Live ChatCommander Nigel David "Sharkey" MacCartan-Ward, DSC, AFC, is a retired British Royal Navy officer who commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron on board HMS Invincible during the Falklands War.
“My name is Commander Nigel MacCartan-Ward, DSC, AFC, Royal Navy but everyone calls me Sharkey Ward probably because I'm a bit of a maverick. Sharkey and Ward have gone together in the lower deck of the Royal Navy for a long time. It's not entirely normal for an officer to be called Sharkey.
“… a lot of people lost members of their family down South, we had 257 casualties in our forces. So many good people didn't come home and it was just as bad, to me, when personnel came home with terrible injuries – not forgetting PTSD.
“It may be horrific to say so but I was glad when we were sent off to do the Queen's business because I wanted to prove in action what I'd been working on for many years. In contrast to all the many that suffered, I had a very easy war albeit with 110% dedication and dreadful accumulated fatigue for all my air crew, my ground crew and the ship’s company in HMS Invincible.”
I grew up in the bosom of the Royal Air Force, I always loved watching aircraft.
“I grew up in the bosom of the Royal Air Force, I always loved watching military aircraft going through their paces. When I was in my early teens, my father was at RAF North Luffenham in Rutland. Roger Topp and his famous Black Arrows who were the predecessors of the Red Arrows used to do their aerobatics practices over the valley, across from the airfield from where we lived in Empingham village, now the Empingham reservoir.
“I was absolutely in awe watching them perform. I thought that was the ultimate in being a fighter pilot, flying around in formation, which it's not of course. Then a few years later my parents were posted to Singapore and when I was out there for a short holiday, they took me and my brother and my sister up to Penang, on the western coast of Malaya. I think HMS Albion or Bulwark was anchored off RAF Butterworth and my father got us invited on board and it was gobsmacking for a youngster like me.
“We went on board the massive ship with everyone dressed to the nines and being treated like royalty by all those wonderful people, all the crew. I mean, getting up to the flight deck where all these bronzed naval pilots, observers and engineers were in their shark skin shorts, shirts and gold epaulettes, calf skin shoes looking like gods and surrounded by these huge aircraft. I couldn't imagine how they could operate from a ship so small. That was the moment that I decided what I wanted to do: I wanted to fly fighter aircraft in the Royal Navy.
“I left school where I was a great man for sport and not one for academics and went to the Navy interviews and passed them okay, surprisingly because I knew nothing about the Navy which became very clear in the interviews. My most amusing interview was with the psychiatrist or psychologist, whichever it was. He asked me just one question, he said, 'Are you a selfish person?' 45 minutes later I stopped telling him how unselfish I was."
…the panel of four naval captains in spite of my ignorance … allowed me to go to Dartmouth…
“Despite my ignorance, the panel of four naval captains … allowed me to go to Dartmouth Naval College where I joined the year of '62, a brilliant lot of colleagues, friends, naval officers and began my career.
“I joined as a generalist officer, ran the flying club at Dartmouth, did my time in the West Indies and Hong Kong and was then posted to Linton-on-Ouse to begin flying training. It was like a dream come true and from there on, every day was a new day with blue skies and horizons and it didn't matter what was happening the next day.
“The other main interest I had in life was playing rugby, so I used to play rugby for my school, for naval air stations, ships and for Dartmouth College.
“I'm proud to say I got the award for the best operational flying training student which was presented to me by Lady Kelly. Then I went straight to Phantoms. The Phantom F-4K had to just entered service and to me that was like, you know, the holy grail: even more important than passing out of flying training. So, from 1969 when I joined the Phantom Squadron, I spent two commissions flying from the deck at sea in HMS Ark Royal.
“The first commission as a nugget pilot, the second one as the Senior Pilot and in between I had a two-year holiday in NATO HQ, AFNORTH, Oslo where I was a Nuclear Intelligence officer under General Sir Peter Whitely, Commander in Chief of AFNORTH. That was a wonderful experience, I learnt a lot about nuclear warfare and many other things there, also doing some good sailing.
