Forty years ago this spring, the world seemed a very different place than the one we currently inhabit—but in some ways, it was remarkably similar: The shadow of Russia loomed. There was no love lost between Iran and the United States. The oldest-yet U.S. President occupied the Oval Office. Kids were doing outré things with spiky colorful haircuts, nose rings, and other such adornments. Chuck Grassley and Patrick Leahy were in the Senate. We could go on. But there was one historical event, anomalous and unforeseen by most in that long-ago springtime, that stands out as a sui generis occurrence unique to its moment: The Falklands War, which shook the world for ten weeks from April to June of 1982.
Now that a patina of age has accrued to it, there is a growing interest in this conflict that pitted the United Kingdom against Argentina over a cluster of inhospitable islands in the South Atlantic. It offers lessons regarding force projection, the ineluctable difficulties of extended lines of supply, the pitfalls of not having the ideal assets for the fight in which one finds oneself enmeshed—in short, a host of factors that keep warfare-scenario prognosticators up at night in 2022.
To mark its 40th anniversary, we explore the Falklands War from varying angles. Steven Iacono presents a hard-hitting look at the sinking of the matériel-laden Atlantic Conveyor and how it perilously complicated the British war effort just as the land campaign was accelerating in earnest. Mr. Iacono notes, “Never in the annals of military history has the loss of one ship . . . had such an impact on the course of battle.” Therein hangs a tale—a cautionary one.
Next up, noted British naval historian Peter Hore looks at the war from the vantage of its all-important staging area: Ascension Island, acquired by the British when they were holding Napoleon at nearby Saint Helena. During the Falklands War, Ascension’s importance grew by orders of magnitude. Captain Hore, who was the Royal Navy’s Joint Logistics Commander at Ascension, provides an insider’s view of those heady days in April–June 1982 when a speck on the map turned into a hive of logistical hustle-and-bustle on an epic scale and temporarily became home to “the busiest airfield in the world.”
Matters aerial are very much on our radar right now—for it was 100 years ago this March that a paradigm-shifting new era in the U.S. Navy’s history began with the commissioning of its first aircraft carrier: the USS Langley (CV-1). We celebrate the centennial of U.S. carrier aviation here with an overview by Norman Polmar of the Langley’s career, from her origins as a converted collier to her final fate in World War II. And David F. Winkler takes the reader back to the wild and woolly 1920s, when deck takeoffs and landings were in the dangerous experimental stage and America’s earliest naval aviators were putting it all on the line. Dr. Winkler’s entry point to this world is the diary of a Langley crewman who was eyewitness to many “firsts” of U.S. naval aviation. It reminds the lover of history: bless all the diary keepers!
Meanwhile, Ann Todd presents the amazing story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, “the mother of cryptology,” who cracked the Zimmermann Telegram, outfoxed rumrunners, and busted World War II spy rings. They need to make a movie about her. And Thomas J. Cutler teleports us from March 2022 to March 1862, for the world’s first duel of ironclads. Commanding the USS Monitor in her donnybrook with the CSS Virginia was one John L. Worden. Among his officers was Samuel Dana Greene. But that’s just the first half of the story: Their paths would cross again later, when, in 1873, they were among a group of visionary officers with a bold idea: the founding of a certain United States Naval Institute. To which we say: Here’s to you, gentlemen!
Eric Mills
Editor-in-Chief