The story

In March 1982, HMS Yarmouth was on its way to a Far East deployment, but Argentinian President General Leopoldo Galtieri had other ideas.

Aged 22, I was serving my 18 months’ notice and expecting to leave the navy in a few months’ time after 6 years of service.

I was a Leading Radio Operator in charge of the Starboard Watch Communications team. We were Far East bound and were happily sailing across the Mediterranean towards Naples when a FLASH (Z) signal came in over the teleprinter. We knew the islands had been invaded by this time and were half-expecting a change to our plans. I was on watch, saw the signal coming through … and it didn’t read well:

“Turn around, head back to Gibraltar, refuel, take on ammunition and stores. Proceed to join the Hermes battle group in the Atlantic…”

So no Far East deployment for you, HMS Yarmouth. You’re going to war instead…

The diary takes up the story from there. By way of a taster, we’ve reproduced some of the pages below. Please read on…

Pages 6 to 31 are not reproduced here, but all 32 pages will be included if you continue down to the bottom of the page and purchase this diary.

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Wow, it doesn’t feel like 38 years ago. I’ve now been retired for the last 11 years, since my 50th birthday. When searching for the above documents, I chanced across this, an open letter to my work colleagues at Cheshire West Council, where I’d lodged a complaint and as a result, I became the innocent target of bullying and gaslighting by some not very clever managers over a period of two and a half years…! I made a nuisance of myself and they wanted to sack me very cheaply. I won’t spoil the ending here, so please click the following link to find out what happened: 

The story of my retirement from the rat race is here! 

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Back in 2014 I had to sell my Falklands medal and the original diary due to money worries. I’d managed to hang onto them since retiring and losing my salary, but I had a wife and two young girls to look after – which I still do now – things got a little tense and fraught with the finances, so it had to go…!

The following is copied from eBay’s seller pages, where the medal was sold.

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HMS Yarmouth actions during the Falklands Conflict. Excerpt from Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Yarmouth_(F101)

Falklands War – HMS Yarmouth

See also: Battle of Seal Cove and Operation Keyhole   Yarmouth sailing astern of Cardiff in the south Atlantic with Andromeda.

She arrived off the Falklands in late April 1fighting and medical assistance to Glamorgan when the destroyer was hit by a land-based Exocet.^[24] On 13–14 June, she and Active shelled Argentine positions during the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. During the war, she fired over 1,000 shells from her main guns, mostly during shore bombardment, and 58 anti-submarine Limbo mortar rounds.

After the Argentine surrender of the Falkland Islands, Yarmouth, HMS Endurance, RFA Olmeda and the tug Salvageman sailed to the South Sandwich Islands where Argentina had established a base in South Thule since 1976. Following a demonstration of the Yarmouth’s guns, the ten Argentine military personnel surrendered.^[28]

Before leaving South Thule, Yarmouth was refuelled by the RFA Olmeda on 21 June, which may have been the most southerly RAS(L) in the history of the Royal Navy.^[28]

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Purchase copies of FALKLANDS WAR DIARY by Paul Cardin here:

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On receipt of your payment, copies of the diary will be immediately sent as attachments to your email address. Note: the item is copyrighted to Paul Cardin and any onward resale is not permitted.

Thank you!

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