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The Falklands Conflict (Op Corporate) - Part 1

HMS Invincible's Sea Dart

GENERAL

Operation CORPORATE was the codename given to the overall involvement of the British Armed Forces deployed to liberate the Falklands Islands after the Argentine invasion and occupation on 2nd April 1982.

Poll: Argentina and Falklands – First it was Sovereignty, now it’s Oil

Argentina has claimed sovereignty of the Falkland Islands since the re-establishment of British rule in 1833. The invasion of 1982 was undertaken by the military junta (dictatorship) in an attempt to deflect the attention of the Argentine population from the country’s worsening economic problems and the junta’s continuing human rights violations.

The Falklands War Quiz

Despite repeated warnings by the Royal Navy, and an intelligence source in Buenos Aires, the invasion of the Falkland Islands took the British government by surprise, in fact the first indication that the government had that an invasion had taken place was from an amateur radio broadcast. Lord Carrington, as Foreign Secretary, took full responsibility for the failure of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to recognise the threat posed by Argentina and resigned. It was widely considered that for the United Kingdom to mount an operation to retake the Falkland Islands would be extremely difficult. The US Navy considered such an operation to be a military impossibility.

HMS Invincible was integral

PREPARATION FOR WAR

There was a requirement for the United Kingdom to respond quickly to the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands and it was obvious from the outset that Op CORPORATE was going to be an amphibious operation. Nearly 50 Royal Navy vessels of varying sizes, including 6 submarines and ships that were in the process of being decommissioned, had to be prepared for war but the capacity of these ships was insufficient to transport the men and materiel the 8,000 miles from UK to the Falklands. The shortage of transport vessels was overcome by using nearly 50 ships taken up from trade (STUFT). These ships ranged from the larger Container/Cargo ships weighing nearly 15,000 tons through to Ro-Ro Ferries, Freighters and Tankers. The largest STUFT vessels were the liners RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) at 67,000+ tons, SS Canberra at 45,000 tons (to become affectionately known as ‘The Big White Whale’) and SS Uganda at 17,000 tons. QE2 and Canberra were used to transport the majority of troops to be deployed on Op CORPORATE with SS Uganda being used as a hospital ship.

Units deploying on Op CORPORATE were quickly brought up to operational strength and, working round the clock, preparations were made to move to their points of departure as soon as possible.