HH
Who was it who criticised Woodward? Ignorant fools like Max Hastings?
Woodward conserved the fighting power of his two carriers and aircraft until the real battle he knew was coming - the landings in the face of determined air attacks. This was the critical part of the campaign, so doing so was prudent, considering the limitations the task group faced such as having no AEW, Sea Harrier with limited radar and fuel/weapon loads, Type 42 destroyers with old radars (and Argentina had T42s and could practice lobe pecking), only two Sea Wolf armed frigates being part of the task group, no CIWS.... What sense would it have made to risk losing the war being the amphibious group was there to put the troops ashore?
When the landing came, the carriers moved inshore and both Type 22s escorted the troop carriers into San Carlos water. Hermes had ventured close to the islands to support the SAS raid on Pebble Island before then, Invincible had been to the east of the islands on a special mission. Accusing Woodward or his ships' companies of lacking courage or whatever is not on.
Not only did he know about countering the threat from the Belgrano, he was also able to deal with the submarine threat, and fend off the air threat and conserve his ships and aircraft for the landings, during with the Argentines lost something like fifty aircraft in a few days, which broke their back as a fighting force. He also had to conserve ships and aircraft to support the troops after the landings. We won - remember!
Jabba
What about amphibious forces and the like? Will they be allowed near Air to Surface Missile range? Do you think a task group is better or worse defended with a carrier against air, submarine, and surface threats? Please explain you answer.
Engines
Thanks for that - I cannot understand why people struggle with that.
On other forums (fora?) when carrier topics have cropped up those who have worn dark blue and served in any kind of warship seem to have an understanding of all the parts of ship involved in aviation. An awful lot of sailors play very key roles in making it happen, in different departments aboard the carrier.
Last edited by WE Branch Fanatic; 3rd Jul 2018 at 08:09.