“Then back to the Phantom Squadron in Ark Royal. I was very fortunate because I had been given the chance to become an Air Warfare Instructor at the end of my first tour onboard the ship - which I leapt at and fortunately passed the course. Also, became an Instrument Rating Instructor, where I was supposed to check the instrument rating prowess of all these aged aviators in the squadron who were far more experienced than me and I thought to myself, 'What the hell am I doing examining these people?'
“So, that was the history of the Phantom side. I was then posted to the Ministry of Defence which was a mixture of pleasure and hatred – mainly the latter. I hated the building, I hated the grey walls, I hated the practices, I hated the pomposity, I hated the yes men."
I wrote my own instructions for the introduction of the Sea Harriers to service, which was very simple, saying prepare it for war…
“In 1976, I was put in charge of the Sea Harrier development and production program and my predecessor Nick Harris had done a brilliant job, so it was going well from square one. I spent from 1976 to 1979 running that program and I'm proud to say it was the only program in history for producing a jet fighter that was on cost and on time."
Sharkey was then appointed to run the Sea Harrier Intensive Flying Trials Unit, writing his own instructions for the introduction of the Sea Harrier to Service.
“So, my instructions (to myself) were very simple, saying prepare the aircraft for war, prepare all the operational data, all the engineering data, all the training and all the associated paperwork and manuals.
“The next two and a half years proved to be the greatest, most wonderfully satisfying period in my life. I worked with a fantastic team of engineers, maintenance ratings and air crew to produce what became the world's most feared within visual range fighter combat aircraft - the supreme dog-fighter. We beat the best of NATO and the United States on several occasions, including the US Air Force Aggressor Squadron F-5Es and the Bittberg F-15 Eagles.
“By the time the Falklands came along we were undoubtedly looked upon as the leading fighter aircraft in the world as far as dog-fighting was concerned. I had continued the trials work in command of the Headquarters Squadron and then the second front-line unit, 801 Squadron.
“Before the balloon went up, we'd been operating in the North Sea and off North Norway in frightful weather which prepared us well for the Falklands because it really was miserable and dangerous stuff and we were night flying in the most abysmal conditions."
…prepare yourself in all respects for recalling anybody who's going on Easter leave because we may have a need for you to mobilise.
“Two weeks before the balloon went up all Squadron Commanders received a letter written in green by First Sea Lord, Sir Henry Leach, basically saying ‘I can't tell you what this is about but you are to prepare yourself in all respects for recalling anybody who's going on Easter leave because we may have a need for you to mobilise.’
“So, wow, we thought. Let's have more beer in the bar, let's think about this, let's make sure in the next two weeks that the aircraft are in tip top condition. We were happily, well what do you call it, anaesthetised with a lot of beer and a lot of expectation."
This is the duty Lieutenant Commander Yeovilton, you are to mobilise your squadron for war immediately.
“…so, then came Friday morning at the beginning of April. I was up in Leicestershire where my in-laws lived. Four o'clock in the morning, my mother-in-law came into my bedroom and she shook me and said, 'Sharkey, Nigel, get up, the Navy want to speak to you on the phone, they said it’s the commander of Yeovilton or something.'
“So, I leapt out of bed, picked up the phone and said, 'Yes, Lieutenant Commander Ward here.' He just said, 'This is the Duty Lieutenant Commander, Yeovilton, you are to mobilise your squadron for war immediately' and put down the phone.
“Even now the hairs are going up on my back, it was a dream, an absolute dream for me come true. I had a rather nice 145E Volvo estate that I managed to get while I was in Norway. We jumped into the car and did 157 miles in less than an hour and a half, 40 minutes in fog on the way home. I had a quick bite of toast and something at home and went to the air station."
I could concentrate on what lay ahead. I knew that my boys were the best fighter squadron team ever.
