On 28 March 1982 ARA Isla de los Estados sailed from Puerto Deseado to participate in "Operation Rosario" in the Falkland Islands, arriving on 4 April, three days after the initial landings, to provide transport around the archipelago. MO< Isla de los Estados was sunk by HMS Alacrity in the small hours of 11 May 1982, in a surface action north of the Swan Islands in Falkland Sound. Alacrity engaged Isla de los Estados with 15 rounds of her 4.5-inch gun. The Argentine ship blew up after seven hits ignited her cargo of jet fuel and ammunition. Only two of the 24 men aboard survived; 15 crewmembers and seven servicemen (from all three armed forces plus the coast guard) were killed or missing.
|