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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.141.240.194 (talk) at 10:08, 27 September 2012 (→‎Sinking of Atlantic Conveyor: new section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Cargo

The cargo list in paragraph 3 clearly doesn't match that of the photo. Anyone know 'the truth'? miterdale 18:31, 28 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Middlebrook's The Falklands War 1982 says she sailed from the UK with 6 Wessex and 5 Chinooks and (perhaps) one Harrier. At Ascension one Chinook was removed and 8 Sea Harriers and 6 RAF Harriers were onboard, leaving 3 RAF Harriers behind. Sea Harrier Over The Falklands says she arrived at the Falklands with 8 Sea Harriers and 6 Ground Attack Harriers (GR 3) "plus some helicopters". So the photo looks right. Geoff/Gsl 12:43, 31 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
According to the article "Land Rover Series" the vessel carried "several hundred" Land Rovers. That's a lot of Land Rovers and a lot of money! If correct can it be added to the article please. --kingboyk (talk) 12:56, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Can you hold on, I've never seen that claim before and I think it is dubious. The AC was intended to support aircraft operations in the Falklands and was carrying a temporary strip and other bits'n'pieces such as tentage. I've added a fact tag, so lets see what happens. Justin talk 13:47, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Great, thanks. I don't know either way but am interested to know :) --kingboyk (talk) 16:40, 22 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Cynical military rumour used to hold that if everything recorded as being lost on the 'Conveyor had actually been aboard she would have gone down long before reaching the Islands. This is almost certainly an exaggeration, but it does seem that quite a lot of diffy kit was written off in that sinking. 194.74.62.195 (talk) 17:50, 17 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

mars bars?

What was more devestating than the loss of the helicopters, according to Andy McNab in his book "Bravo Two Zero", was the loss of all the Task Force's Mars Bars.

Bravo Two Zero was about the Iraqi war, can somebody confirm or remove the statement? Doesn't sound too plausible... considering the consequence was a rather big set back in the deployment of troops...

--Andreala 00:39, 20 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It also seems quite callous, because it is followed by the statement "Twelve men died upon the Atlantic Conveyor, including the vessel's commander..." I think this should be rewritten or the bit about Mars bars should be removed. Grant | Talk 04:35, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It would seem to me as being more of a case of gallows humor than anything else. Parsecboy (talk) 16:36, 24 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Haven't read B20 for a while and don't have a copy to hand but IIRC he was talking about the blow to the morale of the troops caused by the loss of their supplies. Mars bars being something of a synecdoche for the whole thing. Helcopters burned, men died, but the troops on the ground noticed that they were on short rations. 194.74.62.195 (talk) 17:43, 17 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Survivors

Is there a list of suvivors available or is this confidential –Gunner 10/11/06

All Survivors from Atlantic Conveyor transferred from rescuing ships to "British Tay" and returned to UK via Ascension Islands. 18 Squadron (Chinook) Survivors: Clive "Arnie" Arnold, Roy Boakes, Pete Collie, Steve Hitchman, Pete Jack, Brian Joplin, Rod Maclean, Adrian Ventress, Alan "Geordie" Watson, Andy Wise. Clive "Arnie" Arnold & Adrian Ventress recued by SeaKing flown by Prince Andrew taken to "Hermes" joined by Steve Hitchman who had jumped overboard on first impact. All others from 18 Squadron picked up by "Alacrity" - A7rny 01/08/08

Notes

^ Taylor, Robert. Sea King Rescue, signed by Prince Andrew.

These seems to lead to a site which is flogging prints. To be removed? Dmgerrard 19:48, 28 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No its the only reference I can find to the fact that Prince Andrew was the first to rescue survivors. It is a good reference as the man himself has signed the painting. If you find a better reference then do. Dbdb 23:35, 10 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Exocet

Corrected the comments on the technique used to seduce Exocets. Rather than seducing an Exocet to fly over a target, the technique involves the missile passing between the ship and helicopter. A radar can resolve in range but not in azimuth, two objects close to each other appear as one and it will aim for the centroid (hopefully passing between the two). Chaff rockets fulfill a similar function by appearing to increase the length of the target. Atlantic Conveyor was simply too big for either to stand a decent chance of success. What AC needed was a close-in defence system such as Phalanx or Goalkeeper. Justin talk 23:56, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Out of interest, if bow/stern on would it have made a difference ? May be academic, as I don't know how long it took to turn. -- John (Daytona2 · talk) 14:17, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Bow/Stern on could have made a lot of difference, thanks for reminding me as I'd forgotten that. It comes down to how Chaff is dispensed, the mistake some system designers make is to fire chaff off in both directions - the ship is in the middle and thats where the missile goes. If you can make a chaff cloud to one side, you can seduce the missile in that direction. The crew launching the Exocet would have made a beam attack, if there was AEW, sufficient warning could have enabled the ship to manoeuvre and it may have given it a chance. Relying on picking the missile up as it came over the radar horizon would not have given sufficient reaction time. In truth, the moment the missile seeker locked onto Atlantic Conveyor there was very little it could have done. Justin talk 16:29, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I thought I had described the technique as having the missile go between the ship and helicopter but your wording is clearer and has some lovely ones in it, I especially like centroid. I think what AC needed was a Sea King helicopter decoy and, assuming it had one, with a pilot who dared to keep it low to the ship. Just my opinion.Dbdb (talk) 16:34, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

UNINDENT

All of the sources I have to hand indicate that the fires were started by the warhead detonating after penetrating the hull. Currently there are the two versions in there but I intend to revise the article to the version I added if no citation is provided. Justin talk 12:45, 4 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Recompense

Did the government pay for this ship? I'd be pretty pissed off if I was Cunard and I'd leant my boat to Maggie and then she went and sank it.Mtaylor848 (talk) 13:16, 3 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sinking of Atlantic Conveyor

I wonder why it was that all the helicopters aboard the Atlantic Conveyor had not been flown to land where they

would be far safer from air attack. Can anyone supply an answer?

Paul Eden

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