Battle of Seal Cove

Battle of Seal Cove
	Part of Falklands War
	; Sketch depicting the chase of the Argentine coastal vessel Monsunen by British frigates Details # The coastal ship ARA Monsunen, after sailing out from Fox bay, is tracked by the British frigates HMS Brilliant and HMS Yarmouth under orders of capturing her. ; # The British force pin up the supply vessel off Lively island ; # The Brilliant Sea Lynx helicopter, with SBS troops onboard, is forced to withdraw under heavy machine gun fire. ; # The Monsunen radar detects the two frigates about 8 miles behind her and approaching at high speed. The warships start to shell the small vessel, which evades the British salvos by running aground on Seal Cove, blinding the British radar ; # After further shelling, the British abandoned the pursuit, making back to San Carlos. ARA Monsunen is rescued by another coastal ship, ARA Forrest, and taken in tow to Darwin. ; # After uploading Monsunens cargo, Forrest managed to reach Port Stanley on 25 May. ;
Date	23 May 1982
Location	West of Lively Island, Falkland Islands52°2′S 58°40′W / 52.033°S 58.667°W
Result	Argentine victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Argentina
Commanders and leaders
Captain Anthony Morton; (HMS Yarmouth); Captain John Coward; (HMS Brilliant)	Captain Jorge A. Gopcevich-Canevari; (ARA Monsunen)
Strength
1 Type 22 frigate; 1 Rothesay-class frigate	1 armed coastal ship
Casualties and losses
None	1 coastal ship beached; (later taken in tow and rescued by ARA Forrest); 1 wounded
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Falkland Islands

The Battle of Seal Cove was a minor naval action west of Lively Island, during the 1982 Falklands War. On the evening of 22 May 1982, while supporting Operation Sutton off San Carlos Bay, the British frigates HMS Brilliant and HMS Yarmouth received orders to stop and seize the Argentine Navy armed coastal supply boat ARA Monsunen. Under heavy shelling, the coaster managed to avoid capture by grounding on a nearby inlet.

Background

The ARA Monsunen was a 326 ton British coaster vessel owned by the Falklands Islands Company that had been captured in the course of the Argentine invasion. The ship was spotted by a RAF GR.3 Harrier^[1] while sailing from Fox Bay towards Stanley with a cargo of 150 drums of fuel and 250 sacks of flour.^[2] Her commander, Captain Jorge Gopcevich-Canevari claims that his ship had evaded the vigilance of a British frigate in the same area while carrying out a similar mission on 14 May.^[3]

The engagement

At 4:00 am GMT on 23 May,^[1] a Lynx helicopter from HMS Brilliant identified Monsunen while the latter was heading to the north, west of Lively Island. After a surrender order was radioed to the motorboat, another Lynx transporting a Special Boat Service (SBS) team tried to intercept her. The aircraft was engaged by heavy machine gun and small arms fire, so it was forced to abort the mission.^[4]^[5] At the same time, the coastal ship's radar detected the British squadron about eight miles (13 km) to stern and approaching aggressively.^[2] Corvette Lieutenant Oscar Vázquez, Gopcevich's second-in-command, later reported that while Brilliant was approaching them from the south, Yarmouth sailed ahead to Choiseul Sound, blocking the passage from the north.^[6]

HMS Yarmouth began to fire her 4.5-inch (114 mm) guns on the Argentine vessel, forcing her to manoeuvre in order to avoid the incoming rounds. When the distance fell to four nautical miles (7.4 km), Gopcevich decided that the only way to deceive the British radar was to beach Monsunen on Seal Cove, a large inlet nearby.^[1]^[2]

Shortly after he succeeded in running aground his ship and ordering the crew to abandon her, the British shelling resumed. The fire was inaccurate and aimed at the general area of landing. In the process of evacuating the vessel, one of the ratings fell overboard and suffered some serious bruises, but he was successfully rescued by a young sailor.^[7] The crew members took refuge in an improvised inland shelter.^[2]

According to Vázquez, the British squadron fired 100 high-explosive and armour-piercing rounds at Monsunen in the course of the action.^[6]

The British warships eventually called off a second SBS assault on the grounded Argentine vessel as it was unclear whether troops on board "could have stay behind in ambush".^[8]

Aftermath

The British frigates gave up their chase and withdrew from the area before sunrise; Yarmouth, with the SBS detachment aboard, headed to San Carlos waters, while Brilliant joined the carrier group for refuelling.^[1]^[8]^[9] Monsunen was found by her complement at dawn, with her engine still running; apparently after refloating by the rising tide. However, a sling had become entangled with her propeller, disabling the transmission.^[2]

With the ship's speed now dramatically reduced, Gopcevich radioed for help to Stanley.^[2]

