Our Falklands Conflict
“I must pay tribute, public tribute, as certainly the troops would wish us to, to the crew of ARDENT, the frigate that went down, sunk last night. They had a gun line over the British landing troops. They had to stay in position, or else the troops were totally unprotected. ARDENT was in a totally vulnerable position in the sound, could not move, did not wish to move. Without ARDENT they could not have got ashore, had they got ashore without ARDENT they could not have stayed protected ashore.”
“So let’s just make that tribute very public”
ITN Reporter Michael Nicholson - 22 May 1982
A detailed account of the ARDENT’s Falklands Conflict can be read in the book “Through Fire and Water HMS Ardent: The Forgotten Frigate of the Falklands” by Mark Higgitt
On 2 April, Argentina invaded and occupied the British dependent territory of the Falkland Islands, and they took the neighbouring island of South Georgia the following day. However, neither Britain nor Argentina declared a state of war at any point, meaning the conflict remained, officially, an 'undeclared war'.
Key Mission
Destroy or pin down the Argentine Pukara Ground Attack aircraft based at Goose Green where the Argentines held their principal stores of napalm bombs. ARDENT was 100% successful with this Naval Gunfire Support (NGS) mission.
Air Attacks
On 21 May 1982, whilst lying in Falkland Sound and supporting Operation Sutton by bombarding the Argentine airstrip at Goose Green, Ardent was attacked by at least three waves of Argentine aircraft.
Abandon Ship
The air strikes resulted in the sinking of Ardent the next day and the loss of 22 shipmates from the 199 strong crew who abandoned ship onto HMS Yarmouth.
The final images of ARDENT as the crew abandoned ship can be viewed here.
Images from the journey home and moving on:
