- Atlantic Conveyor
The "Atlantic Conveyor" was a British
merchant navy ship, registered in Liverpool, that was requisitioned during theFalklands War and sunk after being hit by two Exocet missiles. The wrecksite is designated under theProtection of Military Remains Act 1986 . [ [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20080950_en_1 Designation under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986] by SI2008/950,Office of Public Sector Information ,The National Archives . Retrieved2008-07-17 .]History
The "Atlantic Conveyor" was a 14,950 tonne roll-on, roll-off
container ship owned by Cunard. She was built along with six other container ships, each named "Atlantic" and flown under different national flags for different companies.Along with her sister ship, "
Atlantic Causeway ", the "Atlantic Conveyor" was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence at the beginning of theFalklands War through theSTUFT system (Ships Taken Up From Trade). Due to the short timescales, the decision that the ship was not "a high-value unit" and a controversy over whether arming auxiliaries was legal, "Atlantic Conveyor" was not fitted with either an active, or passive defence system.cite news
last = Evans
first = Michael
title = Legal fears left Atlantic Conveyor defenceless
work =The Times
date = 2007-12-11
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3031542.ece] The ships were used to carry supplies for the British Task Force sent by the British government to retake theFalkland Islands from Argentine occupation. Sailing forAscension Island on 25 April 1982, "Atlantic Conveyor" carried a cargo of six Wessex helicopters from848 Naval Air Squadron and five RAF HC.1 Chinooks fromNo. 18 Squadron RAF . At Ascension, she picked up eightFleet Air Arm Sea Harriers (809 Squadron) and six RAF Harrier GR.3 jump jets, while one Chinook was removed for maintenance, and then set sail for theSouth Atlantic . On arrival off the Falklands in mid-May, the Harriers were off-loaded to the carriers; the GR.3s going to HMS "Hermes" while the Sea Harriers were divided amongst the existing squadrons on "Hermes" and HMS "Invincible".On 25 May, (one of Argentina'snational day s, _es. el Día de la Revolución de Mayo—"May Revolution Day") 1982 the "Atlantic Conveyor" was hit by twoExocet missiles fired by a pair of Argentine Super Étendard jet fighter. The ship caught fire, the fire then became uncontrollable. When the fire had burnt out, the ship was boarded but nothing was recoverable and so the decision was made to sink her. It is unclear whether the missile's warhead detonated — some speculate that the Exocet that struck HMS "Sheffield" did not explode — but the ship was set alight by the impact of the missiles and the unburnt rocket fuel.Fact|date=June 2008 Other sources indicate the warhead exploded after pentrating the ships hull to where trucks and fuel were stored resulting in an uncontrollable fire. [cite book
last = Chant
first = Christopher
title = Air War in the Falklands 1982
publisher = Osprey Publishing
year = 2001
location = Oxford
pages = 55
isbn = 1841762938] All the helicopters but one Chinook, callsign "Bravo November" airborne at the time, were destroyed in the fire. The loss of these helicopters meant that British troops had to march across the Falklands to capture Stanley.Twelve men died upon the "Atlantic Conveyor", including the vessel's commander, Captain Ian North, who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). The ship was the first British merchant vessel lost at sea to enemy fire since
World War II .The ship's replacement was built on Tyneside.
Piloting a Sea King helicopter of
820 Naval Air Squadron , Prince Andrew (second in line to the throne) was first to lift off survivors. [citeweb|first=Robert|last=Taylor|title=Sea King Rescue, signed by Prince Andrew|url=http://www.naval-art.com/tankers,_cargo_ships.htm ]Techniques to Defeat Anti-Ship Missiles
A dangerous task, carried out by Sea Kings, was to act as decoys, to deflect sea-skimming missiles away from surface ships. This was achieved by hovering close to the ship and as the radar seeker could not resolve targets in
azimuth the ship/helicopter combination appeared as a single target. The missile guidance system would aim for the centroid of its apparent target and hopefully pass between the two. Chaff rockets aim to seduce a missile with a similar technique by increasing the apparent length of the target [citeweb|title=The Helicopter Museum|url=http://www.hmfriends.org.uk/falklands25th.htm ] . HRH Prince Andrew at one point acted as an Exocet missile decoy [citeweb|first=Defence News|title=Flypast brings curtain down on Falklands commemorative events |url=http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/FlypastBringsCurtainDownOnFalklandsCommemorativeEventsvideo.htm |month=June | year=2007] . It is often suggested that cost savings prevented the fitting of chaff rockets to "Atlantic Conveyor" and that this could have saved the ship. However, the size of the ship'sradar cross section (RCS) was too great to allow decoys to be effective and their employment would have been unlikely to have affected the outcome. [Target Detection by Marine Radar, John N Briggs, IEE] It has also been claimed—incorrectly—that the ship acted as a decoy against a subsequent Exocet attack.Deaths
The 12 men killed in the sinking of the "Atlantic Conveyor" were:;Merchant Navy
* Bosun John B. Dobson
* Mechanic Frank Foulkes
* Steward David R. S. Hawkins
* Mechanic James Hughes
* Captain Ian H. North, DSC
* Mechanic Ernest M. Vickers;
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
* 1st Radio Officer Ronald Hoole
* Seaman Ng Por
* Seaman Chan Chi Shing;Royal Navy
* Chief Petty Officer Edmund Flanagan
* Air Engineering Mechanic (R) Adrian J. Anslow
* Leading Air Engineering Mechanic (L) Don L. PriceAs the last resting place of the remains of those who died, the wreck is designated as a "protected place" under the
Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 .Cultural References
* Pink Floyd's 1983 album, "The Final Cut," referred to the sinking of the Atlantic Conveyor in track 1, "The Post-war Dream"
Further reading
* Charles Drought - "N. P. 1840 The Loss of the Atlantic Conveyor" (2003) ISBN 1-901231-41-0
Notes and references
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