Cast your mind back to 1991. Quite rightly, the RAF units flying against Saddam's forces and the Army got the lion's share of news coverage. However, there was also a naval aspect to
Desert Storm/
Granby. It did get covered by TV and media reporters, yet did it register with the public?
Saddam's Navy was more or less completely destroyed. One of the main weapons used by the coalition was the Sea Skua, launched from Lynx from RN frigates/destroyers. Although it is unoffical and may not be entirely accurate, this page on
the Royal Navy and the Gulf discussed Lynx operations.
Six Lynx helicopters (armed with Sea Skua Air to Sea Missiles) .were sent from 829 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) to the Gulf on four Royal Navy frigates. In total the Lynx helicopter was responsible for 15 Iraqi ship kills, at least five of which were made by a single helicopter, Lynx 335 of H.M.S Cardiff. The various confrontations are detailed below:
Lynx 335 from Cardiff together with an American Sea Hawk destroy a target, believed to be a minesweeper or landing vessel, marking the first Royal Navy success of the war.
Lynx helicopters from Type 42 destroyers Cardiff and Gloucester are dispatched with US forces to destroy two anti-aircraft batteries that had been constructed on oil platforms off the coast of Kuwait. 12 Iraqis were captured in the process becoming the first prisoners of war (POWs).
24th January: Lynx 335 attacks three Iraqi vessels, sinking two minesweepers, off the Island of Quarah. Cardiff 's Lynx tries to capture a minelayer but the Iraqi crew scuttle the vessel and 22 are taken prisoner. The island is later captured.
29th January: A flotilla of 17 landing craft, part of an attempted Iraqi amphibious assault on the town of Khafji, is spotted and engaged by Royal Navy Lynx helicopters. Flights from Brazen and Gloucester attack and sink one vessel while Lynx 335 from Cardiff sinks another. The remainder are damaged, destroyed or dispersed by American carrier based aircraft and Royal Navy Sea King helicopters.
30th January: A convoy consisting of 3 Polnochny class landing ships, three TNC- 45 fast attack craft and a single Type 43 minelayer (also part of the attempted assault on Khafji) is identified. H.M.S Gloucester's Lynx destroys a TNC-45 with Cardiff and Brazen's helicopters attacking the T43. Gloucester's Lynx then destroys the other two TNC45's. Other units were damaged including a Polnochny that was later destroyed by RAF Jaguar aircraft.
8th February: Lynx 335 attacks a Zhuk class patrol boat.
11th February: Lynx 335 attacks and sinks another Zhuk Class patrol boat.
15th February: H.M.S Manchester's Lynx helicopter sinks a salvage vessel named Aka.
16th February: H.M.S Gloucester's Lynx destroys a Polonchy class landing craft.
The destruction of 15 Iraqi vessels by a small number of helicopters shows that shipborne helicopters can make a major contribution to operations. The effectiveness of arming naval helicopters with anti ship missiles was demonstrated. One of the reasons allied commanders wanted the threat from missile boats removed so that mine clearance operations in the Northern Gulf could start, part of the bluff that meant Saddam kept six divisions in coastal Kuwait, waiting for an amphibious assault. So although the war was mostly on land and in the air seapower had a strategic effect.
Did/does the RN, and the Lynx in particular, get the recognition it deserves?
Twelve years later during the early stages of Operation
Telic, a Sea King HC4 sunk a patrol boat with machine gun fire. The engagement has been mentioned on PPRuNe and in this
article by Tim Ripley (also in
PDF format). Understandably perhaps this did not make the TV news, but it doesn't seem to be mention on the RN or MOD website either. Why not?