Shipwrecks

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It is said there were two nuclear warhead on-board when it sank. The Exocet missile that sunk the HMS Sheffield actually belonged to Venezuela´s arsenal. Venezuela gave the exocets to Argentina just few weeks before one of them managed to sink the Sheffield.

Said by whom? also, France has sold exactly five Exocets to Argentina at that point, which is (plus the ship-to-ship Exocet dismounted from one of their destroyers) the number used. Peru (not Venezuela), during the conflict, requested early shipment of the Exocets they were buying, with the obvious goal of giving them to Argentina; the French didn't fufill the shipment. Toby Douglass 13:03, 23 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Uh-huh, so if there were two nuclear warheads on board, where's the cleanup crew? Beyond which, why would anyone put nuclear weapons on an Air Warfare Destroyer? The ship was designed to shoot down incoming planes, not to carry out nuclear attacks. About the exocets: Argentina was believed to have five exocets before the war, and fired four. So if the one that hit Sheffield was Venezuelan, what did they do with the unaccounted for missiles? Biscuit Knight 11:29, 22 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The reason that one might have been there is that the WE177 nuclear weapon was deployed on RN escorts as a nuclear depth bomb for helicopters. Apparently (WE177#Falklands_War) Broadsword, Brilliant, Coventry and Sheffield were carrying them when they sailed south but later had them removed. Emoscopes ^Talk 02:08, 25 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yup, British destroyers in general carried a nuclear depth charge. I don't know if they really went down to the Falklands or not though; the general idea was to unload them at Ascension Island. Toby Douglass 13:03, 23 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

By April 1982 the Argentine Navy had received directly from France 5 of their 14 AM39 Exocets (plus 5 Super Etendards) bought in 1980. After the war broke out and due the temporal embargo settled by the French against Argentina, Peru urged France to deliver their already bought AM39 but the French refused too. For the Argentine version of the facts see [1]. However, its true that the FAV (like the FAP) supplied the FAA with spare parts for their Mirage fleet and particulary long range fuel tanks to allowed the deltas operate over the islands Jor70 14:24, 23 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm writing in that the warhead exploded. The crew and members of the Task Force believe the warhead exploded, I believe the Navy's official stance is that the exocet didn't explode, but there you are. If it didn't explode on impact, why didn't it explode due to extreme heat of the fire? Biscuit Knight 11:29, 22 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Because modern explosives don't detonate when subjected to heat - they just burn. If you want a missile to detonate you have to use a detonator – real world explosives don't function quite like those depicted in cartoons which detonate when struck with a comedy mallet.

I don't think the issue is quite as closed as the article would try to make out. The Navy's official stance after experts have reviewed all of the available facts is certainly worthy of note; especially when the only evidence to the contrary that is discussed in the article is the personal belief of some of the servicemen present at the time.

Somehow I don’t think justice is done to the respective weight of each of those pieces of evidence. --62.173.76.218 17:22, 24 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have heard conflicting reports about the hull of the Sheffield, and I am curious as to what weight the citation (reference number 3) carries. What is the evidence that the superstructure was steel? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.178.78.204 (talk) 17:57, 29 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

The British version suggests a single missile launched at 6 miles. The Argentine version here suggests mutliple missiles launched at a far greater distance. Emoscopes ^Talk 19:50, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Seems to me that the article do not contradict itself due both claims are in different sections and reflect the differents points of view Jor70 21:14, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I would suggest that the article needs to be redrafted accordingly if these are both the official accounts. Emoscopes ^Talk 21:58, 13 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Have you any suggestion ? Jor70 01:28, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Will be nice to hear (read) opinions on why the British reported her sunk so quickly on May 4 when its actually sank on May 10. Also the Argentines have no other way to know of the effectiveness of the super etendard/exocet strikes. The system was still being studied (5 of the 14 planes were arrived) without the french technicians help and its not success could led to the airplanes being grounded. --Jor70 04:15, 16 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Really? that looks suspiciously identical to the MoD images, which are crown copyright... (see here) Emoscopes ^Talk 20:09, 17 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm under the impression the Sheffield did NOT detect the Exocet because she was using her satellite comms gear at the time; a design flaw meant she couldn't use satellite comms and radar concurrently.

Toby Douglass 12:58, 23 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]