Wreck of M/V Atlantic Conveyor

 military, shipwreck

The Atlantic Conveyor was a British ro/ro container merchant vessel in service with the Cunard Line when she was obtained by the Ministry of Defense when the Falklands War broke out to serve as support & logistics ships for the Royal Navy. The Atlantic Conveyor was given a hasty refit and pressed into immediate service carrying several Harrier Jets and several desperately needed helicopters to the combat area.

Arriving off the Falklands on May 19th, 1982 the Conveyor offloaded her cargo of Harriers to HMS Invincible & HMS Hermes while her cargo of helicopters remained onboard awaiting the upcoming ground invasion of San Carlos by British Marines. The ship operated with the HMS Invincible group for the next 6 days until May 25th, 1982 when a pair of Argentine Super Entendard fighters attacked the group, firing 2 Exocet missiles. Frigates escorting the group detected the incoming missiles and fired their chaff countermeasure systems which caused both missiles to lose their lock on their intended targets, with one crashing into the ocean. However the second missile re-acquired a target, namely the Atlantic Conveyor, and slammed into the ships port side.

The unarmored and unarmed containership stood little chance of survival once she was hit. Fires caused first by the missiles' fuel quickly spread to her volatile cargo and within hours the ship and her cargo of precious helicopters was a flaming wreck. 12 of her crew, including her Master, were killed in the attack and resulting inferno.

The ship burned through the night and into the morning of the 26th before the fires were out, leaving the ship a gutted, derelict hulk. Royal Navy teams boarded the Atlantic Conveyor and found her & her cargo to be beyond salvage, so the ship was towed clear of the battlegroup and scuttled. The ship was the first British merchant vessel lost at sea to enemy fire since World War II.