Wednesday 14 April 1982 marked the start of another burst of activity in both the military and political reaction to the Argentine invasion of the Falklands.
Al Haig was back in Washington DC to confer with President Ronald Reagan and colleagues, though the diplomatic process was seemingly beginning to run out of steam.
Out in the Atlantic, the Advanced Group of ships, during a stay of around three days off Ascension Island, had been busy rearranging stores and equipment around the flotilla, relying heavily on helicopters to make sure the kit, which had been loaded in haste in the UK or flown out to Ascension after the ships had departed the UK, was now in the right place for the battles ahead.
14 April saw the group sail for the Falklands, now known as the Brilliant Group, as the Type 22 frigate had assumed the role of lead ship from HMS Glamorgan for the next leg of their passage – although events away from the Falklands meant that the group would soon be without its new leader for a few days at least.
For the time being, Brilliant was accompanied by the three Type 42 destroyers HMS Sheffield, HMS Coventry and HMS Glasgow, along with Type 21 frigate HMS Arrow.
The previous flotilla flagship, County-class destroyer HMS Glamorgan, instead left the island and headed north again, retracing her route and heading for a rendezvous with aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, the Cunard Line's 15,000-ton roll-on roll-off container ship SS Atlantic Conveyor was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence (STUFT – a Ship Taken Up From Trade) on 14 April and ordered to be converted into a makeshift aircraft carrier in order to ferry valuable helicopters (and later Harrier jump jets) to the Falklands.
The challenging conversion, which saw a flight deck added, a refuelling system installed and maintenance space provided, took just ten days.
Today’s image from the Imperial War Museum collection (© IWM MH 27580) is of Type 21 frigate HMS Arrow, part of the Brilliant Group that sailed south from Ascension Island on 14 April.
* These posts can only give a brief sense of what was a complex and fast-moving situation 40 years ago, and cannot cover the involvement of every ship, squadron and unit in detail – for a much more comprehensive account see naval-history.net at https://www.naval-history.net/NAVAL1982FALKLANDS.htm
