Falklands 40: Headlines from The News on April 8, 1982

Now the ring of steel

Tension between Britain and Argentina increased sharply today following the announcement of a Royal Navy blockade of the Falkland Islands from 5am London time on Monday.

Argentina replied within hours with an announcement that it had set up a South Atlantic ‘operations zone’ to defend an area around the Falklands.

The ruling junta said its military committee could now order acts of self-defence within the zone, if national security was endangered.

Argentina also announced today that reservists who finished their military training last year were being called up.

Announcing the 200-mile ‘no-go’ zone around the Falklands in the House of Commons last night, Defence Secretary Mr John Nott said: ‘From the time indicated, any Argentine warships and Argentinian naval auxiliaries found within this zone will be treated as hostile as liable for attack by British forces.’

It was understood today that, in the case of hostile warships, no time would be given for crews to abandon ships to take to the lifeboats.

Several Royal Navy nuclear submarines are believed to be in the area already, equipped with powerful long-range homing torpedoes.

The Royal Marines who fought the Argentinian invaders of the Falklands are to be sent back to the island group after a short break.

Defence Secretary Mr John Nott told MPs during the debate on the crisis that support craft and military units were also being prepared for the task-force.

Hermes at defence stations

H.M.S. Hermes crewmen will be told to sleep in their working clothes and prepare for dawn “action stations” alerts.

For the next few days Hermes, flagship of the Royal Navy task force to the Falklands, will be at ‘defence stations’, with all this ship’s weapons manned around the clock.

Cmdr. John Lock, second-in-command of the carrier, was warned that once Hermes is in the South Atlantic, the men must be at ‘defence stations’ readiness for several weeks, with daily dawn maximum alerts.

The men took advantage of the short respite from the hard training for a war. Laughter rocked a mess in HMS Invincible as helicopter pilots - including Prince Andrew - watched thousands of penguins ‘invade’ the Falklands in Walt Disney documentary.

News effort gathers speed

Portsmouth’s ‘Keep the Fleet’ campaign has had immediate impact in Westminster.

The campaign - given a vigorous launch by The News - is gathering momentum as the Falklands task-force prepares for the blockade.

Armed Forces Minister Mr Peter Blaker has now agreed to receive a deputation from Portsmouth to listen to the arguments in favour of retaining a strong surface fleet.

After Easter, a SDP leader, former Foreign Secretary Dr David Owen, is to visit the city.

Dr Owen, MP for dockyard constituency of Plymouth Devonport and a former Navy Minister, will meet civic leaders, industrialists, and Dockyard unions.

In other news – Golden find goes to a good home

Nearly three years after its discovery, a valuable gold ring has finally found a permanent home at Havant Museum.

The ring was discovered on council-owned land at Warblington Castle Farm in June, 1979. The discovery was made by brothers Gary Wood (27) and Ashley Wood (22), of Park House Farm Way, Leigh Park, with a metal detector.

On the ring there is a depiction of St Clare holding a chalice. It also bears an inscription in Gothic lettering, ‘Bon Ptir’, which means ‘For Ever’.

Experts concluded that the ring dated from the 15th century and that it was 99 per cent pure gold.