A few hours later, another British coastal supply ship seized by the Argentine Navy, ARA Forrest, towed Monsunen to Darwin.^[4] The much needed cargo was uploaded by ARA Forrest, which made for Stanley. The coaster successfully completed Monsunen's relief mission on 25 May.^[2] ARA Monsunen was later recovered at Darwin by British forces on 29 May, after the Battle of Goose Green.^[8]

The action is thought to be the only naval encounter between armed surface ships in the war.^[10] Jorge Gopcevich-Canevari was awarded the La Nación Argentina al Valor en Combate cross.^[11]

Gallery

HMS Yarmouth
HMS Brillant
ARA Monsunen (detail)

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Freedman, p. 473
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Mayorga, pp. 378-380
^ Guber, Rosana; Tessey, Héctor D.; Barrutia, Alejandra Marcela; Sotomayor, Cecilia García; Panizo, Laura Marina; Ohanian, María Jazmín; Flórez, Hernando. Mar de guerra. La Armada de la República Argentina y sus formas de habitar el Atlántico Sur (in Spanish). Sb editorial. ISBN 978-987-8918-21-1.
^ ^a ^b Smith, p. 81
^ The improvised ship's gunners were an army sergeant and a conscript who served the 12.7 mm machine gun that shot at the Lynx. The Argentine crew claim that the helicopter's fuselage was hit by the tracer bullets.(Webpage with some photos of the ship and her crew) (in Spanish)
^ ^a ^b Guber, Rosana; Tessey, Héctor D.; Barrutia, Alejandra Marcela; Sotomayor, Cecilia García; Panizo, Laura Marina; Ohanian, María Jazmín; Flórez, Hernando. Mar de guerra. La Armada de la República Argentina y sus formas de habitar el Atlántico Sur (in Spanish). Sb editorial. ISBN 978-987-8918-21-1.
^ This serviceman was honored with the highest Argentine Congress decoration after the war. He committed suicide in January 2006. "El suicidio de un soldado distinguido con la medalla de honor en Malvinas" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 February 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Southby-Tailyour and Clapp, p. 247
^ HMS Yarmouth: Captains Diary Archived 21 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ Naval-History.net
^ Cavalieri, Daniel (2005). Deuda de sangre: historia naval y amnesia en la Argentina : 1810-1893 y 1982. Instituto de Publicaciones Navales, p. 357. ISBN 950-899-060-0 (in Spanish)

References

Mayorga, Horacio A. (1998). No Vencidos. Ed. Planeta, Buenos Aires. ISBN 950-742-976-X (in Spanish)
Freedman, Lawrence (2005). The Official History of the Falklands Campaign. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5207-5
Smith, Gordon (2006). Battle Atlas of the Falklands War 1982 by Land, Sea and Air. Lulu.com. ISBN 1-84753-950-5
Southby-Tailyour, Ewen and Clapp, Michael (1996). Amphibious Assault Falklands: The Battle of San Carlos Water. Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-420-2
"Falkland Area Operations, 22nd-23rd May 1982"
Apostadero naval Malvinas (in Spanish)

[official-1] Freedman, p. 473

[horatius-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Mayorga, pp. 378-380

[3] Guber, Rosana; Tessey, Héctor D.; Barrutia, Alejandra Marcela; Sotomayor, Cecilia García; Panizo, Laura Marina; Ohanian, María Jazmín; Flórez, Hernando. Mar de guerra. La Armada de la República Argentina y sus formas de habitar el Atlántico Sur (in Spanish). Sb editorial. ISBN 978-987-8918-21-1.

[doctor-4] Smith, p. 81

[5] The improvised ship's gunners were an army sergeant and a conscript who served the 12.7 mm machine gun that shot at the Lynx. The Argentine crew claim that the helicopter's fuselage was hit by the tracer bullets.(Webpage with some photos of the ship and her crew) (in Spanish)

[:0-6] Guber, Rosana; Tessey, Héctor D.; Barrutia, Alejandra Marcela; Sotomayor, Cecilia García; Panizo, Laura Marina; Ohanian, María Jazmín; Flórez, Hernando. Mar de guerra. La Armada de la República Argentina y sus formas de habitar el Atlántico Sur (in Spanish). Sb editorial. ISBN 978-987-8918-21-1.

[7] This serviceman was honored with the highest Argentine Congress decoration after the war. He committed suicide in January 2006. "El suicidio de un soldado distinguido con la medalla de honor en Malvinas" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 February 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2023.

[:1-8] Southby-Tailyour and Clapp, p. 247

[9] HMS Yarmouth: Captains Diary Archived 21 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine

[10] Naval-History.net

[11] Cavalieri, Daniel (2005). Deuda de sangre: historia naval y amnesia en la Argentina : 1810-1893 y 1982. Instituto de Publicaciones Navales, p. 357. ISBN 950-899-060-0 (in Spanish)

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