Cannibalized Falklands’ war Argentine destroyer sinking in Puerto Belgrano
The British designed Argentine missile destroyer ARA “Santísima Trinidad,” that participated in the Falklands conflict in 1982 and has been out of service since 2004 moored at the Puerto Belgrano Navy base, is currently leaning to port and under the risk of sinking.
The Argentine Navy reported that the vessel which on Monday morning appeared leaning on a fishing vessel “presented a heel to port due to a breakdown in the hull,” after a “six inches pipe tear, that led to the entrance of an important volume of water”.
“The situation remains under control, and we'll work in order to stabilize its buoyancy” said the Navy following on a report from the Rescue and Divers service.
“Given the volume of water and the limited bail capacity the personnel working on board was sent ashore to wait for the vessel to reach the bottom and then resume operations” with the low tide.
“Santisima Trinidad” was declared in “temporary recess” in 2000 and definitively decommissioned in 2004. Since then only a small group of personnel was on duty.
The Type 42 destroyer with missiles and her twin sister were ordered from Vickers in August 1969. ARA Hercules was built in the UK and the Santisima Trinidad assembled in Argentina’s shipyards. However the destroyer only had eight years of active service, although well remembered.
In 1975 the guerrilla group Montoneros almost sunk the docked destroyer with underwater mines.
In 1982 as flagship of the Argentine Navy at the beginning of April transported part of the commandoes that invaded and captured the Falklands.
In 1982 the Royal Navy had several improved version Type 42 destroyers, one of which HMS Sheffield was sunk with an AM-30 Exocet missile by a Super Etendard from the air branch of the Argentine Navy. Another similar vessel HMS Coventry was also sunk by the Argentine Air Force.
The main job of the Santisima Trinidad and Hercules was to protect and support with their sophisticated electronic systems, radars and Sea Dart missiles Argentina’s only aircraft carrier 25 de Mayo.
However by 1989 because of the British arms and spares embargo on Argentina, Santisima Trinidad begun to be cannibalized to provide for ARA Hercules. There were even talks about making her a floating museum on the Malvinas war.
Going back in history because of the underwater explosions with mines, ARA Santisima Trinidad was five years out of action and finally repaired underwent in the UK a full checking operation in 1981.
According to the Buenos Aires media, Maximo Nicoletti the diver that almost sunk the Santisima Trinidad in September 1975 was finally caught by the Argentine Navy special anti-terrorist groups.
Following interrogations he changed sides and begun working for the military government and in 1982 was called to perform what was known as Operation Algeciras, a similar attack to the now sinking destroyer in Puerto Belgrano, but this time against a Royal Navy vessel when she docked at Gibraltar.
Nicoletti with other Navy agents and former Montoneros flew first to Malaga and then to Algeciras where they poised as fishermen. The Italian manufactured underwater mines were shipped to Madrid from Buenos Aires via the embassy.
The group waited for over a month and then Leander class frigate HMS Ariadne docked in Gibraltar but before any action, orders were to consult with Buenos Aires. However at the time the Argentine military were hopeful that diplomatic negotiations with the British through third parties would help freeze the situation in the occupied Malvinas Islands..
But then, following the sinking of the cruiser ARA Belgrano by the submersible HMS Conqueror on May 3 the order was finally given by Admiral Jorge Anaya.
The attack was foiled because by then the Spanish police was on their tracks and had all their phone lines bugged and the Nicoletti team was arrested.
In 2004 a documentary film “Operacion Algeciras” reconstructed the events and Admiral Anaya confirmed all the facts.
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Yeah, they've cut holes in the sides so that gangs of slaves can row her into battle......
I bet it's less than you think....... I bet it's less than I think.
www.theepochtimes.com/n2/opinion/the-falklands-referendum-a-hemispheric-balancing-act-338559.html
I wouldn't trust their media outlet to say anything sensible.
Can't even scrap ships properly 0h dear :)
@7 Shed-time. Actually it's a good article. It might be on Epoch Times but was written by someone from the Institute for Policy Studies.
I bet most of their fleet is in this condition. I wonder if they are rated semi-submersible!
But they could call it a 'tribute to the Belgrano' and open it as a museum anyway.
LOLs, what a bunch of clowns.
If the Argentine Navy were needing spares, they could have bought one of the UK's decommissioned ships which would have had newer parts. Still, thats bureaucracy for you.
