Revealed:Reagan Planned to Give Thatcher U.S. carrier for '82 Falklands

U.S. Naval Institute ^ | June 27, 2012 | U.S. Naval Institute

[Saint X]

While publicly claiming neutrality between Argentina and the U.K. during the 1982 Falklands War, President Ronald Reagan’s administration had developed plans to loan a ship to the Royal Navy if it lost one of its aircraft carriers in the war, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, told the U.S. Naval Institute on June 26.

Lehman and then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger agreed to support U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with the loan of the amphibious warship USS Iwo Jima , he said.

[montag813]

That photo of Thatcher and Haig brings back great memories of how Ronald Reagan stood astride the world like a colossus. The pathetic 1970s were executed, and we were strong again. It was wonderful. And then the idiot Bush f**ked it all up.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Not long enough for jests(sic) to operate,

Harriers are jets and the Brits no longer operated CATOBAR aircraft from sea platforms during the Falklands.

AV-8A USS Guam LPH-9

AV-8A USS Tripoli LPH-10 1974

Harriers, bith AV-8A and AV-8B embarked aboard Iwo Jima Class boats on numerous occasions.

[A.A. Cunningham]

they would have had a VMFA(sic) detachment

VMA. VMFAs have never been Harrier equipped.

[A.A. Cunningham]

bith(sic)

both

[2ndDivisionVet]

Yep, I was there. A minor spear-carrier, but I was there.

[Strategerist]

Some of Lehman’s details are new, but the basic outline of the story has been known for years; it appears in Freedman’s Official history of the Falklands War from 2005.

[Oztrich Boy]

At the time, the Royal Navy had deployed HMS Invincible and HMS Hermes to the Falklands. Each carrier fielded five vertical takeoff Sea Harriers armed with American Sidewinder missile

5 was the prewar mission package. The "Helicopter carring through deck cruusers, and definitely not aircraft carriers" were intented c.1970 to hunt Soviet subs, North Atlantic, with a force of 9 SeaKing ASW copters ie enough for continous patrol/search/attack.
Late 70s, 5 SeaHarriers were added to chase Bears and Backfires away.

For the Falkland's operation, the carriers went south with 11 Seakings, and 8 SHARs (later increased to 10).

[Tallguy]

There was a rumor floating around at the time that a large deck aircraft carrier might be 'loaned' to the Brits. I believe it was Forrestal, but that's going from memory. The plan to lend an LPH makes a lot more sense from the standpoint of utility (for the Brits) and deniability (for the US).

[GATOR NAVY]

Never embarked them but we did deck quals with a Harrier out of Iwakuni on DUBUQUE (LPD-8) in the Sea of Japan in ‘98.