HMS Coventry (D118)

HMS "Coventry" (D118) was a Type 42 "(Sheffield Class)" destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by Cammell Laird and Company, Limited, at Birkenhead on 29 January 1973, launched on 21 June 1974 and commissioned on 10th November 1978 at Portsmouth Dockyard.

Following initial trials she was given the task of trialling the Lynx helicopter to determine safe operating limits for the Lynx/Type 42 combination.With the news of Argentina's invasion of the Falklands, Coventry became part of the Advanced Group of the Task Force and set sail for the Falklands and the operation to re-take them - Operation Corporate.

Falklands War

HMS "Coventry" was one of three Type 42 destroyers providing anti aircraft cover for the fleet, but the loss of the "Sheffield" and damage to "Glasgow" (on the 12 May forcing her to return to the UK) left "Coventry" to carry the role alone until other ships could arrive from the UK.

HMS "Coventry" became the first Royal Navy warship to fire the Sea Dart SAM (Surface-to-Air Missiles) in anger when the ship fired three on 9 May destroying two A-4 Skyhawks of FAA Grupo 4, with one aircraft found on South Jason Island. Lt Casco and Lt Farias were both killed. The third was fired at a Hercules on a supply run but it escaped unharmed as the Sea Dart was fired at maximum range.

Some reports suggest that these two Skyhawks were lost in bad weather, however "Coventry" did fire at distant contacts at the same time Lt Casco and Lt Farias were lost and the targets disappeared from radar, but hits could not be confirmed. HMS "Broadsword" reported that their radar had tracked the missile merging with the pair of Skyhawks. They may well have both been downed by "Coventry"’s missiles, or collided while attempting to evade it.

Later, "Coventry" shot down an Aérospatiale Puma SA330L helicopter with its three man crew with another Sea Dart missile.

She was also the first to use the Sea Skua (Air-to-Surface) anti-ship missiles in action; when her onboard Westland Lynx HAS.Mk.2 fired a Sea Skua missile on 3 May at ARA "Alferez Sobral", the former USS "Salish", approximately 70 miles North of the Falkland Islands, while she was searching for the crew of an Argentine Canberra bomber. One missile missed and the other hit a small boat slightly injuring a crewman manning a 20mm gun and knocking out the radio aerials.

HMS "Glasgow"’s Lynx fired two more Sea Skua, and the vessel retreated with eight crew killed, eight wounded including the ship's captain Lieutenant Commander Sergio Gómez Roca. Her damaged bridge is now on display at the Naval Museum in Tigre Partido, Argentina. The vessel itself was repaired and returned to service after the war.

This was reported in The Sun as part of the Notorious [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_%28newspaper%29#Jingoism] headline of "GOTCHA, Our lads sink gunboat and hole Cruiser." along with two Library pictures.

On the 22nd May "Coventry" locked on to an Argentine Boeing 707 reconnaissance aircraft with her Sea Dart but a flash door failed and the launcher went into fail safe mode, preventing the launch. Later in the day HMS "Cardiff" also attempted to down what may have been the same aircraft, this time the missile fired successfully and was seen to explode near the target, but the aircraft's crew had seen the incoming missile and manoeuvred to avoid it, returning to base safely.

inking

On 25 May (one of Argentina's national days, "el Día de la Revolución de Mayo" esp; "May Revolution Day"), 1982 HMS "Coventry", accompanied by HMS "Broadsword" was ordered to take up position in Falkland Sound. There she would act as a decoy to draw away Argentinian aircraft from the troopships and landings at San Carlos Bay in the Falkland Islands. In this position close to land with not enough open sea between her and the land, her Sea Dart missiles were rendered ineffective.BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6705387.stm "Surviving a Falklands 'suicide' mission"] ] Broadsword was armed with the Sea Wolf missile which is a short range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon.

The trap worked when an A-4B Skyhawk of FAA Grupo 5 was shot down north of Pebble Island by a Sea Dart fired by HMS "Coventry" (9.30 am). Lt Palaver was killed while in the process of aerial re-fueling from a KC-130H. This missile attack disrupted the planned Grupo 5 mission which was targeted specifically at "Coventry" and "Broadsword", finally being abandoned after Palaver's aircraft was destroyed.