I also find it ironic that the Argentine built ship is the one decommissioned and the British built ship is still in service. Poor build quality from the Argentine shipyard? Even Hercules' refit was done in Chile.
Plus they can barely and I mean barely afford to buy enough LNG to keep the lights on so replacement parts for a Military CFK hates are way way down on the list.
I think the USAF is bulking up the base there. Rumors are that we are basing 16000 Marines and lots of equipment.
Don't say things like that about CFK and her military views, how else is Pirat-Hunter going to see he dream realised about ''Nuclear Defence program built 100% Argentina'' :D
I suppose it's as likely to happen as him leaving Canada and living in Argentina :D
@21 Do you know why they are sending drones into Argentina? Are they looking for CFK's marbles? :D
By a hair? Could you expand on that theory?
Retaking with odds against at 3/1 in Argentinas favour, retaking the mountains outside Stanley against troops dug in after tabbing over 50 miles across the moors, a success rate of 23 for 0 for the Harriers, the Argentine navy which turned tail and ran for home after one loss.
I say again, by a hair?!
Oh yes, British officials did/do recognise the value of Argentine troops. However, the officers nor the leadership of Argentina did in 1982.
The point is why we received *any* aid from our overseas friends - I would suggest that it was that they saw Argentina as an aggressor. If we had unilaterally decided to bomb Argentina (or any other country) without reason then I very much doubt that we would have received any support from anyone.
Another chance of what?
Matters not how close a run thing it was, we all know how amazingly our British troops performed, covering that distance at short notice, then loosing all our helicopters on the atlantic conveyor which was sunk by a French Excocet, launched by argentine aircraft.
Then the British troops making do with out air transport, and tabbing/yomping the huge distances over the Islands to tackle well defended 'dug-in' argentine positions that had weeks upon weeks to prepare, - And on 14th June 1982 General menendez surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore.
You lost.
What part of that can't you accept?
You. Lost.
Another chance to negociates or fight ,I dont know,who knows!???
Much foreign aid, latest US side winders, which we would have had anyway and Intelligence, that's it. What did you have, Peruvian Mirages (replacing your losses) with an offer of pilots. French Exocets, Isreali weapons, Uruguayan, Brazilian and god knows who elses intelligence.
British forces engaged you in well defended positions with ample air cover and gave you a proper drubbing. Logistically it was close, our gear had to come 8000 miles, yours 300 miles. Tactically you had all the advantages and you still lost.
As for your troops, some! some of them were good, whereas all of ours outclassed them by miles.
You were not in our league and your still not.
Greetings.
I very much doubt that Argentina will get another chance to take the Falklands by military conquest. First of all, the United States would never condone naked aggression. Secondly, American firms have a great deal invested in Falklands oil. If the quantity of oil is as great as is suggested, then the United States will assist Britain to protect a free Falkland Islands.
Argentina is hoping that the other South American countries will come to their aid if they stir up trouble again by interfering with fishing or oil exploration, but the truth is that they won't. They have far more pressing matters of an internal nature to deal with. Even Chavez will be soon gone & his replacement is not guaranteed to be as friendly to Kretina.
The oil revenues will enable the Falkland Islands to purchase the most modern navy that money can buy. That navy will be operated by the Royal Navy, but focussed on protecting the Falkland Islands interests. Have you any idea how many Astute SSNs, or Type 26 or Type 45 ships they could buy with just a small proportion of their annual revenue? The Falkland Islands could restore the Royal Navy to the status she once held.
Any dreams that Argentina will once again conquer the Islands only enhances the Islander's resolve to protect their way of life. Argentina needs to grow up and realise that cannot build trust with someone who you continually threaten. The Islanders will never trust Argentina, because of 1982. The only way that Argentina can come to terms with her national aspirations, is to put them to one side and forget about them.
The Air Force has no fuel, they can't train and their jets crash just about every time they take off.
So how in the world would they move troops? Ask Brazil? I think they'd hang up and not answer the phone for awhile.
Seems a bit wasteful, what with the ship being on the bottom and all.
At least when the British ground their ships (which seems to be almost a standard part of sea trials) we recover them and they are usable...
They really need to get over it and move on.
At least the Uk recycles or uses its old ships as targets - they dont fill up their own harbours with sunkedn junk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once independent, it's better that the islanders just build up their own economic and defensive strength without relying on the USA. Remember that it was Canada and not the USA who dug their heels in about the Argentinian statement about the Falklands at the OAS.
