Royal Navy Sea Harrier Falklands War - #2 of 4 'Sharkey' Ward.

Sea Harrier Falklands War - Commander Nigel David "Sharkey" Ward, DSC, AFC.
REEL 2© IWM Continues: attempt to intercept Argentinean Air Force attack on HMS Ardent; attitude to role of 800 Sqdn, Fleet Air Arm operating from HMS Hermes; attitude to dealing with lack of intelligence from Admiral Sandy Woodward's staff; story of having to intercept potential Argentinean aircraft which turned out to be British; opinion of planning for air attacks on Port Stanley airport, 1/5/1982-5/5/1982; opinion of reasons for loss of British ships; circumstances of loss of HMS Coventry; question of location of Sea Harrier defensive CAP.
Attributed:
www.iwm.org.uk/collections/ite... IWM

[@andrewward9601]

I read sharky's book, couldn't put it down until I finished reading it....!

[@tonyaughney8945]

Excellent interview. I've read both biographies and can see both points of view. In Woodwards defence, he had a massive responsibility to protect the fleet. But his refusal to take advice is criminal.

[@peterstubbs5934]

Agreed somewhat BUT thanks to his intransigence, it was lucky that the fleet DID survive.

[@martindavies864]

what an interesting tale he tells.. and I've read Sandy Woodward's account in his "One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander" i shall have to re-read this in light of what I'm learning here, which is new to me . thanks for posting :-

[@peterstubbs5934]

It always surprises me that a mainly submarine oriented commander was put in charge of an amphibious operation heavily supported by limited air assets. I dare say he was a skilled commander BUT, lets face it, without the Sea Harriers protection, there WAS NO FLEET. His inability or reluctance to LISTEN to Sharkey Ward about the capabilities of the Sea Harrier was criminal. The fact that 801 Sqn could pick up air targets at 23 miles yet 800 sqn claimed they could only detect them at half that range should have made the man question just who is right here and go in search of the correct answer. IT WAS VITAL.. Sending out four Harriers from Hermes (the Flag ship) to visually search for the enemy is WW2 doctrine and extremely inefficient. As per Sharkey Wards insistance that ONE Harrier sent out using a single sweep of its Blue Fox radar would give DEFINITIVE information over a massively larger area than the visual sweep. That is just MADNESS. Huge questions should be put to the Sqn Ldr of 800 Sqn as to WHY he didnt liaise directly with Sharkey to ascertain WHY Sharkeys 801 sqn could detect at those longer ranges yet his sqn, 800 couldnt. IT WAS VITAL. If anyone wants to be shocked about the descrepencies of the abilities of 801 v 800 sqn, I suggest you read the book/audio book " Sea Harrier over the Falklands". As for Woodward,, his actions leave a very sour taste in the mouth.

[@jetsiomanuna3761]

Awesome interview, lions lead by donkeys, what can one expect. All these high ranks should be regularly put through the wringer so they’re in touch with the frontline troops or staff, not just a bunch of stuff shirts pen pushers, it’s costing lives!

[@henryvagincourt4502]

HMS Coventry capsized after around 20 minutes, killing 19, including a friend, I was on a frigate in the Task Force when the news came through, you grow up fast at just 18 years of age.

[@greghunt3790]

God bless you sir

[@henryvagincourt4502]

@@greghunt3790 Cheers mucker.

[@alisonhilll4317]

Sounds like to many egos , just let the men who know their aircraft and men do their jobs , they have been trained to do , trust them they are on you're side .

[@greatwhiteythe2nd804]

This is gold for my DCS missions :P

[@alisonhilll4317]

We need people with egos to go to war , but they must learn to listen to the experts in all areas .

[@marcosbalvik5034]

Congratulations Comander

[@paulmcdonough1093]

8.000 miles from uk no proper air cover and the brits won ,amazing victory,

[@DeltaAssaultGaming]

8,000

[@MrNigelTBean]

Always thought Woodward was an arrogant SOB, and now we know his character contributed to the loss of a least 2 ships.

[@brucemacallan6831]

A Submariner, with no clue about air warfare. Incredibly arrogant, and lacking in an IQ IMO. Had he been intelligent, he would have taken the advice of the experts. That is what a true leader does. No wonder it was 'A damn close run thing' with that ignoramus in charge.

[@clives344]

A Staggering account of the arrogance of Woodward.

[@bicolouredprawn]

Sounds like they'd have been safer with Rear Admiral Arnold Rimmer in charge.

[@st8319]

That's Rear Admiral Arnold Rimmer BSc SSc u forgot the swimming certificates lol

[@edisloud]

Comment made my evening 😂

[@andrewward9601]

I'd love to have one of those SHAR prints with sharky....!

[@sichere]

@ 20:24 Harrier armed with a LGB, the RAF became the first military to use this weapon in a conflict.

[@Chilly_Billy]

That's incorrect. USAF F-4 Phantoms used LGB's on an operational evaluation basis against targets in Vietnam beginning in 1968. Due to the political decision to halt bombing of North Vietnam shortly after the LGB's arrival, they really had their big debut in 1972 against the Paul Doumer and Thanh Hoa bridges. Both were quickly dropped after years of costly attacks using unguided and first generation TV-guided bombs.

[@Wien1938]

Woodward sounds completely incompetent in handling a carrier battle-group.

[@maurobreda4730]

una pregunnta ese es el portaaviones que no resulto tan invencible

[@xfire7]

Such incompetace at high level .

[@rogerpattube]

The purpose of this interview is for Sharkey to explain why the successful attacks, on Sheffield and at Bluff Cove/Port Pleasant etc weren't his fault. Have to ask, if the Hermes SHARs were wasting their time at 10,000 feet how come they shot down more Argentinian attacking aircraft than the Invincible's?

