that were reportedly in the area. In the end the RDF sets were ordered to switch on and off in irregular intervals. Within seconds from re-engaging the Air Search set on one of the peaks around Port Stanley was switched on, one of the Green Arrows re-engaged it's engine and homed in on the location. The set was immediately turned off again once it picked up the missile, but to no avail as the seeker head had memorized the location and impacted two feet from the trailer with the antennae on top, the other Green Arrows homed in on targets of their own. Within six minutes two more RDF sets were destroyed with another one heavily damaged and the efficiency of the Argentine Air Defences was seriously degraded.
Aboard HMS Ark Royal, five-hundred miles to the East of the Falklands, 14:02 GMT
“The entire strike made it back without damage, Sir.” Ark Royal's Cag said.
Vice Admiral Kaveney nodded. “Have them recovered ASAP. Flags, signal the KG 6 that we will re-join Force Z-Baker as soon as they are on deck.”
“Yes, Sir.” came the acknowledgement from the Communications Officer.
“Well Cag, it seems your plan worked.”
“That it did, Admiral, though I doubt the Argies will fall for it again, and we didn't even shoot down a single of their Phantoms.”
“Probably, but from now on every contact will make them run around like headless chickens and give us time to join up with Formidable before the Argies sortie all their strike aircraft.”
In the light of the immense air strength on East Falkland and the danger of two Argentine Carriers, the Admiralty had decided to send a third Carrier. The closest one had been HMS Formidable on her way to a deployment with the Pacific Fleet. She was of the Implacable Class[5] and therefore not Nuclear, she had expedited re-fuelling at the British base at Freetown and made a Speed run to join up with Force Z, being expected here the day after tomorrow. Kaveney would have preferred that Illustrious be re-called from the Indian Ocean, but these exercises with the ANZAC navies had been laid on for the better part of a year and there was a lot of political pressure to let them go ahead.
“Flags?” he yelled all over the bridge.
“Sir?”
“Has there been any news on the position of the Argie Carriers?”
“No, Sir. The last NAVCOM bulletin had them just off the mainland on their way back out.”
Forward Deck of HMS Thunderchild, 50 miles to the south, the same time
The BBC reporter was standing with his back to the forward turret so that the his camera man had three of the nine 16 inch guns in his field of vision. Each of the Capital ships in the British task force had been graced with the presence of teams of reporters from the major TV services and Newspapers, even though especially the lower deck sailors mostly used different words. However, if the Indonesian War had taught the Navy one thing, it was that shutting out the press completely didn't really work nor help operational security very much, while in the time since there was a sort of Gentlemen's agreement between Press and Armed Forces that operational matters wouldn't be reported on if the services disapproved of it.[6]
“For the last two days Force Z has steamed in circles somewhere in the South Atlantic. A few hours ago we saw several flights of Navy Aircraft zoom overhead and we have been told by the Captain that the Fleet Air Arm has at last begun offensive operation against the Occupation Force on the Falklands.” He paused because as if on cue, two Rapiers raced over head.
“We also know that the Argentine Navy has two Aircraft Carriers of it's own at sea and it is quite obvious that the Fleet's main priority is to ensure the safety of the Task Force, even if that means that the two Argentine Carriers and their escorts have to be attacked and sunk.”
“Around us the ships of the task Force prepare themselves for what shapes up to be the biggest naval clash since the end of World War Two while here aboard HMS Thunderchild the crew is highly motivated to do what must be done.”
He paused for emphasis.
“It can be said without question that the Royal Navy stands ready to repel the invasion of the Falklands and that the sailors and ships are well prepared, the news of the loss of British Airways Flight 944 has only increased this determination.”
“So far no more is known other than that British and Argentine Aircraft have exchanged missile fire and that the Fleet Air Arm has begun to bomb Argentine positions on the Falklands, however rumours that the Queen's Own Royal Gurkha Airborne Rifle Regiment[7] has been embarked on transports have been strenuously denied. This is Richard Briar, BBC World News.”
Gunner's Ratings Mess, aboard HMS Dreadnought, 19:00 GMT
Being Off-Duty had it's perks Able Seaman Johnson decided. The ship was at cruising stations, which meant that while all the weapons systems were operational and everything was ready for battle the normal watch rotations were kept, which allowed the ratings among the Gunnery department to assemble for the customary Friday evening Film. As the titles and theme of “Sink the Hood!” rolled over the screen of the TV in the mess, Johnson couldn't help but smile, for this was his absolute favourite. His Grandfather had served aboard the titular ship during the Battle of Kristianssand and it was a family legend how his Grandfather had taken his father to see the film in the theatre when it had first come out. Edward R. Murrows passionate description of the Battle followed and even eighteen years after his death it still managed to capture the imagination of those watching, for it had been this Battle that had once and for all destroyed the spectre of Invasion and total defeat for Democracy during World War Two.
“Oy Lofty, can you turn that up?” one of his mess mates yelled and Johnson obediently rose, turned up the volume of the TV to almost two thirds and sat back down. As the massive Bismarck slid into the water for the first time Johnson couldn't help but wonder who would be the Bismarck in what had to be a massive clash on the open sea.
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Comments, questions, rotten tomatoes?
[1] TTL term for AEW.
[2] AIM 9-Lima. Again, the Argentines are benefiting from being best chums with the Americans, being the first export customer of this still very new All aspect attack missile. American tech in general is lagging some ten years behind that of 'the West', less in some areas and more in others. For example, the M1 Abrams won't appear in US Service until 1990 and will have a normal Diesel Engine.
[3] The RAF and the FAA stuck with the Rainbow Code. TTL its Red = Air to Air Conventional, Orange = Air to Air Nuclear, Blue = Air to Ground Nuclear, Green = Air to Ground conventional. This particular version of the Red Top is a true, full on all-aspect missile, while the Green Arrow is in essence a less advanced ALARM.
[4] In actuality the last-ever launch from HMS Eagle.
[5] The few Implacables still in service are comparable to the long-hull Essex Class in terms of capabilities.
[6] So if, say, it was discovered that a lot of Argentine Bombs were duds, the embedded reporters wouldn't report on it since the Navy would obviously like to keep this secret. On the whole TTL the press is tamer than OTL, but still as free as we know it to be.
[7] Used to be an entire brigade, but when the 6th Airborne Division was reorganized during the latter part of the war, one Regiment was split off to form the core of an Indian Para division while the (then-) 1st Royal Gurkha Airborne Rifles earned the honorary name. Yes. Gurkha Paratroopers, complete with maroon beret and all. Overall the Brits have one active Airborne Division (the 6th) with one more in reserve (the 1st) that is little more than a Divisional and two Brigade HQ and which would be brought up to strength with TA units from all over the Empire.
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