page_title: Battle of San Carlos (1982)
section_title: 21 May
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of San Carlos (1982) / Engagements / 21 May
caption_attribution_description: HMS Fearless in San Carlos 13 June 1982
context_page_description: The Battle of San Carlos was a battle between aircraft and ships that lasted from 21 to 25 May 1982 during the British landings on the shores of San Carlos Water in the 1982 Falklands War. Low-flying land-based Argentine jet aircraft made repeated attacks on ships of the British Task Force.
  It was the first time in history that a modern surface fleet armed with surface-to-air missiles and with air cover backed up by STOVL carrier-based aircraft defended against full-scale air strikes. The British sustained losses and damage but were able to create and consolidate a beachhead and land troops.
context_section_description: The Argentine Army force on site was a section from the 25th Infantry Regiment named Combat team Güemes (Spanish: Equipo de Combate Güemes) located at Fanning Head.  The British fleet entered San Carlos during the night and at 02:50 was spotted by EC Güemes which opened fire with 81mm mortars and two recoilless 105mm rifles. They were soon engaged by British naval gunfire and a 25-man SBS team and forced to retreat, losing their communications equipment but shooting down two Gazelle helicopters with small-arms fire, killing three members of the two aircrews.
  1st Lt Carlos Daniel Esteban from EC Güemes informed Goose Green garrison about the landings at 08:22 (he was finally evacuated by helicopter on 26 May).  The Argentine high command at Stanley initially thought that a landing operation was not feasible at San Carlos and the operation was a diversion. At 10:00, a COAN Aermacchi MB-339 jet based on the islands was dispatched to San Carlos on a reconnaissance flight. In the meantime, the FAA had already started launching their mainland-based aircraft at 09:00.
  Between 10:15 and 17:12, seventeen sorties were carried out by FAA and COAN. Daggers and A-4Cs of the FAA made attacks on HMS Antrim, HMS Argonaut, HMS Broadsword, HMS Brilliant, HMS Ardent, and HMS Brilliant. Sorties of MIIIEA aircraft were used as diversions as well. While many of the bombs did not explode, HMS Ardent and HMS Argonaut were hit, sustaining damage and casualties. Sea Harriers intercepted some of the attackers, destroying 8 FAA aircraft.
caption: HMS Fearless at San Carlos
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "CanoScan LiDE 25", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "CanoScan Toolbox 4.9.3", "Image DateTime": "2006:04:23 19:42:49", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "8", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "[]", "Thumbnail Tag 0x2A77": "[]", "Thumbnail Tag 0x5A47": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:04:23 19:42:49", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1558", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1040", "Interoperability Tag 0x9000": "[48, 50, 50, 49]", "Interoperability Tag 0x9004": "2006:04:23 19:42:49", "Interoperability Tag 0x9101": "[1, 2, 3, 0]", "Interoperability Tag 0xA000": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability Tag 0xA001": "1", "Interoperability Tag 0xA002": "1558", "Interoperability Tag 0xA003": "1040", "Interoperability Tag 0xA005": "8", "Interoperability Tag 0xA300": "2", "Interoperability Tag 0xA403": "0", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8", "EXIF FileSource": "Reflection Print Scanner", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto"}