One very good book is One Hundred Days by Admiral Sir John “Sandy” Woodward, the Falklands task group commander. I’ve got the first edition although it has been revised and added to more recently. It shows aviation in the context of a task force at war, both the task force’s own Sea Harriers (and later RAF Harrier GR3s) and helicopters, but also long range sorties by land based Nimrods (and the problems of incorrect analysis by the RAF), as well as seeing Argentine airpower from the recieving end.
Several books were written about ships that did not survive the conflict, Captain David Hart-Dyke’s Four Weeks In May about HMS Coventry‘s war and her loss is one. A BBC2 docudrama was based on it. I found the book not to be the easiest of things to read, the descriptions of the brave acts by his sailors to rescue shipmates from smoke and fire filled spaces, or to help men struggling in the water, may cause a feeling of wetness in the eyes.
Going even more off topic….
During the Falklands conflict there was an attempt by some elements within Argentine Naval Intelligence to use ex terrorist divers to attack British ships in Gibraltar harbour, as described here.
A film was made about the operation. Has anyone seen it?
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