The HSM Sheffield has just been sunk by an Exocet days after the General Belgrano was sent to the depths by two torpedoes. 

This war was turning nastier by the minute and not helped by the media on both sides – British Warship sunk by Argies – yelled the Sun Headline 

The Daily Star was a bit more direct – its headline was merely:

SUNK!

The odd thing was that the Sheffield had not actually gone down by the time these stories were published  –  it would take three days for the Sheffield to eventually roll over but there was no denying the palpable shock which ran through the British nation on the morning of the 5th May 1982 the day after the crew abandoned ship. 

The mood in the war cabinet that day reflected these views, with John Nott the most shaken of Margaret Thatchers’ ministers. He told the House of commons later 

“It has been a dreadful event…” but the first effect was to infuse the British diplomatic efforts with new energy and foreign secretary Francis Pym was on the move once more. Just a few days earlier he had been waving his arms about airily dismissing the peace initiatives in a condescending manner, now he was shocked into action. 

Meanwhile, since the beginning of May, the SAS and Special Boat Service had not been idle. Parties from G squadron SAS and the SBS began landing ashore on the Falklands from the 1st May to assess the strength and condition of the Argentinian forces. 

Rear Admiral Woodward had ordered the frigate HMS Alacrity to steam at full speed through the Falkland Sound – the passage between East and West Falklands. The plan was to pressurise the Argentine garrison and to prove that the British had naval superiority. What Woodward didn’t know, was that there were five Argentine supply ships in various parts of the Falkland Sound that night. 

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