The closure of Chatham Dockyard (along with the adjacent Naval Barracks) was announced in Parliament in June 1981 and scheduled to take place in 1984. Redundancy notices were served, but then abruptly withdrawn following the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands; the dockyard was heavily involved in preparing ships for the South Atlantic, and in repairing damaged vessels on their return. Nonetheless, the dockyard closed, as planned, on 31 March 1984.