“I arrived in the squadron at about 8:30/nine o'clock and already my superb Air Engineer Officer had got all the lads in except those who were away overseas, had all the aircraft out on the line ready to go and looking like pristine dinky toys. They were so beautifully painted and in such good condition. I didn't have any problems or worries and, I could concentrate on what lay ahead. I knew that my boys were the best fighter squadron team ever. They'd got it taped, I didn't need to worry on any score whatsoever.
“So, immediately, I gathered my top naval air warfare pilots and said, 'Look, let's get together this afternoon and then tomorrow and plan what we need to get done after we embark.' A bit of a pantomime followed. The air station wanted us to embark as soon as possible, either on that Friday afternoon or Saturday. I thought there's no sense having us rush on board as we were planning to sail on the Monday.
"So, I called the ship and spoke with Commander Air and said, 'Will you speak to the Captain, Dusty, I don't want to come on board today or tomorrow, either Sunday or Monday would be good enough for my squadron, we're all ready. We want to do some proper planning and decent work here and say farewell to our families. Will that be okay?' The Captain, JJ Black said, 'Yes, Sharkey, that'll be fine.’”
So, there we were suddenly plunged into a new world: we were going to war.
“The other squadrons were scrambling to get on board. HMS Invincible’s 820 Antisubmarine Helicopter Squadron embarked late on the Friday and 800 Sea Harrier Squadron embarked on the Saturday in Hermes. So, there we were suddenly plunged into a new world: we were going to war. There was a chance that diplomacy would still prevail but secretly I was hoping it wouldn't.
“From there on in until hostilities broke out it was a question of 24/7 preparing the squadron for war, we were 95% ready operationally and tactical wise but we had a lot of work to do of getting through weapons delivery trials and some night flying qualifications. For the layman, when you get an aircraft in service in Britain you get a clearance to fly it but all the weapons have to be tested by the test pilot establishment at Boscombe Down before you're allowed to use them. Well, they'd done practically none of the trials and it would be another three years before they completed them.
"So, I said to the Captain, 'We're going to do the trials now Sir, within the next week'. It was going to be very exciting, checking that the weapons released from the aircraft safely and had the right sighting picture for hitting the target accurately: 1,000 pound bombs, 500 pound bombs tossed and dropped, 2 inch rocket firing against surface targets, Sidewinder missile firing and Lepus flare tossing. We were already clear to fire our guns. So, we did all that in a period of three days with excellent results and carried on South. I wanted all my pilots to be night qualified by the time we started real combat because you can't fight a war being only able to fly by day.
“So, we had eleven pilots and eight aircraft and some of the pilots were taken from the Headquarters Squadron and hadn't been at sea for a fair time and so we had to get them worked up to speed. They were all excellent and included Air Warfare Instructors and Buccaneer pilots. I had a fantastic team and enthusiastic teamwork within the squadron.
“My leadership manner was well tested but was a bit unusual to some of the pilots who were joining. I remember when I started the Intensive Flying Trials Unit my Senior Pilot was Tony Ogilvy, a very traditional decent guy and a Buccaneer Air Warfare Instructor. I found out that he thought I was an absolute idiot for the first three months because of the manner in which I was running the Squadron.
"My welcome remarks for all personnel whether junior or senior were as follows: ‘I'm not going to look over your shoulder, you're the best that there is otherwise I wouldn't have you working for me. If you make an honest mistake that's okay, just make sure you don't make the same honest mistake twice. Now, get to work, I don't want to hear from you unless you've got a problem and then I'll be delighted to help - and by the way I shall be going home at no later than 5:30 each day and I expect you if you've done all your duties to do the same’."
…everyone else in Britain and elsewhere in the world said we haven't got a chance and my admiral telling the wives that 75% of the Sea-Harrier pilots are probably not coming home because we were outnumbered ten to one.
“That created a strong team trust that prepared us well for the Falklands. We had earned a huge reputation for fighter combat excellence, that I was not afraid to publicise vigorously during the journey South - by talking to all the press who were onboard: telling them we're the best in the world and the Argentine pilots need to watch out. I did my best to discredit those in Britain and elsewhere in the world who were saying we haven't got a chance and, my Admiral telling his staff (who then told the wives) that 75% of the Sea Harrier pilots are probably not coming home because we were outnumbered ten to one.
