The solemn scene has been played out time and time again over the centuries—the great warships weighing anchor and heading out to sea on the morning tide. Nearby, as a reminder of the glorious past, was the Victory, the flagship of Lord Nelson when he sailed out through the same channel to win his great victory over the French and Spanish at Trafalgar in 1805. And, as always, the Britons gathered at Portsmouth Harbor last week to watch the naval departure were swept with deep feelings of national pride and a sense of foreboding about an uncertain future. The crowd was largely silent at first, but the cheers began as the aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes moved past. The spectators, some of whom had been weeping only moments before, shouted encouragement across the water, waved Union Jacks and held placards reading GOOD LUCK and UK-OK.
Sailors in their blue-and-white dress uniforms lined up on deck in the traditional farewell. Spectators in boats accompanying the Invincible searched for a glimpse of Prince Andrew, 22, second in line to the throne and a helicopter pilot. The decks of the Invincible and the Hermes were jammed with munitions and the latest in British aerial fighting gear: vertical-takeoff Harrier attack aircraft and Sea King helicopters. Some 2,000 Royal Marines, the nucleus of an assault group, were also aboard the ships. Once out on the Atlantic, the carriers were joined by destroyers, frigates and support vessels until the fleet numbered close to 30. Running at night under blackout conditions, the largest British military armada since World War II began its long, slow voyage toward the South Atlantic. Far ahead of surface ships, nuclear-powered attack submarines already prowled the waters around the fleet's destination, the barren and windswept Falkland Islands.
Meanwhile, about 7,800 miles from Portsmouth, the Argentines braced to defend the British territory that they had invaded on April 2. C-130 Hercules military transports marked with the sky-blue and white colors of Argentina roared back and forth between the tiny island capital of Port Stanley and their mainland base, 600 miles away. The aircraft brought food, ammunition, trucks and members of the Argentine 9th Infantry Brigade to bolster the 2,500-man invasion force. In Buenos Aires, the government made further preparations for battle. Some 80,000 Argentines who had just finished their year of compulsory military service were ordered back into uniform.
Day by day, the British increased the pressure on the Argentines to get off the islands they had so precipitously seized. On Wednesday evening, Defense Secretary John Nott warned that the Royal Navy would sink any Argentine vessel, whether warship or merchantman, that was within 200 miles of the islands after midnight Sunday. "We will shoot first," said Nott. "We will sink them, certainly within the 200-mile limit." By week's end at least four British nuclear-powered submarines, led by H.M.S. Superb, were believed to be in position to enforce the blockade. The Argentines in turn declared that they were ready to sink any hostile British ship that came within 200 miles of the mainland or the conquered islands, and vowed that they would defend their hold on the Falklands.
Incredible as it seemed in the age