MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands War, the QE2 finest hour when transporting 3,000 troops

The cover of the book

A fascinating new book, “The QE2 in the Falklands War”, Troopship to the South Atlantic, reveals what is was like for crew and soldiers on QE2's epic voyage in 1982 to combat in the Falklands War has been published on the 43rd anniversary of the South Atlantic conflict.

Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 offered the ultimate in fine dining cruising, but on this voyage, instead of suckling pig being served on bone china plates, passengers collected “stodge” on trays from the canteen.

Rather than the strains of an orchestra playing in the ballroom, the clump-clump of booted feet echoed around the hardboard-clad passageways that had been laid to protect miles of the ship’s soft deep-pile carpets. And instead of lights from the chandeliers shining from the hundreds of portholes, all windows had been blacked out.

The trappings of a luxury cruise ship, from her silverware and paintings to the casino tables, had been offloaded to transport 3,000 troops from 5 Infantry Brigade – made up of battalions from the Scots Guards, Welsh Guards and Gurkha Rifles – to launch an assault on Port Stanley in the South Atlantic, some 8,000 miles away.

Among the brave soldiers onboard was 20-year-old Welsh Guardsman Simon Weston, who survived severe burns to his face and hands after his ship RFA Sir Galahad was attacked.

The book is authored by Ronald W. Warwick OBE, and David Humphreys. Ronald W. Warwick OBE is a past Master of QE2, having followed in the footsteps of his father, Commodore William E. Warwick, first Master of the ship. He joined the Cunard Line in 1970 and himself became Commodore of the line when he was appointed command of the Queen Mary 2 in 2003.

David Humphreys served as a senior petty officer on QE2 during the voyage to the South Atlantic. He later served as a supply officer with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. After obtaining a PhD in international relations from City University, London, he spent 28 years at the Open University retiring as Professor of Environmental Policy.