Themes

Conflict, change and the Royal Navy, Falklands and Beyond

Following the Falklands War in 1982 the Royal Navy had to rethink its approach to surface warfare.

Before the Conflict the fleet was mainly equipped for Cold War anti-submarine warfare with its amphibious and anti-aircraft capabilities severely reduced and under question altogether.

The War emphasised the need for adequate air defence; Argentine aircraft continually harassed and bombed the Task Force long after their submarine and surface fleet had been neutralised.

The War provided the Royal Navy with an insight on the actual use of the new missile and electronic technologies developed, but rarely used, during the Cold War.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s British naval policy has shifted towards ‘power projection’ creating a highly visible force with the capacity to fight abroad and provide support to operations ashore.

Operations post-1982 tended to favour the deployment of the aircraft carrier. In 1997 the Government announced in its Strategic Defence Review the building of two new large aircraft carriers.

Amphibious shipping was also given a boost following the Falklands War with the Landing Platform Dock (LPD) HMS Ocean entering the service in 1995, and a further two Commando ships, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion following in the new millennium.

HMS Coventry (1986). The Type 22 frigate on its day of commissioning in 1988. The Royal Navy originally intended name the ship Boadicea but named it Coventry in honour of the previous HMS Coventry (D118), a Type 42 destroyer sunk in the Falklands War. (RNM)

Follow the links to find out more about -

• Lessons from the Falklands

• The Type 23 Frigate

• New technology between the Falklands and the Gulf War

• The Gulf War

• Into the new millennium