QE2 COMMEMORATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROLE IN FALKLANDS CAMPAIGN

Baroness Thatcher attends function

June 13, 2002

On Friday 14 June, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher will attend a lunch on board Queen Elizabeth 2 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of QE2’s participation in the Falklands Campaign.

Lady Thatcher will be joined on board by Sir Rex Hunt, Governor of the Falkland Islands at the time of the Argentinian invasion; Captain Peter Jackson who, supported by 650 Cunard volunteers, guided the ship safely through an icefield at night without radar in order to transport the 3,500 troops of the Fifth Infantry Brigade to South Georgia; and Simon Weston, whose resilience and cheerfulness following the attack on the Sir Galahad are legendary.

The function will also welcome on board senior military personnel associated with the Falklands Campaign, as well as a number of stars of stage and screen – including Barbara Windsor, Robert Kilroy-Silk, Michael Buerk, Sir Jimmy Savile and Alan Whicker.

QE2 was requisitioned on 3 May 1982 specifically to carry supplies and 3,500 soldiers from the 5th Infantry Brigade (the Scots and Welsh Guards and Gurkha Rifles) to South Georgia.

It took nine days to convert the ship for trooping duties – work that included covering 17 miles of carpeting with 2,000 sheets of hardboard, removing soft furnishings and wall coverings, converting public rooms into dormitories, laying fuel pipes along the corridors and down to the engine room to facilitate refuelling at sea, and building two helicopter landing decks fore and aft.

On 12 May the ship set off from Southampton on the 3,000-mile journey south, with just one port of call – Freetown. After leaving Freetown all portholes and windows were covered with plastic sheeting to ensure complete blackout, and on 23 May the ship’s radar was switched off to help avoid detection by the Argentinians. In the dark, and with no modern navigational aids, the ship sped south through icefields – arriving safely in South Georgia on 27 May.

After discharging all the troops and supplies, QE2 returned to the UK carrying 650 survivors from HMS Coventry, HMS Antelope and HMS Ardent, she arrived to a tumultuous welcome in Southampton on 11 June, where she was greeted by HM The Queen Mother on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The commemorative reception and lunch on board QE2 is scheduled to last from 12 noon until 1500 hours.