Then three hours later a FAA A-4C Skyhawk coded C-304 of Grupo 4 de Caza was shot down north east of Pebble Island by another of "Coventry"’s Sea Dart missile's, while returning from a mission over San Carlos Water and being slightly damaged by ground fire. Capitán Jorge Osvaldo García successfully ejected but was not recovered from the water, (his body was washed ashore in a dinghy at Golding Island in 1983).

Garcia's wingman, Lt Lucero, was also shot down during the raid, by a Sea Cat from HMS "Yarmouth" (also claimed by various others in the area including a Rapier missile Battery) but was luckier and ejected into captivity, in front of waiting news crews.

Later two flights of three Argentine A-4 Skyhawks were also specifically sent to sink them, split into ('Vulcano' and 'Zeus' flights). Vulcan flight took off missing one aircraft which had become unserviceable. Zeus flight also became short one aircraft shortly after departure. The remaining four Skyhawks flew on. As "Coventry" and "Broadsword" were closer to the Argentine mainland than the remainder of the task force, a full load of three 1,000lb bombs could be carried by each aircraft.

The remaining four aircraft flew so low that "Coventry's" targeting radar could not distinguish between them and the land and failed to lock on. "Broadsword" attempted to target the first pair with her Sea Wolf missile system, but her own tracking system locked down during the attack and could not be reset before the aircraft released their bombs. [Hart Dyke, David. "Four Weeks in May: The Loss of "HMS Coventry". Atlantic Books (2007). ISBN 978-1843545903]

Vulcano flight - Capitán P. Marcos Carballo and Teniente Carlos Rinke - both attacked the "Broadsword", but of their six bombs, only one managed to hit the "Broadsword" in the face of intense fire, including small arms. This bomb bounced off the sea near the stern, passed through the side of the ship and up through the flight deck, tearing the nose off the Westland Lynx HAS.Mk.2helicopter in the process and starting a fire. The bomb continued up and away from the ship, landing in the sea nearby. [http://www.hmsbroadsword.co.uk/gallery/falklands82/damage/damage.htm Pictures of this bombs damage]

Zeus flight - Primer Teniente Mariano A. Velasco and Alférez Leonardo Barrionuevo commenced their Attack on "Coventry". "Coventry" launched an unguided Sea Dart in an attempt to distract them and turned to starboard in order to reduce her profile. On "Broadsword" the Sea Wolf system had been reset and had successfully acquired the attacking aircraft, but was unable to deploy when "Coventry"’s turn took her directly into the arc of fire.

"Coventry" used her 4.5 inch gun and small arms against the attacking aircraft, whilst Velasco fired his cannons, hitting the hangar area, and then pressed his bomb release but all three of his bombs failed to drop from his aircraft.

Barrionuevo released his bombs at just the right moment and all three hit the ship. Fitted with delay fuses, one bomb failed to go off, but the others exploded deep within the ship seconds later, tearing out a large amount of her port side and killing several of the crew, mostly in the auxiliary machine space, computer room and dining room where the first aid party were stationed. The explosion just forward of the computer room boiled up through the open computer room hatch and wrecked the operations room. A large fire immediately took hold and water began pouring into the ship through the holes ripped in her side.

Derek Kimber – Former Chief Petty Officer Weapons Engineer takes up the story.

"I was on One deck in the radar offices with a team of radar engineers, there to maintain and monitor radar equipment. When the bombs from the Argentine Skyhawk aircraft hit, we all hit the deck and it was clear that the ship had been severely damaged. The ops room had been devastated by the explosion as there was no power or radar. The radar team got out and began to fight a fire but it was clear that this was hopeless. We then headed for the high side of the ship as she started to list and others were doing the same. Many were burned and suffering from smoke inhalation. My great friend lost all his clothes in the explosion and was badly burned. He was put into a life raft where morphine was administered and then put into strops that lifted him up to a helicopter.

Derek now lives in Lee on the Solent with his wife. They have two grown up Children who have given them six grandchildren. Derek is Deputy Mayor of Gosport and Councillor for Lee on the Solent. He left the RN in 1984 after 24 years and currently works for BAE as a Senior Engineer."

