Barker transformed HMS Endurance into a combat helicopter platform and photo-spy ship with just a pair of 20mm AA guns, small weapons, and missiles for her Wasp Helicopters
The narrative of another Endurance resonates as photographs of Shackleton’s Endurance’s wreck are sent throughout the globe, especially as the 40th anniversary of another fight draws near. Her Majesty’s station ship in the Falkland Islands in 1981 was the HMS Endurance. HMS Endurance served an incredible career during the Falklands Conflict with Argentina, and a Pebble Mill documentary produced the year before the Falklands War vividly depicted her prewar history.
The documentaries listed below demonstrate how dangerous exploring the Antarctic was even in the early 1980s. The arrival of Captain Nicholas Barker, who expertly led her in both exploration and combat, demonstrates his skill as an officer. Captain Barker successfully hid his ship from Argentine forces when the Falklands War broke out by using satellite communication to hide his bright red ship among ice floes while he waited for UK reinforcements.
Before giving up to the overwhelming force of the Argentinian amphibious assault on South Georgia, where Shackleton’s grave still lies, Endurance’s Royal Marine Detachment, left there, managed to shoot down an Argentinian Puma Assault Helicopter and damage an Argentinian Naval vessel with their anti-tank weapons.
Barker managed to convert his ship into a combat helicopter platform and photo-spy ship with only two 20mm AA guns, small arms, and missiles for her Wasp Helicopters. This while keeping his crew alive and causing no deaths. In order to maximize damage against the enemy war effort in the event of a confrontation with the Argentinian Naval Forces, his strategy was to ram whatever tankers they had nearby.
Endurance was one of the vessels that assisted in the successful recapture of South Georgia, and she was able to escape harm from Argentina’s Navy until reinforcements arrived. In South Georgia’s Grytvken Harbour, her Wasp Helicopter helped to sink the Argentinean Santa Fe submarine. In one of the last operations of the Falklands War, she was also able to help with the recapture of South Thule Island.
Aboard Endurance, the war’s ultimate surrender took place in the South Sandwich Islands.
Due to his continuing opposition to Thatcher’s prewar Defense Minister John Nott’s decision to retire Endurance as a cost-saving measure just before the War, Captain Barker was put to pasture postwar and retired as merely a Captain despite all of his accomplishments. Barker’s opposition was based on the abundant resources of the Falklands and South Georgia, as well as those islands’ respective Exclusive Economic Zones and their significance as staging areas for the British Antarctic Territory, which is home to a vast potential resource base, including the possibility of substantial petroleum reserves that could result in a sizable financial windfall for the British government and people as well as the islanders themselves.
HMS Endurance, Langley South Part 1. Ignore the messed-up beginning, that is likely bad VCR Tape. To Deception Island Prewar.
HMS Endurance, Langley South Part 2 To Sir James Ross Island, with a re-enactment by Endurance 1981’s crew of Endurance 1915’s harrowing adventure.
War Stories, Captain Barker Postwar, at his reunion party aboard Endurance, visiting the Falklands, shows the Governor General of the Falklands. The Royal Marines’ Lieutenant Keith Mills is also present to share his incredible tale. This will also provide viewers a look at the particular species of Whitehall Office Mole that made the kinds of choices that ultimately resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. Moreover, Lord Shackleton makes an appearance; he is a recently found direct descendent of Shackleton the Great of the Original Endurance.
Be sure to check out William Cobb’s Facebook Page Pensacola Aerospace Museum for awesome aviation’s photos and stories.
Photo by: ©1988 K. Krallis, SV1XV via Wikipedia
