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On May 1, 1982 Exocet missiles fired by Argentine Air Force Super-Etendard aircraft sank HMS Sheffield and set fire to HMS Invincible. That same afternoon, a full squadron of Mirage IIIE overwhelmed Hermes' Sea Harriers (mostly by forcing them to Bingo) and 8 Navy Skyhawks from CV Veinticinco de Mayo carried out a mission for which they had been training months prior. Flying at very low altitude and using a makeshift datalink to a Russian Tu-142 Bear MPA circling the British TF, they knew that the Type 42's Sea Dart missiles cannot lock-on. Using modified Mk83 fuses that explode when dropped from as low as 30m, eight A4s made a devastating attack and put 3x 1000lb bombs through HMS Hermes' flight deck.
After burning for hours, HMS Hermes sank during the night and, with HMS Invincible damaged, the chance of a quick liberation of the Falklands was lost.
Follow-up attacks by Daggers were unopposed by Sea Harriers and damaged 4 more ships the next day. The British Task Force withdrew to the safety of Ascension Island and limited itself to a blockade of the Argentine ports and preventing Argentine re-supply of the Falklands through the nuclear submarines on patrol within the TEZ.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher maintained publicly that the Falklands would never be given up and swore to avenge the hundreds of British casualties. She ordered a crash program to re-commission HMS Bulwark or commission HMS Illustrious with RAF Harriers. To provide early warning and air defense, the UK started discussions with USA, Australia, and Brazil to lease a full-sized aircraft carrier and equip it with Harriers, Phantoms, and/or Gannets if pilots could be found with recent deck landing experience.
By the end of May, Britain presented evidence of the Russian Bear's role in the attack on HMS Hermes and announced the extension of the TEZ to include all Russian forces. In response, Russia started to strengthen their base in Luanda with long-range bombers and sent part of their Indian Ocean squadron to the South Atlantic
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![[Falklands] 17.0 Between a Rock and a Hard Plac](./downloads/1_f4S.gif "[Falklands] 17.0 Between a Rock and a Hard Plac")