After the ship was struck, her crew, waiting to be rescued, sang "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's "Life of Brian" [Cited in 'Sea of Fire' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6705387.stm] ] (which was also the same song that the crew of the HMS "Sheffield" sang while fighting fires on their ship after it was hit by an Exocet missile), three weeks before.

"Broadsword" had immediately began rescue operations using her ship's boats & helicopters also arrived from the ships in San Carlos Water. A particularly brave bit of flying from CPO Aircrewman M J Tupper of 846 NAS - hovering very near to the "Coventry"’s magazine (which could have blown up at any moment) - resulted in 17 survivors in life rafts trapped alongside the ship being lifted onto the "Broadsword". Tupper later received the Distinguished Service Medal for his bravery. "Broadsword"’s crew aided in the rescue, with her ship's boat and Gemini towing life rafts away from the "Coventry" as she rolled over despite the ever present danger of a major explosion.

Within 20 minutes she had been abandoned and had completely capsized, with the loss of 19 of her crew (A twentieth died, from injuries sustained in the attack, 10 months later). A memorial cross to "Coventry's" dead was erected on Pebble Island after the war.

The wreck is designated as a prohibited area under the Falkland Islands Protection of Wrecks Act [Protection of Wrecks Ordnance 1977 (No. 12) 7 July 1977 (Falkland Islands)] [Protection of Wrecks (Designation) Order 2006 (no. 24) 23 October 2006 (Falkland Islands)] .

Roll of Honour

*Marine Engineering Mechanic (Mechanical) FRANK O. ARMES
*Acting Chief Weapons Engineering Artificer JOHN D. L. CADDY

*Marine Engineering Artificer (Mechanical) PAUL B. CALLUS

*Acting Petty Officer Catering AccountantSTEPHEN R. DAWSON

*Acting Weapons Engineering Mechanic (Radio)JOHN K. DOBSON

*Petty Officer (Sonar)MICHAEL G. FOWLER

*Weapons Engineering Mechanic (Ordnance)IAN P. HALL

*Lieutenant RODNEY R. HEATH

*Laundryman KYE BEN KWO

*Acting Weapons Engineering Mechanic DAVID J. A. OZBIRN

*Lieutenant Commander GLEN S. ROBINSON-MOLTKE

*Leading Seaman Electronic Warfare BERNARD J. STILL

*Marine Engineering Artificer GEOFFREY L. J. STOCKWELL

*Acting Weapons Engineering Artificer DAVID A. STRICKLAND

*Able Seaman (Electronic Warfare) ADRIAN D. SUNDERLAND

*Marine Engineering Mechanic (Mechanical) STEPHEN TONKIN

*Acting Cook IAN TURNBULL

*Acting Weapons Engineering Artificer PHILIP P. WHITE

*Weapons Engineering Artificer (Apprentice) IAN R. WILLIAMS

*Marine Engineering Mechanic (Mechanical) PAUL T. MILLS (Paul died on the 29 March 1983, from complications from a skull fracture, following the air attack).

All four Skyhawks returned to base safely, though Carballo's A-4 had one fuel tank holed by fire from the "Broadsword". The pilot of the aircraft whose bombs failed to drop - Velasco - was back in action two days later, carrying out an attack on the troops in Ajax Bay. HMS "Fearless" raked his A-4 with Bofors 40 mm gun fire and his aircraft burst into flame, with hydraulics lost, Velasco ejected over West Falkland between Port Fox and Port Howard. After two days walking he found an empty house which contained some food. Shortly afterwards met some kelpers. After unsuccessfully trying to buy a horse from them, he was dropped off at Port Howard and took no further part in the war. The other three pilots on the raid also survived the war.

David Hart Dyke, Coventry's commanding officer during the Falklands War, wrote about the ship's tale in his book "Four Weeks in May: The Loss of HMS Coventry". This was later adapted by the BBC into a documentary (with dramatised sequences) and shown in June 2007.

References

External links

* [http://www.hmscoventry.co.uk HMS Coventry D118]
* [http://www.hmsbroadsword.co.uk/gallery/falklands82/coventry/covpics.htm HMS Broadsword 82] Coventry attack Pictorial
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca8vmvP4nxE Graphic of the Argentine Attack]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2007/05/25/hms_coventry_25years_feature.shtml News Item]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6705387.stm News Item]