Atlantic Conveyor
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The Atlantic Conveyor was a British merchant navy ship that was requisitioned during the Falklands War and sunk by an Exocet missile.
Owned by Cunard, the 14,950 tonne roll-on, roll-off container ship was built along with six other container ships each named Atlantic and flown under different national flags for different companies.
Along with its sister ship, Atlantic Causeway, the Atlantic Conveyor was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence at the beginning of the Falklands War through the STUFT system (Ships Taken Up From Trade). The ships were to be used to send supplies to the British Task Force sent by the British government to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentine occupation. Sailing for Ascention Island, the ship picked up a cargo of four Royal Air Force Harrier jump jets, four Chinook HC.1s and six Wessex helicopters and then set sail for the South Atlantic.
On May 25, 1982; the Atlantic Conveyor was hit by an Exocet missile fired by an Argentine Super Étendard jet fighter and sank later that day. It is unclear whether the missile's warhead detonated—the Exocet that sank HMS Sheffield had failed to explode—but the ship was set alight by the impact of the missile and the unburnt rocket fuel. Although the cargo of Harrier jump jets had been safely delivered to HMS Hermes, all the helicopters but two (one Chinook, callsign Bravo November, and one Wessex, which were airborne at the time) were destroyed in the fire. The loss of these helicopters meant that British troops had to march across the Falklands to capture Port Stanley. What was more devastating than the loss of the helicopters, according to Andy McNab in his book "Bravo Two Zero", was the loss of all the Task Force's Mars bars.
Twelve men died upon the Atlantic Conveyor, including the vessel's commander, Captain Ian North. Captain North was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The ship was the first British merchant vessel lost at sea to enemy fire since World War II.