Falklands War: The Silent Service

Land, Sea & Air - Stories from the Armed Forces

What was a submarine doing in a war to retake The Falkland Islands? “...the ability to land and recover Special Forces…SAS and SBS, was key.” We hear the fascinating and poignant story of HMS Onyx, the only diesel-electric boat that Served during the war. Submariner, Steve Hussey, was there and shares his unique insight, from beneath the waves, “None of this is done in daylight…surveillance takes place beforehand…if all the conditions are right…getting…as close as you can get these guys and surface them, then it's very quick…open up the submarine and get these guys off…then dive again.” So, discreet and covert operations. How were they recovered? “…getting in contact is the first positive thing because then you know they're actually there…”

In stark contrast, towards the end of the war, “…we had the unenviable task of having to sink The Sir Galahad…she had been hit by Argentinian aircraft bombs…and was extremely damaged…with quite a lot of loss of life…and the decision…was to…leave it in The Falklands as a War Grave... Normally, there's…noise in the control room as you're setting-up for an attack…this was nothing like that. This was extremely sombre, very quiet as the orders were given…the CO was on the periscope, so he was the only person who could actually witness it…When the torpedoes were fired, there was just complete silence…”

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Supported by SAMA (82) in collaboration with TheVeteran.UK

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