Falklands War
HMS Onyx was the only non-nuclear submarine of the Royal Navy to take part in the Falklands War. The smaller displacement of Onyx compared to the nuclear submarines made her ideal for landing SAS and SBS troops close to the islands in shallow waters. During one of these missions, Onyx ran aground and suffered minor damage to its bow. After British officers scrapped Operation Mikado, the replacement plan consisted of Onyx dropping SAS operatives several miles offshore at night for them to make their way to the coast aboard rubber inflatables in order to destroy Argentina's remaining stockpile of Exocet missiles.
HMS Onyx sank the hulk of the landing ship Sir Galahad after she was badly damaged at Bluff Cove.
Read more about this topic: HMS Onyx (S21)
Famous quotes containing the words falklands and/or war:
“If we were doing this in the Falklands they would love it. It’s part of our heritage. The British have always been fighting wars.”
—British soccer fan. quoted in Independent (London, Dec. 23, 1988)
“Superstition, bigotry and prejudice, ghosts though they are, cling tenaciously to life; they are shades armed with tooth and claw. They must be grappled with unceasingly, for it is a fateful part of human destiny that it is condemned to wage perpetual war against ghosts. A shade is not easily taken by the throat and destroyed.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)