British logistics in the Falklands War

Ascension was used as a convenient place for the amphibious ships to re-stow their equipment, and as a base for Hercules transport aircraft, which were modified by the addition of auxiliary fuel tanks and aerial refuelling probes.

SS Atlantic Conveyor was struck by two Exocet AM39 missiles, and sank with three Chinook and six Wessex helicopters still on board, along with their tools and spare parts, and other vital stores including tent accommodation.

The Brigade Maintenance Area (BMA) was struck by an Argentine air attack on 27 May that destroyed hundreds of rounds of mortar and artillery ammunition.

The tanker RFA Appleleaf, which had left Curaçao bound for the United Kingdom with a full load of fuel, received orders on 27 March to divert to Gibraltar, embark stores there, and join Endurance and Fort Austin in the South Atlantic.

[3] When intelligence was received in London on 31 March that the Falklands would be invaded on 2 April, the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the Secretary of State for Defence, John Nott, instructed the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Henry Leach, to ready a force to recapture the islands.

[34][35] Soon after his appointment as land component commander on 9 April, Moore began to press for British Army's 5th Infantry Brigade to be sent to the South Atlantic as well.

Countries in South America, even if sympathetic, felt unable to offer overt support in a conflict involving a neighbouring state, while South Africa was an international pariah at the time due to its system of apartheid, and collaboration with its regime risked alienating other countries at a time when Britain needed all the support it could muster for its international diplomatic efforts.

[37] The Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service had one ocean-going tugboat, RMAS Typhoon, but it was evident that more would be required, and three were requisitioned from the United Towing company: SS Salvageman, Irishman and Yorkshireman.

[50] It was initially hoped that ships could be loaded and converted at commercial shipyards, but these were soon overwhelmed by the requirements for skilled labour and specialised facilities, and the burden fell on the Royal Navy Dockyards at Portsmouth, Devonport, Chatham, Portland, Rosyth and Gibraltar.

These were the simplest conversions, as all they involved was installing communications equipment and replenishment at sea (RAS) systems to allow the tankers to supply fuel over the stern using a long, buoyant hose.

The conversion of Atlantic Conveyor at Devonport required the removal of 500 tie-down points for containers from her deck, adding a landing pad for helicopters and Hawker Siddeley Harriers, installing UHF radio equipment and satellite communications, providing accommodation for 122 men, installing a liquid oxygen tank, cutting additional hatches, and modifying the stern doors.

[57] Some 17 ships were fitted with helicopter landing pads; on Canberra and Queen Elizabeth 2, the area around the swimming pool was used, as it had been designed to hold the weight of 70 to 100 long tons (71 to 102 t) of water.

[9] The 3rd Commando Brigade's air defences were bolstered by the addition of T Battery (Shah Sujah's Troop) Royal Artillery, armed with twelve Rapier missile launchers.

[76] Royal Navy Captain Robert McQueen was appointed to command the British Forces Support Unit (BFSU) on Ascension,[70] and arrived on 8 April.

These were followed by seventeen Handley Page Victor aerial refuelling tankers and three Avro Vulcan bombers,[71][79] which conducted raids on the Falkland Islands as part of Operation Black Buck.

[90] The five LSLs, carrying most of the Commando Logistic Regiment, weighed anchor and set out for the Falkland Islands on 1 May, along with Pearleaf and escorted by the frigate HMS Antelope.

[91] To allow ships to be resupplied by air when operating in the South Atlantic, modifications were made to the Hercules aircraft, which normally had a range of about 2,000 miles (3,200 km).

By 1 June, 47 Air Despatch Squadron had prepared 47 loads totalling 163 long tons (166 t), with high priority items delivered within 40 hours of the initial request.

In the "Ursula" mission on 1 June, Lieutenant Colonel David Chaundler, a replacement commander for 2 Para, parachuted into the sea and was plucked from the water by a boat from the frigate HMS Penelope.

42 Commando came ashore at Green Beach by LCU, but the B Echelons remained on Canberra, and the assault troops had left rucksacks, parkas, sleeping and cooking gear, and spare clothing behind.

The 3rd Commando Brigade's 10,000-litre (2,200 imp gal) collapsible pillow tank was holed by cannon shells from an Argentine fighter as it was being brought ashore on a mexeflote.

[145] An attempt to fly 42 Commando and three 105 mm guns to Mount Kent on 29/30 May ran into a blizzard and was forced to return to Port San Carlos.

