The Sea Battle for the Falklands Quiz

Answer: HMS Glamorgan

HMS Glamorgan had been carrying out an inshore bombardment in support of the Royal Marines on Two Sisters, and was returning out to sea when an Exocet was launched from a trailer ashore. The ship was steaming at high speed and was able to turn away from the track of the missile, which therefore struck on the port upper deck by the helicopter hangar rather than on the ship's side where it would have penetrated and caused enormous damage. Nevertheless it killed most of the flight crew and destroyed a Wessex helicopter; a number of cooks in the galley, which was directly below the hangar, were also killed.

Answer: Operation Paraquet

HMS Antrim, together with HMS Brilliant, HMS Plymouth, HMS Endurance and RFA Tidespring, closed on the South Georgia Islands to land special forces from the SAS and SBS on the Fortuna Glacier, but atrocious weather caused two helicopters to crash, resulting in a daring rescue, with "Humphrey", HMS Antrim's Wessex anti-submarine helicopter, lifting off in a blizzard carrying 20 men instead of the designed load of four.

Answer: ARA Santa Fe

After completing a resupply mission to South Georgia, Santa Fe was first attacked, some miles out to sea, by HMS Antrim's Wessex, which dropped depth charges on her, causing significant damage. She limped back towards land, undergoing torpedo attack (unsuccessful) from HMS Brilliant's Lynx, and being strafed by machine guns from both helicopters. Soon a Wasp from HMS Plymouth and two more from HMS Endurance arrived and attacked with AS12 missiles, three of which struck the Santa Fe.

She limped into harbour in Grytviken but was so badly damaged that her crew abandoned her and she later sank at her moorings.

She was finally towed out to sea by the Royal Navy in February 1985 and scuttled.

Answer: HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible

Laid down in 1944 but not launched until 1953, HMS Hermes was an old lady by the time the Falklands campaign began (although in 2011 she remained in service as INS Viraat, flagship of the Indian Navy). HMS Invincible was much newer, having been commissioned only 2 years before the war started. HMS Illustrious was rushed out of the shipbuilder's yard as the war started, but did not arrive in theatre until 27 August 1982, two months after the ceasefire. HMS Ark Royal was not commissioned until late 1985.

Answer: Barrow-in-Furness, Great Britain

ARA Hércules was a Type 42 destroyer, of British design and construction, exactly the same as five ships in the British task force, HMS Glasgow, HMS Exeter, HMS Cardiff, HMS Coventry and HMS Sheffield, the latter two of which were sunk by enemy action.

Her sister ship, ARA Santissima Trinidad, was also a Type 42, but was the only ship of the class to be built outside Great Britain, at AFNE Rio Santiago, Ensenada.

Answer: Minesweepers

The ships were all originally trawlers and were formed into the 11th Mine Countermeasures Squadron. After a very rough passage from Rosyth to the South Atlantic they were used to sweep potential minefields off Port Stanley and Cape Pembroke.

Answer: HMS Conqueror

HMS Spartan was the first Royal Navy vessel in the combat zone, but did not fire in anger. HMS Conqueror fired a salvo of three elderly Mark 8 torpedoes, two of which hit the cruiser, causing major explosion and fire. It is ironic that the torpedoes used were almost exactly the same as those used in the Royal Navy's last attack on a cruiser - the Japanese Ashigara in June 1945 - since the General Belgrano, having been commissioned in 1939 as the US cruiser Phoenix, was of much the same vintage.

Answer: Prince Andrew

Sub-Lieutenant Prince Andrew Royal Navy was serving with 820 Naval Air Squadron onboard HMS Invincible when the Falklands War broke out. The British cabinet, fearful of the second-in-line being killed in action, pressed for him to be moved to a desk job, but Queen Elizabeth II insisted that her son be allowed to stay with his unit and take his place in the campaign.

Answer: HMS Ardent

HMS Ardent was a Type 21 frigate, known in the Royal Navy as "boy racers' ships", as they were light, fast and manoeuverable. But these characteristics were of little use to them when almost stationary on the gun line in San Carlos Water, and both HMS Ardent and HMS Antelope paid the ultimate price.

Answer: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

HMS Coventry, a Type 42 destroyer, and HMS Broadsword, a Type 22 frigate, were on station in Falkland Sound, acting as decoys to draw attacks away from the mass of ships in San Carlos Water. HMS Coventry's Sea Dart missile system, designed for medium to long range, was less effective because of the proximity of high land, and her radar failed to lock on to attacking Skyhawks as they flew so low.

She was struck by two bombs just above the water line and sank in about 20 minutes, with the loss of 19 of her ship's company.