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When the Falkslands War broke out Kevin J. Porter was an 18 year old sailor in the Royal Navy, a member of the communications team on the amphibious warfare ship HMS Fearless. She carried the command staff for the Commodore Amphibious Warfare and for 3 Commando Brigade, and was those close to the heart of the action for much of the campaign. The author was raised in the south-west Cumbrian town of Millom (an area I am familiar with), before joining the Royal Navy.
The author acknowledges in the introduction that his diary wasn’t detailed enough to support a full book, so each diary entry is used as a starting point, supported by the author’s more recent views on the same events. In some cases extracts from other people’s diarys are used to illustrate major incidents the author didn’t witness. This is a very effective approach, allowing the author to emphasis things that either didn’t seem important at the time, or that he didn’t know much about. The
The most intense period comes when the Fearless was in Falklands Sound, the narrow strip of water between East and West Falkland, where the fleet came under repeated air attacks. The narrow straits with hills close by meant that the Argentine air force was able to get dangerously close without being detected. We get a detailed account of these battles, with the author describing how despite the 80s being well into the age of the missile, much of the fighting involved older weapons, even Second World War era Bofors guns! The Sea Cat missile proved to be obsolete, and despite contemporary victory claims probably didn’t shoot down any Argentine aircraft, but a combination of shore based Rapier missiles and naval gunfire did account for many of the attacking aircraft.
The author recorded his perspective on many of the British losses of the war. He was close enough to witness the explosion that eventually sank HMS Antelope. The hit on HMS Plymouth is described in the lengthy diary entry of one of Porter’s shipmates, who was sent across to help the fire fighting efforts. The devastating attacks on the Galahad and Tristram get a chapter of their own, although it happened out of sight of the Fearless so didn’t feature directly in the diary. These loses pretty much marked the end of the air attacks, as the battered Argentine air force retreated from the battle, but that couldn’t be known at the time of course.
The story continues on to the task force’s triumphant return home, followed by Porter’s own equally triumphant return to Millom. Sadly this high led to a prolonged period of partying. The aftermath of one drunken night led to a fine and a criminal convinction, which ended his chance of a significant naval career and marked the onset of PTSD. Thankfully Porter has since become a hypnotherapist and life coach.
This is an excellent account of the Falklands War, written from the viewpoint of a junior member of the crew of HMS Fearless whose post meant he got to see many significant events from close up, as well as giving us an insight into the longer term impact the war had on Porter.
Chapters
1 – Reality Outs
DIARY OF EVENTS AFTER BEING CALLED BACK
2 – Sailing on a War Footing
3 – A Life on the Ocean Wave
4 – Half Way There
5 – The Long Wait
6 – Sloppiness
7 – Death at Sea
8 – Fearless and Me
9 – On Our Way
10 – Am I Already Dead?
11 – Air Drops
12 – SBS, SAS and Pebble Island
13 – The Torture Factor
14 – The Curse of the Albateross
15 – D-Day
16 – Aircraft Green 30
17 – Say a Little Prayer
18 – Lull in the Proceedings
19 – HMS Antelope
20 – Wrecking the 40/60 Crews
21 – Argentine National Day Disaster
22 – Sneakies
23 – Splashed
24 – Goose Green
25 – Exocet – What Exocet?
26 – HMS Plymouth Fire-Fighting
Fire Fighting on HMS Plymouth
27 – Galahad & Tristram
LCU Foxtrot 4
28 – Chemical Warfare
29 – Ground War
30 – What A Team!
31 – Night Terrors
32 – The Push
33 – Surrendered
34 – Little Man Syndrome
35 – Port Stanley
36 – The Dead Zone
37 – FOSA – Flag Officer South Africa
38 – Homeward Bound
39 – Thank You Sand Bags!
40 – Preparing For Home
41 – Red Cross Parcels
42 – Pulled Out His Plums
43 – Home Waters in Guzz
44 – The Glorious Day
45 – Millom
Author: Kevin J. Porter
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 308
Publisher: Independent
Year: 2017