[146] With the high ground overlooking Teal Inlet in British hands, a Forward Brigade Maintenance Area (FBMA) was established there, with a Distribution Point (DP) at Estancia.

The trawler cum minesweepers HMS Cordella, Farnella, Junella, Northella and Pict ferried the infantry and the 16th (Parachute) Field Ambulance across to Canberra and Norland, which departed for San Carlos at 21:00 on 28 May.

This placed stress on the regiment, as it was structured to support only the 3rd Commando Brigade's 3,000 personnel, and it had deployed to the Falklands with less than its usual allocations of manpower and transport.

The field hospital was flooded with casualties, and arrangements were made for landing craft to send two dozen each to Fearless, Intrepid and Atlantic Causeway; others were flown to Uganda.

[159] Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Kennedy arrived at San Carlos soon after the Argentine surrender as Commander Royal Engineers (CRE) Works, Falkland Islands.

The remaining 14 bodies (including that of Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones, who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his part in the Battle of Goose Green) were re-interred in the Blue Beach Military Cemetery at San Carlos.

[183] The Falkland War was also studied in other countries, notably in China, where it was the subject of organised teaching and research at the PLA Naval Command College in Nanjing.

[186] A programme was already under way to improve American sealift capability, and between 1982 and 1986, the United States Congress appropriated and spent US$7 billion on the purchase or lease of new logistics ships.

A helicopter flies over the water with a load slung below. In the background is an island with a series of pyramid-shaped peaks.
A Westland Wessex helicopter delivering supplies at Ascension Island in May 1982
A map of the north and South Atlantic Ocians. Ascension Island is in the mid-Atlantic; the Falkland Islands are in the South Atlantic, near Argentina.
Key locations and the route taken by British forces during the Falklands War
A grey ship with a helipad aft. It has "L3005" painted on the side in large letters.
RFA Sir Galahad heading south in May 1982
A grey ship. It has three large refuelling booms midship, with black hoses.
RFA Tidepool in 1982
A grey ship with a helipad aft
RFA Stromness in 1982
A two-wheeled trailer with four missiles on it. It has a radar dome, and a jerry can is attached to the trailer.
A Rapier missile system
A twin-rotor helicopter with a load slung below hovers over a warship
Supplies being delivered to HMS Bristol by a Chinook helicopter during a stopover at Ascension Island on the ship's voyage to the South Atlantic
A delta-winged aircraft silhouetted against the sky. It has its landing wheels down.
An Avro Vulcan bomber over Ascension Island on 18 May 1982
A map showing part of East Falkland. Stanley is on the east side and the landing areas around Port San Carlos and Ajax Bay on the West side.
Key locations and the routes taken by British land forces during the Falklands War.
IR = Infantry Regiment; Cdo = Commando; SAS = Special Air Service ; SBS = Special Boat Squadron ; M&AW = Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre
A warship at anchor. In the background is a flat, treeless landscape.
HMS Fearless at San Carlos in 1982
A grey warship passes by a white cruise ship with prominent red funnels
Troop transport SS Canberra and frigate HMS Andromeda in the Falklands in June 1982
A cluster of ruined industrial buildings sits on the shore of a green, treeless landscape.
The former refrigeration plant in Ajax Bay, site of the 1982 field hospital. (By 2008, it had fallen into the disrepair seen here.)
A field of blue-grey and reddish boulders.
Stone run near Mount Kent . These can go on for miles.
A large, white, two-storey, wooden farm house surrounded by five smaller, rectangular structures and a wooden gazebo. There is a red brick house in the foreground, and another couple of buildings in the background. Beyond is a bay.
Teal Inlet settlement
A warhead with the superstructure collapsing and largely gutted by fire. A much smaller green-hulled vessel is moored alongside.
RFA Sir Tristram showing damage inflicted in the Bluff Cove Air Attacks . The green vessel alongside her is the Monsunen .
A wharf with warehouses on the left; on the right are two-storey brick houses. Similar two-storey houses line the streets beyond.
Port Stanley on 16 June 1982
About forty soldiers wearing olive-green jackets and pants march down a wet urban street. They are guarded by three commandos with green berets and camouflage pattern jackets. In the background are paratroopers in similar camouflage jackets and maroon berets.
Argentine prisoners of war in Port Stanley
A large pile of military hardware, including rifles, machine guns, small arms ammunition. It is roped off with red plastic tape. Three civilians look on.
Discarded Argentine weapons in Port Stanley 1982