Picture the scene... Falklands Sound, May 19th, 1982....... At 6:30a.m. it's a cold, bleak and misty morning as we tiringly approach the firing line, ready to give shore bombardment against reported Argentinean troops, somewhere ashore. With the weather closing in and visibility down to just a a mile, all SAS spotters have buggered off and are having an early make-and-mend down on the beach playing with the penguins.
Leaving us in our tub, HMS Ardent, we gingerly creep along the coast... Those inside ~ heads glued firmly at the radar screen whilst outside eyes are pressed rigidly in every pair of binoculars.
Within the quiet confines of the bridge comes out a cry from a nervous lookout "TROOP MOVEMENT RED 110 RANGE 6 MILES". All bodies and eyes rush over to the port side and see a gap in the dense mist... it's land and sure enough, there on top of a ridge, a convoy of some eight heavily armed units heading slowly down the hill.
Our skipper quickly turned to the army colonel who was onboard, assigned the task of liaison between us and the friendly SAS troops ashore. "Who do those units belong to", our captain shouted.. Nervously the colonel angled his posture from one side of the map to the other, searching for intelligence information. Reality suddenly hit him and he excitably retorted "No reported designated friendly troops gathered or collected within the assigned point specified area"........... "You mean they are not ours" simply responded the skipper....
Orders were quickly passed over the Tannoy "ENGAGE THE ENEMY".
Immediately, the gunnery officer shouted "FOUR FIVES (four & a half inch guns) STAND TOO. POLICY SHORE BOMBARDMENT. LOOKOUT BEARING RED 085 ELEVATION 40, THREE ROUNDS FOR EFFECT FIRE"....
BANG...... BANG..... BANG.....
Seeing the shells land amongst the convoy ashore, they quickly started to make their escape. With excited vigour the guns went into action, again and again.......
We were stimulated by the smell of cordite and with the presence of war we harried the shells with cheer...
After some 30 shells had been
discharged and the movement ashore had ceased, we approached for a closer
observation...
With cameras rolling ready to beam the info over the satellite back to MOD UK
came a sound from a hearty young lookout perched high above....
"WHAT GREAT SHOOTING SIR, WE HAVE SCORED OUR FIRST KILL............
FIVE COWS AND TWO SHEEP"!!!
The camera clicked off and we quietly mumbled out of the sound......