Maybe canada and australia would come to help instead.
Worst navy in the entire world, Bar none.
While I don't buy into the Dinesh D'Sousa “0bama” (MP needs a font that includes a slash through the zero there!) narrative but as long as the current status quo remains with the Islands undoubtably and irrevocably in the hands of the inhabitants. the US will likewise support the current diplomatic ambiguity as they do with the ROC no matter how loudly AR spouts its lies about the FIs history, status, the right of self-determination by its people, and the illegality of AR's 82 invasion.
AR is banking that this ambiguity will continue through the referendum which I suspect it officially will unless AR tries a provocative stunt. In that case, they'll find out that the Americans don't like being hockeychecked into choosing between its friends/neighbors/allies. AR tried that in 82 and despite cold war realpolitik, Americans sympathized the Islanders (and the UK) over Argentine Fascism and expanding their Dirty War, regardless of American “quasi-neutrality.”
The realistic “worst-case” scenario (which I'd love to see, actually), would be for Obama puff himself up and try to broker talks (and ~that's~ unlikely). But at that hypothetical juncture, he would not be able to refuse the UK from sending the elected FIG and other FI delegates in its place to give direct and personal testimony against AR's violation of the Islanders human rights in '82 and continued negation of their rights through '13. AR would have to accept the right for them to self-represent or be rightly seen as acting in bad faith. And AR's hiding behind non-binding resolutions, which it refuses to honor by treating the Islanders a non-entity, will be there for the whole world to see (as if it hasn't already).
The best response is always no response.
Being an immature belligerent botox inflated retard isn't good for foreign relations in trade or diplomacy. Isolationism doesn't work unless you want to be like the happy people in North Korea. Cuba is slowly starting to communicate more with the outside world and participate in trade. At least Fidel creates doctors and not criminal garbage.
Why don't you leave the country?
There are no allies, they are all our enemies.
There is not one thing Argentina makes that can't be found cheaper and of better quality somewhere else. All the rest of your Mfg is either owned by foreigners or supplied by them. You couldn't even grow SOY without seed from Monsanto for gosh sakes! That is your only real export!
axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_64333.shtml
www.fihplc.com/index.php?section=0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCBOKkQh4Lg&list=PLVsnqjOl38r8u8td01CEbCZQ-lMFbJHK6
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQZbOY5Q3ZU&list=PLVsnqjOl38r9VvQGcmBmaDcd47vLgKdAw
you have no chance of getting nothing.
talk , talk, just like her indocrinated bloggers, mmm
We woudn't need anything if we kept the food to ourselves. Any “lab” crops are only used to increase yields for export. If we didn't export anything we would have enough for our internal needs totally naturally.
All the other stuff you don't need to “live”.
Sure no country can make everything, but unlike you at least we would not starve. The USA agriculture would be gone tomorrow if all subsidies were lifted. You would produce no food at all.
Watching CNN international right now. Again watching images of police officers running desperately around a school... and kids running scared shitless for their lives... how do you live in a place like that??
Ah Pirat, my deluded friend. As I mentioned in #19, there is more chance of you leaving Canada and living in Argentina than the ''nuclear defence program 100% made in Argentina'' ever becoming a reality.
By the way, you do understand is was bad planning, preparation and execution of the invasion of the Falklands that led to Argentina's defeat. Of course you don't. You would rather blame it on someone else. The ''useless french missile'' statement makes that perfectly clear.
I'm surprised you are not blaming the Italians as well for the Aermacchi MB-339 being part responsible! :D
The ship that sank in port was assembled by the AR shipyards.
It was also the target of mines by your own people in 1975, the guerrilla group Montoneros almost sunk the docked destroyer with underwater mines.
Don't you ever read the item before you make yourself look a complete dickhead?
BTW, do you even read your own links? I think not looking at this crap.
@64 A nuclear program requires Uranium which would be available if mining operations weren't hindered by Botox Face's own stupidity. You would need foreign help except most of the countries that have nukes don't like Crustina. The people here with the knowledge would rather ingest cyanide than help that cow. Also, I'm pretty sure with such a weak military, someone would intervene. You should read more, and spend less time wanking to pictures of a baboon faced harlot.
You woudn't need to return, you like everything that is foreign, and dispise everything from this country (I have NEVER seen you make one positive comment), so unless you are a masochist...
