‘I thought, how can I get the ship working again?’
Some 40 years ago this week, the Royal Navy Type 21 frigate HMS Ardent (F184) was a very new ship, having just been completed by Yarrow just over four years prior.
On 21 May 1982, while in Falkland Sound and supporting Operation Sutton by bombarding the Argentine airstrip at Goose Green with her 4.5-inch Mark 8 mount, Ardent was attacked by at least three incoming waves of Argentine Skyhawks and IAI Daggers inside of an hour.
The airstrikes caused Ardent to sink the next day, with one in eight of the ship’s company lost.
Now a retired commander, Ken Enticknap was a 28-year-old Chief Petty Officer on Ardent, and tells his story, below.
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