UK DEPLOYED 31 NUCLEAR WEAPONS DURING FALKLANDS WAR
Posted: 17th January 2022
British warships deployed to the South Atlantic after Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982 were armed with dozens of nuclear depth charges. Prince Andrew served on HMS Invincible, which carried 12 nuclear weapons.
3 JANUARY 2022
Prince Andrew disembarks HMS Invincible with his parents after serving in the Falklands War. Nuclear weapons were stored onboard. (Photo: Anwar Hussein / Getty)
The revelation is contained in a new file released to the National Archives. Marked “Top Secret Atomic”, it shows that the presence of the nuclear weapons caused panic among officials in London when they realised the damage, both physical and political, they could have caused.
The military regime in Argentina claimed the Falkland islands and invaded on 2 April 1982. The UK government under Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval task force to the South Atlantic to retake the islands.
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) minute, dated 6 April 1982, referred to “huge concern” that some of the “nuclear depth bombs” could be “lost or damaged and the fact become public”. The minute added: “The international repercussions of such an incident could be very damaging”.
https://declassifieduk.org/uk-deployed-31-nuclear-weapons-during-falklands-war/