You should get off the computer and internet - because their existence like virtually all technology in the world has nothing to do with Argentina - and go live in a cave. Nothing wrong with living in a cave if isolation and prehistoric life pleases you ... but why are you here?
Really? You would be sadly mistaken there... but that's just your racist streak peaking out, assuming Argentine scientist or education have not made any contributions.
Well, Argentina does not have such hinderances do we. We know you are our enemy, want us destroyed, or at the very least work to subjugate us behind the scenes.
Since then they continually rank the lowest on won patents year in and year out.
They don't respect patents so if somebody is smart enough to invent something they move out of that horrible place.
Really? Then eat lots of carrots and tofu... So you can keep your word and never ask for bioptic eye surgery or require open-heart coronary bypass.
And how would all other inventions be sketched, the contracts signed, or demonstrated without self-portable ink pens, or animation?
Get out of here. The fact that you from a country of 320 million needs to compare yourself with one of 38 million is in itself laughable.
www.infobae.com/notas/692667-Que-un-buque-se-hunda-amarrado-revela-el-abandono-de-nuestra-flota.html
Bíró filed his first pen patent in Britain on 15 June 1938 three years before even moving to Argentina.
LMAO! Seems old Nostrolls has never heard of a quill. Supposedly so educated and yet STILL CAN'T ARGUE.
Nobody wants argentina destroyed, we (as in humanity) no longer do that in todays world - You are simply an arsehole, and along with all the other arseholes, you will end your days knowing that the Falklands no sons argentinas.
Nobody takes you seriously enough to want to (as you put it) destroy you.
Don't flatter yourselves, by implying we see you as any kind of a 'threat'
Hehe sorry!!! LOL Always here to 'help'!
Can't wait for his usual inadequate comeback.
I see you are still on the internet...
Actually I wasnt being rude about Argentina and surely some innovation has come from Argentina but in the greater scheme of things Argentina hasnt contributed alot - thanks in great part to Peronism - an ideology and system that fears the change and empowerment that innovation brings.
Im still waiting for someone to tell me why computers should cost twice as much in Argentina as they do in most parts of the developed world
But we're talking ab0ut news, and politics; which most people don't discuss at the dinner table with friends because it's often a crap shoot. That's what these threads are for right? Discussing political issues. If something merit worthy occurs that is deserving of praise, I'll say so; but it hasn't, yet.
And they laugh at us.. HA!!! At least we're not a threat to mankind.
you threaten your own people - their freedom, their health and well-being, their intellectual freedom.
You threaten the 3,000 neighbours on the Falklands, by economic blockade, aggressive political rhetoric, intimidation and condemnation.
You may have no military to speak of, but your SA neighbours do, and you are using every other means you have, to dispossess the Islanders of their homes and their culture, if not their lives.
The Falklanders have the right to DEFEND themselves, whether you like it or not.
english.telam.com.ar/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17434:the-captain-of-the-ara-santisima-trinidad-said-that-after-the-war-england-qrefused-to-sell-spare-partsq-&catid=42:politics
bad english.......!
Tooo funny
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/9820163/Falklands-warship-sinks-in-Argentina.html
However that is a remarkably illwritten and illustrated article in the Telegraph.
Imagine having to worry about them tied up in port during peacetime.
LMAO
Ooooooooops - that's the end of that then! No museum for them.
Puricelli says Santísima Trinidad sinking, 'possible sabotage'
Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli.
Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli said today that there was a possibility that the sinking of the ARA Santísima Trinidad would have been a planned sabotage attack.
The minister spoke about the ship, which sank in Puerto Belgrano in the southern part of Buenos Aires province yesterday, admitting that when Cristina Fernández de Kirchner asks him why the ship sank, he cannot help but drop his head with shame.
“When the president asks me, she will have to look at my embarrassed expression when I tell her that a ship that was anchored in a port, sank,” the Puricelli told radio reporters this morning
ha ha
Maybe an Argentine sailor wanting rid of Puricelli - or more likely a drunk sailor with the “I wonder what this does” idea in his head!?
noticias.terra.com.ar/politica/para-el-gobierno-el-episodio-del-buque-pudo-ser-un-atentado,4d0ad3807546c310VgnCLD2000000ec6eb0aRCRD.html
“Were there any flat bed trannies seen in the area?”
Flat bed “trannies”??
LOL, only Sussie, and he's not much of a threat.
Wake up Argentina , this government has robbed the country blind .
20% devaluation next week .
