Falklands 12 - Cry Havoc- Bluff Cove 8/6/82

[fitzpatv]

This scenario covers the final significant Argentine airstrike on the British task force, which historically sank the landing ships Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram and damaged the frigate Plymouth, taking the defenders by surprise. You can only play the Argentine side.

Argentina has scraped together a force of a dozen Skyhawks and six Daggers with attack loadouts, plus four Mirages for escort and a couple of Hercules tankers. This time, there are no Neptunes available for recon, for whatever reason, but Argentine ground forces on East and West Falkland have the British ships under observation, which compensates somewhat. Radars on the islands help to monitor Harrier patrols.

Again, only part of the British task force is represented, with the carrier Illustrious absent. The destroyer Exeter and frigate Plymouth are in Falkland Sound, while the anchorage at Bluff Cove, in the SE part of East Falkland near Stanley, is occupied by the Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram, with the LPD Fearless in another bay to the W. Fearless carries Sea Cats and several Rapier and Blowpipe teams are ashore to protect her and Bluff Cove.

8/6/82 13:00L: There’s no real need for recon this time, so I just launched the 18 strike aircraft, timing things so that they arrived at much the same time. The Mirages, which can’t refuel in-flight, accompanied the strike to engage any Harriers and the two tankers were launched to provide back-up for the return journey if need be.

14:00L: I had the usual problems with Skyhawks going Bingo as they neared the targets and had to drag them back into line. The Daggers have better endurance and can just about make their attacks without manual intervention.

Two Harriers intercepted the strike and were engaged by the Mirages, downing two (each aircraft loss costs the owning side 20VP) for one of their own. This left them unable to engage the strike planes.

Coming in low and taking advantage of all British radars again starting off, four Skyhawks caught HMS Exeter napping in Falkland Sound and sank her for 125VP. The destroyer’s Lynx was also eliminated for 20VP.

Four more Skyhawks attacked HMS Plymouth, which was damaged (message but no VP – probable bug) but put-up a stout defence with her Sea Cats, shooting down two attackers. As in real life, she brought her fires under control and survived.

Three Daggers and two Skyhawks damaged Fearless for 80VP, plus 60 more for choppers wrecked on-board. Sea Cats and Blowpipes from the shore accounted for two Skyhawks.

Two Skyhawks and three Daggers managed to sink Sir Galahad for 180VP for two losses to SAMs and AA. Sir Tristram led a charmed life, somehow being completely missed by eight bombs dropped from 1,000’.

15:00L: All surviving aircraft made it back to base, with no need for the tankers. Their turnaround times did not allow for a second attack, so it ended as a Triumph with a score of +295.

A bit more challenging than Scenario 11, as the British are actually capable of fighting back this time. For the remainder of the campaign (one regular and two bonus scenarios) the player must switch back to the British side.