Post-War
This page last updated on Thursday 16th April 2009.
Naval divers returned to the Coventry's final resting place in 1983 to recover classified material, and in the process discovered the Cross of Nails carried by the ship. This was returned to Coventry Cathedral later in the year by Captain Hart-Dyke.
A memorial to the crew who lost their lives onboard Coventry was erected on Pebble Island. Holy Trinity Church in Coventry itself also has a memorial plaque on display. A general Falklands memorial plaque is in Old Portsmouth, on Broad Street not far from the harbour mouth.
The HMS Coventry memorial on Pebble Island; Iain Cottingham
 Plaque below the Pebble Island memorial; Iain Cottingham |
 Roll of Honour below the Pebble Island memorial; Iain Cottingham |
Iain also visited the memorial to our sister ship HMS Sheffield:
The HMS Sheffield memorial on Sea Lion Island; Iain Cottingham
As a war grave at a significant depth HMS Coventry has always had some measure of protection from unauthorised dives, but since November 2001 she has also been listed as a Controlled Site, requiring a permit from the MoD before any dives can be carried out. More detail on this is available from the MoD here.
It is of interest to note that trainees at HMS Raleigh, when carrying out damage control exercises, are now given the same amount of time to shore up a flooded compartment that Coventry took to capsize after the attack.
HMS Coventry F98; MoD(RN)
A new Batch II Type 22 Frigate ordered after the war was given the name HMS Coventry (F98) and was commisioned in 1988, but was decommissioned in December 2001 due to defence cutbacks despite a headline-grabbing career including multi-million pound drug busts in the Caribbean! The Romanian Navy purchased F98 on 14th January 2003, and re-commissioned her as the Regele Ferdinand on 9th September 2004. At the time of writing no Royal Navy ship carries the name of HMS Coventry despite a campaign to commission another HMS Coventry.
Jorge Barrionuevo points to the kill marking applied to his Skyhawk in a publicity photo; FAA
Of the Argentine aircraft involved in the raid, C-207 (Barrionuevo's) was retired in March 1999 and is now in the Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica storage depot at Morón. C-212 was damaged in 1985 but repaired to return to service, finally being retired in 1994; it is now on display wearing false codes of 'C-204' at Area Material Rio Cuarto (Córdoba). C-214 and C-225 have also been retired and are now stored at Villa Reynolds.
C-207, having gained another half kill marking, seen on retirement in March 1999; courtesy HMS Glamorgan site
Pictures of Grupo 5's aircraft can be found on this site; Grupo 5 suffered an appalling 28% pilot loss rate during the war, with the smaller Grupo 4 having an incredible 50% loss rate.