103 ..The national legislator ironically: “the country advanced that tells the story, the only thing that really seems to be advanced is the deterioration and not only of our armed forces, but also to the road, railway and energy infrastructure”. SORRY FOR POOR TRANSLATION
Does anyone else see the irony that it's called 'Port Belgrano' and she sank in it?
Father, Son and Holy!!!!!! shit!!!!!! there she goes.
www.buenosairesherald.com/article/122436/puricelli-says-sant%C3%ADsima-trinidad-sinking-possible-sabotage
Of Course it's sabotage!! and if you are looking for the culprit (s), look no further than KFC et al......
They are guilty of bleeding their armed forces dry through underfunding.
@106 - Shed-time
“Does anyone else see the irony that it's called 'Port Belgrano' and she sank in it?”
Oooh you are awful, but I do like you....LOL
That's a damn good name for KFC.
“The Irony lady.”
Now it looks that Argentina could lose even that. Weather conditions are working against the country's cash crop. This summer it took a big hit due to a lack of rain, this fall it suffered from too much. This intense rain (and in some cases flooding) has lead to delays in planting.
Here's what Morgan Stanley had to say about it:
The highest Oct-Nov rainfall totals in over 30 years across Argentina’s corn and soybean regions have led to widespread flooding, preventing farmers from planting their crops in a timely fashion. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange reports that by the first week of Dec (comparable to early June in the US), only... 54% of the nation’s soy crop was planted, down from...65%... last year. Even today, farmers are scrambling to plant the last... 4% of the soybean crop — the equivalent of planting in mid-July in the US.
Adding insult to injury, January weather across much of western Argentina — which accounts for roughly 33% of the country’s corn and soybean production — has turned drier than normal, with soil moisture levels in the region now below 20% of capacity and little rain in the forecast through the next week... Our local contacts have also expressed concern that the wet start to the season discouraged adequate root depth, leaving crops more vulnerable than usual to dry weather today.
Morgan Stanley says that the soy crop could still be saved. Soy beans are planted later in the season, so if this dry weather ends the tide could turn. If it doesn't though, things will take a dramatic turn for the worse, hitting the soy crop at just the wrong time.
Read more: www.businessinsider.com/argentina-soy-crop-suffers-from-flood-2013-1#ixzz2IprpQ66m
So, yes your links to economic woes are nice. But are those things are really important, verus the USA's lack of support of self-determination, their use of the term 'Las Malvinas', their crawling up to the Argentines, their lack of support for democracy, lack of open support for self-determination and lack of taking any moral stance in the face of someone trying to steal someone's land.
From reading the works of your forefathers, I thought the USA was supposed to be all about freedom and promoting democracy, but let us face facts... when we're all suffering the outcomes of the cyclical demise of the Argentine state, the USA isn't going to be there to help... again.
Hooray!
What a shame 'Santísima Trinidad' wasn't in Mar del Plata being used as a presidential viewing platform upon Liberturd's return when this happened... now that would have been worth buying tickets to watch.
I was going to suggest, that once the oil revenue starts to come in, they would be able to finance such a thing. Then I remembered, after March, there will be no need for it!
Even found out about the US's role in the history surrounding 1833 etc. (USS Lexington)
I admit it, it was me. I used a wok to deflect gamma rays onto the hull of the boat, thus causing a BURST PIPE to sink the ship.
Of course it's sabotage. It was sabotaged by the Argentine government. This report in the BA Herald is quite damning of the funding given to the Argentine Navy.
www.clarin.com/politica/flota-navega-faltan-repuestos-municiones_0_853114726.html
Their ice-breaker has been out of commision since 2007!!! And they have supposedly been given $100 million to fix it!!! I wonder where all that money went?
Added to that is the fact that the Argentine Navy has been reduced to 161 days at sea to be shared between their entire fleet (only 16 vessels actually sea-worthy)! That's 10 days at sea per ship!!! It really does beggar belief.
I do feel sorry for these young men and women who are being sent to sea in poorly maintained vessels, after being betrayed by their government like this. If any of them die due to this neglect, I hope that the government are held fully accountable.
You are of course right. If there ever was a $100 million, it disappeared into someone's off-shore bank account years ago.
They are now discussing the term of employment.
www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-24/man-lucky-to-be-alive-after-raft-odyssey/4483280
What in the world are they going to do rely on the good graces of other countries?
How embarrassing.
It will be a contract with the British to save their necks, just like the luxury jet for TMBOA.
That REALLY would be a laugh.