[@greg19498]

because they shot them down AFTER they had dropped their bombs.

[@alanhill4334]

Hermes had about 30% more aircraft than Invincible.

[@tonyaughney8945]

Invincible had a total of 12 Sea Harriers while Hermes had 16 and 8 GR3's.

[@richardvernon317]

@@tonyaughney8945 801 Squadron started with 8 SHAR, lost 2 on 6th May, got 4 from 809 Squadron on 18th-20th May and lost 2 between 23rd May and 1st June. Most they had was 10 aircraft and they finished the war with the same amount of aircraft as they started the deployment with. 800 Squadron started with 12. Lost one on the 4th May. got 4 from 809 Squadron on 18th May. Lost one on 23rd May, finished with 14 SHAR. 1(F) Squadron deployed to Hermes with 6 GR3's. lost one on 21st May, lost a second one on 28th May, lost a third one on 30th May and two others had suffered major battle damage (They were down to a single operational aircraft). Got 2 replacements on 2nd June direct from Ascension. lost one on 8th June and got two more direct from Ascension on the same day. Finnish with around 5 operational aircraft as one aircraft suffered major damage when it landed on Hermes a couple of days before the end of the war.

[@richardvernon317]

@@greg19498 About half of 800 NAS's kills were intercepts before the attacking aircraft released weapons. The first air battle on 1st May saw the only pure fighter v fighter combats in which Ward's Squadron took out 2 Mirage III's (though one of them was finally killed by his own AAA guns when it tried to land at Stanley Airport). 800 Squadron shot down a Dagger which was armed with AAM's. The other kill was by 801 Squadron against a Canberra bomber. The major air battle on 21st May stated with 18 aircraft attacking within 10 minutes on the first wave at around 10.30AM local. One Dagger was shot down by a Sea Wolf and the rest got home with one failed intercept by a SHAR of 800 Squadron who fired a Sidewinder at a Dagger at maximum range and missed. Second attack by 8 aircraft in two waves of four, saw the first wave of 4 aircraft being chased by two Sea Harriers of 800 Squadron after being vectored on to the attackers by HMS Brilliant. Then the 2 SHAR ran into the second wave and shot down two Skyhawks of that wave well before they released weapons. The other two skyhawks outran the SHAR as the harriers were running low on fuel. Third wave of 6 IAI Daggers in two flights were intercepted over the west coast of west Falkland by two SHAR of 800 Squadron, vectored on to the raid by HMS Brilliant, who shot down one and chased the other two at low level across West Falkland though very low cloud and mist. The radio on the aircraft shot down was U/S so his two formation member thought he had crashed into a mountain. The Daggers outran the SHAR and bombed the targets. The second three ran into a 801 Squadron Low Level CAP and were all shot down. Fourth wave of 6 CANA Skyhawks in two flights bombed HMS Ardent, leading three were shot down by 2 SHAR of 800 Squadron who were just coming on CAP station when the attack developed so they couldn't have intercepted any earlier. Thus 800 Squadron killed 3 Aircraft before they bombed targets and 3 aircraft after they bombed targets, while 801 Squadron got three before the bombed (Plus Sharky killed a Pucara earlier in the day). The Argentinian Dagger pilots who survived the third wave reported that the route they used was extremely dangerous to fly even without the threat of Sea Harrier interception, so the Argentines stopped using it. The next four fast jet intercepts were done on 23rd (one) and 24th (three) by 800 Squadron. All three on the 24th (3 x Daggers) were inbound when shot down and they had been vectored on to the raid by HMS Coventry. the kill on the 23rd was a Dagger over Pebble Island after they had flown to Falkland Sound and found no targets . 800 Sqn also intercepted 3 helicopters and got a Manoeuvre kill on one of them (and killed the other two on the ground with cannon fire). 800 Squadron could have killed all four Skyhawks that bombed Broadsword and Coventry on 25th May, but the ships called the SHAR off to allow them to deal with the threat with SAMs. Everything then went wrong. Sharky nailed a C-130 with Sidewinders and 30mm cannon fire on 1st June. The Last successful intercepts were by 800 Squadron on 8th June with 3 Skyhawks being Shot down after they bombed a Landing Craft in Bluff Cove. The only reason the SHAR were able to do so was because they VNE'ed the aircraft in the dives (75MPH plus) to allow them catch the Skyhawks. 800 Squadron shot down 6 fast jet aircraft before they bombed their targets and 7 after they had bombed the target. 801 Squadron only shot down three fast jet aircraft before they bombed the target.

[@Jakob_DK]

I suppose this show that England could have lost after all.

[@paulmarchant9231]

No, we would win no matter what..... Argies were making far more mistakes

[@sirbarringtonwomblembe4098]

Britain, NOT England! And, Mr Marchant, we could have lost very easily. If their Airforce had taken on the Harriers we would have lost air superiority. Same mistake as Luftwaffe in BoB.

[@muppetrowlf1473]

And lets not forget, they withdrew their navy completely. It was closer than people think.

[@jrww303]

If they had concentrated on taking out the harriers they could have won.

[@sirbarringtonwomblembe4098]

@@jrww303 Another little known fact is that if Galtieri had withdrawn his forces prior to conflict, there was a UN plan in place to share sovereignty - then eventually Argentina would have gained full sovereignty. Thatcher, whom I otherwise despise, actually ordered the Task Force to slow down for other options to develop. And, before the Belgrano was sunk (they were warned about ALL ships being potential targets a week before, even outwith the 'exclusion zone'), the Argentine Airforce launched an unsuccessful attack on the Task Force; so the British were not the ones guilty of upping the ante!

[@luiscabral8645]

Harrier is upgrade fighter plane like mosquito plane during ww2,,,,,,

[@rogerpattube]

Your aircraft knowledge is indeed impressive.