Hi Obi Wan, I have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind.
If either Invincible, Hermes or both had been lost with the majority of their air wing, do you think it would have been possible for the UK to continue the fight?
I guess firstly it would have come to political will after suffering a major loss.
The second would be equipment replacement.
If the majority of the Sea Harriers had been lost, would the Harrier GR3 equipped with AIM9L & receiving support from of the 2 prototype HAS2(AEW) that were deployed on Illustrious, been an acceptable replacement?
Obviously Illustrious could have covered Invincible if the worst had happened, but what about Hermes?
How long do you think it may have taken to pull Bulwark out of reserve, fitted out to an acceptable standard to support air ops eg. fitting ski ramp etc?
I know these are strictly hypothetical, but am just interested in your opinion as to whether they were possible.
At the start of the War, as the Task Force was sailing south, the expectation was a high level of losses on the British side, possibly as high as 75% of the Sea Harrier force. Remember the two carriers only had 20 Sea Harriers between them, of 31 built to that date and there were only another 9 airframes available. 899NAS, the Training sqn had given up all 10 of it's aircraft to the two frontline sqns 800 and 801. They then set about bringing the remaining airframes forward from storage or maintenance to form a third frontline sqn, 809NAS. It was hoped to equip them with 10 aircraft but only eight could be provided. One had to be retained for trials work in the UK and the others could not be made serviceable in time.
Because of this limit on the number of Sea Harriers available, a sqns worth of RAF Harrier GR3s were hurriedly modified to fire Sidewinders so they could be used as attrition replacements. !0 of these aircraft equipped 1(F) sqn RAF and after other modifications so they could operate from a carrier deck (tie down points on the undercarriage and a modification to the inertial guidance system so it could be aligned on a moving deck rather than a stationary airfield)
After these alterations these 10 GR3s joined the 8 FRS1s of 809 aboard Atlantic Conveyor for the journey south.
So reinforcement aircraft were on the way. The other side of the coin is the carriers themselves. In 1982 options were limited:
1. HMS Bulwark R08. Hermes half sister, decommissioned march 1981 and laid up in Portsmouth Harbour. She had been stripped of many fixtures and fittings prior to scrapping, but work did commence on refitting her, her boilers received new fire bricks. Work was soon stopped though as the amount of work required meant she could not be made ready before the war would be over either way. Post war there were plans put forward to refit her to provide a floating accommodation block and heliport in Stanley harbour, but nothing was done and she was scrapped in March 84.
2. HMS Illustrious R06. She was fitting out on the River Tyne and not expected to be ready for trials until spring 83. Work was speeded up, a few corners cut and she was ready for sea in 12 weeks! She sailed for the South Atlantic in July and relieved Invincible on station in August. This was probably the most realistic prospect of a replacement carrier.
3. USS Iwo Jima LPH2. The US Government during the war offered to transfer the USS Iwo Jima to the RN as a replacement carrier if needed, but the RN would have to provide a crew, although the deal would involve a small number of US civilian 'contractors' experienced in the operation of the ship's systems, which were not standard equipment in the RN. The offer was not taken up in the end.
At least one USN Carrier battle group was put on standby to sail to the South Atlantic to join the Task Force if we lost a carrier, but this was only after the San Carlos Landings, the USA having dropped neutrality by this point and taken a side. Having gotten this far, the US couldn't afford to have it's most important ally lose the war.
4. 'Arapaho'. This is the name of the project (which pre dated 1982) to convert large container ships into emergency carriers, by loading them up with pre fitted containers housing ready made workshop facilities, self defence missile systems and guns and even a prefabricated flight deck which like the containers could be 'bolted on' to the ship's deck quickly:
The project, also known as SCADS (Ship Containerised Air Defence System) was never tried out in full, Atlantic Conveyor was quickly fitted out as an aircraft transport without any maintenance facilities as the need was to get more aircraft to the war zone quickly. Three more ships were given a 'partial Arapaho' conversion, MVs Astronomer, Atlantic Causeway and Contender Bezant received a hangar forward for up to four Sea King Helicopters and a midships flight deck. No ski jump, runway or defensive armaments were fitted due to time constraints. Postwar The MV Astronomer was taken on charter for a more comprehensive conversion using containers manufactured for the USN, but not yet trialled at sea. Again the conversion only entailed a hangar forward for four Sea Kings and a midships flight deck, Renamed RFA Reliant she tested the concept out over several years, until relieved by the Contender Bezant which had been purchased outright for a fuller conversion to a helicopter carrier, becoming the RFA Argus:
Interestingly neither ship was equipped to operate Sea Harriers though both were capable of transporting them (Argus could carry up to 12) as ferry carriers. Vertical take off places strict operating limits on Harrier type aircraft in terms of payload, fuel load range etc, so is only used for short hops and transfers between ships.
Had Either carrier been lost, it would not necessarily have meant the loss of all her aircraft; those airborne at the time could land aboard almost any other ship of the Task Force. Those still on deck and not damaged or destroyed in the attack could probably be launched to clear the deck depending on the damage to the ship. Hermes would have been by far the more important loss as she carried two thirds of the aircraft on the carriers, so the Argentine obsession with her smaller running mate Invincible is a little odd...
Cheers
Sam