He got to learn about the USA's involvement with the Islands before, and up to 1833. (USS Lexington)
@132, You know ED, it's really great, he came, I truly think more people (bipartisan this time) from congress should see the place for themselves and bring that information and sentiment of the residents back to the House and Senate *FR* committees and intern make no bones about this to “State.” But to my frustration (and low-burn anger), his visit seems to have had little impact. Sensenbrenner's visit did not make The Hill or the congress's own pages. A quick search on the congressional pages shows one correlated page with him and the Falklands on it. It is dated 1997 and his attention is Antarctic efforts. Heck, the visit isn't even on his own website and more's the pity. (If you can find something in the US Gov area documenting his trip, please let me know because I would love to see it as a matter of record.) I think the FIG and the UK should make a very strong overture to the Foreign Relation committees in the house and senate to send delegates (likely they'll be able to afford just a couple aides, preferable from both party/house) to the referendum.
In 1989, the ARA Bahía Paraíso sank in Antarctic waters off the American base at Palmer Station. They took copious pictures of the grounding and eventual capsize.
www.zonamilitar.com.ar/foros/threads/gran-duda-ara-bah%C3%ADa-paraiso.5467/
Curiously, there is some question over whether the ship actually had 2 Sea King helicopters on board as the Argentine Navy claimed. There was no sight of them when the ship sank with the hangar doors open and empty. Maybe they were exaggerating their loss for the insurance?! Some suggested that when the hangar doors opened the Sea Kings broke their chains (really?! are helicopters capable of breaking their own chains at will when they want to?!) and rolled off the back of the ship into the water. More likely, they were flown ashore back in Argentina before the ship went south.
The Argentine Navy recently sent another vessel down there, ARA Bahía San Blas, which was a bit risky given their poor maintenance record! to dive on the wreck and recover small boats, fuel drums and fuel tanks.
www.gacetamarinera.com.ar/nota.asp?idNota=5012&idSec=7
Could it be that they were recovering more than just boats and fuel tanks? It is far more likely that they were recovering materials which proved that Argentina had yet again violated the treaties over bringing military hardware into the Antarctic area.
Remember Marcos howling about the brand new Astute, just out of the navy base, that had managed to get onto a sandbar?
I have saved the link, just in case!!
Helicopters, what helicopters? LOLs
He'll definitely not like this...
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2203110/Deadly-Hunter-Killer-submarine-capable-hearing-ship-leaving-port-New-York--sat-underwater-English-channel.html
It seems that the aptly named HMS Ambush could probably hear Argentine ships sinking in port all the way from the UK! ROFLMAO
The link is here:
www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomakewar/databases/navy/navalforcesoftheworld.asp
Naval Forces of the World
This chart shows the world's 40 most powerful fleets, which represent 98 percent of the world's naval power. The fleets are ranked in order of combat value.
NATION COMBAT %of Total 1k tons SHIPS QUALITY
VALUE
Argentina 2 0.41% 39 17 60%
Australia 5 0.8% 57 16 80%
Belgium 1 0.09% 7 3 75%
Brazil 6 0.98% 86 24 65%
Britain 46 8.11% 510 102 90%
I thought the originators of the table were very generous to the argies in the 60% rating, encompassing as it does maintenance and training of service personnel. We all know they don't do any!
The UK of course is 23 times the combat value of the argies, 20 times bigger than them and 13 times the battleweight.
AND that is without comparing effective firepower. Ha, ha, ha.
Eat your heart out you useless gits!
@98 Yeah, but wiki says they have destroyers. Would anybody with a proper navy call those things “destroyers”? They are frigates at best. Calling a rowboat a “battleship” doesn't make it a battleship.
@114 ? Is it rust?
@118 How about when we drop one of those missiles you sold us on Buenos Aires? Will you notice? By the way, what's the effect if we fire it without a warhead and it hits the middle of a city?
@119 KFC with a donkey? Has she been going upmarket?
@131 Of course it's HUGE. That's because of all you OWE us. Your existence, your language, your ideas of democracy, justice, freedom. Although you weren't too quick on the last one. You haven't quite caught up yet on quality instead of quantity.
@139 So the UK has the second most powerful navy in the world! Wonder how it will rate when all the Astute class subs and the QE class carriers are in service. And if we save £53 million a day by ditching the EU? More carriers? More aircraft? More Type 45s? More Astutes? Successors? Type 26 frigates?
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