Falklands War Shipwrecks Sonar Pictures Released

RIP.
"These haunting images show the wrecks of three Royal Navy ships sunk in the Falklands War and which are the final resting places for 42 British servicemen.
The remains of HMS Coventry, HMS Antelope and her sister ship HMS Ardent have been captured using sonar images taken by the survey vessel HMS Enterprise.
The wrecks have been scanned to mark the 35th anniversary year of the conflict and the new images will be used to update charts used by fellow ships.
One of the images captures HMS Coventry which lies with her port side buried on the sea bed 300ft down and 13 miles north of Pebble Island.
On May 25, 1982, Argentina's national day, the destroyer was on duty north-west of the Falkland Islands when she came under attack from several enemy aircraft.
Three bombs tore the heart out of Coventry as they struck on the port side, causing her to sink in minutes with the loss of 19 men.
Another image shows the separated remains of HMS Antelope, which lies at a 45-degree angle on the bottom of San Carlos Water.
Antelope was struck by a 1,000lb bomb dropped by an Argentine aircraft on May 23, 1982.
It failed to explode initially but was triggered as bomb disposal experts worked to defuse it.
Bomb disposal expert Sergeant James Prescott was killed instantly in the blast which tore the ship in two as her keel broke and her superstructure melted into a heap of twisted metal.
TV and still pictures of Antelope's sinking became one of the iconic images of the Falklands War.
Her sister HMS Ardent sank in Grantham Sound after being hit by a succession of bombs on May 21, 1982.
Ardent was bombarding an Argentine airstrip from the nearby Falkland Sound when she was attacked by at least three waves of enemy aircraft.
The type 21 frigate burnt throughout the night and sank the next day, taking 22 men with her.
Commander Philip Harper, chief officer of Enterprise, said: 'Of all our sonar images of 1982 wrecks, we think Antelope is the most remarkable - the 4.5-inch gun is probably still loaded.'
Twelve of the survivors of the Coventry, who escaped the blazing inferno on life rafts, visited the site to coincide with the project.
A service of remembrance was held before a wreath was cast into the South Atlantic and a tot of rum poured into the ocean at the request of relatives of the crew lost.
Chris Howe, Coventry Association chairman, consisting of surviving crew, said: 'Hopefully we have done our shipmates proud, right over the spot where we were sunk 35 years ago.
'It's been amazing to come back here and remember our shipmates who are still on patrol.
'Some of us are of an age where we might not be able to get down here again.' "
Pictured: The watery graves of 42 British servicemen | Daily Mail Online

 

Marcarbly haunting but visually beautiful images......... If one could divorce the deaths of so many men. Certainly compelling to watch. I remember Margaret Thatcher upon being asked why she thought the British would win......."Resolve " She certainly got that right. I remember running across a military memorial in Kent, years ago. . at Sandwich if my memory serves me. I was taken aback that there were more men killed in WW1 than in WW2 and a solitary soldier from Sandwich...................Gaines