SS Atlantic Conveyor
History | |
---|---|
Name | Atlantic Conveyor |
Operator | Cunard Line |
Builder | Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom |
Completed | 1970 |
Identification | IMO number: 6926036 |
Fate | list error: <br /> list (help) struck by two Exocet missiles on 25 May 1982 Burnt and subsequently abandoned Eventually sank whilst under tow on 28 May 1982[1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Container ship |
Tonnage | 14,950 tons |
Speed | 23 kn |
The Atlantic Conveyor was a British merchant navy ship, registered in Liverpool, that was requisitioned during the Falklands War.
She was hit on 25 May 1982 by two Argentine Air launched AM39 Exocet missiles, killing 12 sailors. The Atlantic Conveyor sank whilst under tow on 28 May 1982.
The wrecksite is designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.[2]
History
The Atlantic Conveyor was a 14,950 ton roll-on, roll-off container ship owned by Cunard. She was built along with six other container ships, each named Atlantic and sailing under different national flags for different companies.
Along with her sister ship, Atlantic Causeway, the Atlantic Conveyor was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence at the beginning of the Falklands War through the STUFT system (Ships Taken Up From Trade). Due to the short timescales, the decision that the ship was not "a high-value unit" and a controversy over whether arming auxiliaries was legal, Atlantic Conveyor was not fitted with either an active or a passive defence system.[3]
The ships were used to carry supplies for the Royal Navy Task Force sent by the British government to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentine occupation. Sailing for Ascension Island on 25 April 1982, Atlantic Conveyor carried a cargo of six Wessex helicopters from 848 Naval Air Squadron and five RAF HC.1 Chinooks from No. 18 Squadron RAF. At Ascension, she picked up eight Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers (809 Squadron) and six RAF Harrier GR.3 jump jets.
One Chinook of B flight No. 18 Squadron RAF left the Atlantic Conveyor to support operations on Ascension. With the aircraft stored she then set sail for the South Atlantic. On arrival off the Falklands in mid-May, all of the Harriers were off-loaded to the carriers; the GR.3s going to HMS Hermes while the Sea Harriers were divided amongst the existing squadrons on Hermes and HMS Invincible.
On 25 May 1982 (the same day as the loss of HMS Coventry) the Atlantic Conveyor was hit by two[3] AM39 Air Launched Exocet missiles fired by a two Argentine Navy Super Étendard jet fighters. The mission was lead by, Corvette Captain Roberto Curilovic, (call sign 'Tito') flying Super Etendard 0753/3-A-203, and his wingman, Warship Lieutenant Julio Barraza, (call sign 'Leo') flying in 0754/3-A-204.[4]
Both Exocets struck the Atlantic Conveyor on the port quarter of the ship. Some sources assert that the warheads exploded after penetrating the ship's hull.[5], others do not [6]. Due to the presence of both fuel and ammunition that were stored below deck, the incendiry effect as a result of unburnt propellant from the missiles was the cause an uncontrollable fire. When the fire had burnt out, the ship was boarded but nothing was recovered. With the Atlantic Conveyor under tow by the requisitioned Tug Irishman, it sank in the early morning of 28 May 1982. All the helicopters but one Chinook, callsign Bravo November, were destroyed in the fire.[7] The loss of these helicopters meant that British troops had to march across the Falklands to recapture Stanley.
Twelve men died in the Atlantic Conveyor, including the ship's master, Captain Ian North, who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). The ship was the first British merchant vessel lost at sea to enemy fire since World War II.
The ship's replacement was built on Tyneside.
Piloting a Sea King helicopter of 820 Naval Air Squadron, Prince Andrew (then second in line to the throne) was first to lift off survivors.[8]
Techniques to defeat anti-ship missiles
A dangerous task carried out by Sea Kings was to act as decoys, to deflect sea-skimming missiles away from surface ships. This was achieved by hovering close to the ship and as the radar seeker could not resolve targets in azimuth the ship/helicopter combination appeared as a single target. If the helicopter was not too high the missile guidance system would aim for the centroid of its apparent target and hopefully pass between the two. Prince Andrew at one point flew his helicopter as an Exocet missile decoy.[9] Chaff rockets aim to seduce a missile with a similar technique by increasing the apparent length of the target.[10]
The size of the ship's radar cross section (RCS) was too great to allow chaff decoys to be effective and their employment would have been unlikely to have affected the outcome.[11] It has also been claimed—incorrectly—that the hull of the ship acted as a decoy against a subsequent Exocet attack.[12]
Crew
The vessel carried a Merchant Navy crew of 33. This included twelve officers (master, chief officer, second officer, third officer, radio officer, chief engineer, second engineer, two third engineers, fourth engineer, electrician and purser), ten petty officers (bosun, four mechanics, two first cooks, second cook & baker, second cook and second steward) and eleven ratings (five seamen, three greasers and three assistant stewards).
Deaths
The 12 men killed in the sinking of the Atlantic Conveyor were:
- Bosun (Petty Officer I) John B. Dobson
- Mechanic (Petty Officer I) Frank Foulkes
- Assistant Steward David R. S. Hawkins
- Mechanic (Petty Officer II) James Hughes
- Captain Ian H. North, DSC
- Mechanic (Petty Officer II) Ernest M. Vickers
- First Radio Officer Ronald Hoole
- Laundryman Ng Por
- Laundryman Chan Chi Shing
- Chief Petty Officer Edmund Flanagan
- Air Engineering Mechanic (R) Adrian J. Anslow
- Leading Air Engineering Mechanic (L) Don L. Price
As the last resting place of the remains of those who died, the wreck is designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
Further reading
- Charles Drought - N. P. 1840 The Loss of the Atlantic Conveyor (2003) ISBN 1-901231-41-0
- Board of Inquiry into the Loss of SS Atlantic Conveyor
Notes and references
- ^ Board of Inquiry into the Loss of SS Atlantic Conveyor
- ^ Designation under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 by SI2008/950, Office of Public Sector Information, The National Archives. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
- ^ a b Evans, Michael (11 December 2007). "Legal fears left Atlantic Conveyor defenceless". The Times. London.
- ^ "Argentine Aircraft in the Falklands". Britains-smallwars.com. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
- ^ Chant, Christopher (2001). Air War in the Falklands 1982. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 55. ISBN 1-84176-293-8.
- ^ http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/EC14467A-DFAF-4030-BDFB-9E1AAF00205E/0/boi_atlanticconveyorpt1.pdf
- ^ Royal Air Force (2010). "Royal Air Force CH47 Chinook 'Bravo November'". Royal Air Force. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ Taylor, Robert. "Sea King Rescue, signed by Prince Andrew".
- ^ "Flypast brings curtain down on Falklands commemorative events". 2007.
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ignored (help)[dead link] - ^ "The Helicopter Museum".
- ^ Target Detection by Marine Radar, John N Briggs, IEE
- ^ Insight Team Sunday Times (1982). War in the Falklands: the Full Story. The Sunday Times. ISBN 0-06-015082-3.
- Use dmy dates from December 2011
- Container ships
- Merchant ships of the United Kingdom
- Shipwrecks of the Falklands War
- Maritime incidents in 1982
- Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom
- Protected Wrecks of the United Kingdom
- 1970 ships
- Ships sunk by aircraft
- Ships built in the United Kingdom
- Ships built by Swan Hunter
- Tyne-built ships