Thirty years ago today...

[Captain Seafort]

Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands.

[Graham Kennedy]

RIP to those who gave their lives to liberate the islanders.

[Captain Seafort]

RIP to those who gave their lives to liberate the islanders.

And also to those who died opposing them. The cause they fought for was evil, but that doesn't lessen the courage or the sacrifice of the men of the Argentine armed forces on the Belgrano, over San Carlos, at Goose Green and on the mountains outside Stanley.

[Teaos]

Let's hope it doesn't happen again soon, my ship was refused docking there in Feb for having Brits aboard.

[Captain Seafort]

Let's hope it doesn't happen again soon, my ship was refused docking there in Feb for having Brits aboard.

What? I'd heard they were banning FI-flagged vessels, but I haven't heard anything about Brits being banned from the country entirely.

Are you sure that's what happened, or did the skipper try sailing into Buenos Ares with an FI courtesy flag?

[Teaos]

Well we were never given an 'official' reason why but we had our berth reserved months in advance as all cruise ships do, but the day we were supposed to dock we didn't, however a costa (Italian) and german cruise ship were both in dock that day. And one of the officers let it slip that the port agent had asked for a guest and crew manifest. We had something like 12 bit guest and 4 crew, add another 20 or so of us from the common wealth.

[Captain Seafort]

Did you have a stop at the Islands on your itinerary? That might have caused problems.

[Teaos]

This was one of the southern ports near the islands with a strong naval presence. We wre allowed into buenos aires.

[Captain Seafort]

And the anniversaries continue, with that of the liberation of South Georgia:

"Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God save the Queen."

[Mikey]

And the anniversaries continue, with that of the liberation of South Georgia:

"Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God save the Queen."

Were the Sandwiches RN installations, rather than just Brit territory? I can't think of any other reason why St. George's Ensign would fly over them.

[Captain Seafort]

Were the Sandwiches RN installations, rather than just Brit territory? I can't think of any other reason why St. George's Ensign would fly over them.

It became the task force's forward operating base for the duration of the war, but the White Ensign was run up because the Royal Navy had just arrived and booted out the squatters. It didn't have anything to do with the pre-war nature of the settlement. It didn't even have a standing defence force - the group that gave the Argentines a bloody nose when they initially occupied it had been sent from Stanley to turf out a bunch of scrap metal merchants.

[Mikey]

So the St. George was flying temporarily to say that the RN was now in control? I guess that makes sense.

[Captain Seafort]

Another anniversary - Operation Black Buck 1, probably the greatest feat of logistics of the war, and the longest bombing mission in history at the time - an 8000 miles return flight. Thirteen Victors and two Vulcans, all to lay a single stick of bombs across Stanley runway and obtain two hits.

[Deepcrush]

If only it had been successful.

[Graham Kennedy]

Define "successful"? Their aim was to bomb the runway, and they did.