“Everybody onboard when we sailed was rather apprehensive but very happy to be supporting the Queen and taking the fight to the enemy. And Portsmouth Harbour personnel were magic.
“On the Friday that I was alerted, half the dockyard workers in Portsmouth Harbour were going to be laid off for good. When they heard the balloon had gone up, they all turned up for work without fail and worked over the weekend to get the ships provisioned and armed for the deployment.
“It was that same team spirit that took us down to the Falklands and enabled a huge victory. Throughout the long days of combat, Invincible remained a very happy ship with everyone devoted to the task. For example, the key air defence radar operators were monitoring their radar screens, four hours on, four hours off, 24 hours a day throughout the journey south and the whole length of the war. In those four hours off they had to sleep, eat, get their laundry done etc. and then get back on their screens never seeing the light of day. Mind-Boggling! Yet the morale on board was very high thanks to everyone pulling their weight and being very well led by the Captain. I remember with great pleasure the excellent professional relationship that I had with him. He had complete trust in my squadron and respected the way ahead that I frequently put forward to him - often directly opposite to the orders from the Flagship.
“We were often given orders from the Flagship on how to use the aircraft which were totally nonsensical. Sandy Woodward put in his book and said many times since, 'If Sharkey Ward had not disobeyed orders, we might have lost the war.' It was a very frustrating time.
“Captain JJ Black used to amuse the ship’s company regularly using the ship’s broadcast. One day during the war I was sitting in my cabin, in my flying kit in case I needed to get airborne rapidly, when the ship’s broadcast blared out, ‘Would the commanding Officer of 801 naval air squadron please call on the Captain on the bridge at his convenience!’ Normally, such an invitation would be phrased as follows, ‘CO 801, Bridge, at the rush!’ I took an hour before going to see him and when I arrived on the bridge he said, ‘what the hell are you doing up here Sharkey?’ ‘You asked to see me, Sir’ ‘Oh yes,’ he grinned, ‘were you blowing smoke up my arse at this morning’s command briefing?’ ‘No, sir!’ ‘I think you were!’ I replied with the carefully enunciated word, ‘Bollocked!’ and he laughed and told me to Foxtrot Oscar."
…when Alan and John didn't come back it was a moment of great grief onboard…
“We lost a couple of wonderful guys, pilots, John Eyton-Jones and Alan Curtis following an extraordinary air to air collision. Then the day after the war was over in very bad weather a flight deck tractor was thrown around the deck and crushed naval airman 'Budgie' Marsden to death against the [ship’s] island. So, we had three tragedies which were very hard to take. You're, sort of, used to it as an aviator but the engineers never get used to it and when Alan and John didn't come back it was a moment of great grief onboard and the lads were so fed-up, they were kicking ring bolts around the flight deck. I chatted with them and all I could say was, 'Well, look we've got to get on with it.'
“The chief steward was a really good guy, when we lost John Eaton-Jones and Alan Curtis, the guys were so low I rang the chief steward and said, 'Look, this just happened, can you send up a garbage bag full of beer, tinnies to the crew room? At least they can drink their sorrows away for a bit.' He said, 'Yes, no problem.'
“The reason why our morale was raised again was we got another signal from HMS Hermes the Flagship, in response to which I called all the pilots together and said, 'You’ll want to hear this, this is the new instruction we've got from the flag' [Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward] and read it out.
“These are the Rules of Combat which have been sent down from our political masters in London. They are saying you mustn't fire on anybody unless they fire on you first! This caused an uproar in the Crewroom.
“I continued, 'I hereby take full personal responsibility for ignoring this signal. Your new Rules of Combat are as follows. When you're airborne and hostilities have broken out you will shoot and kill anything that moves in the air that is not a friendly aircraft.' All my pilots applauded the new way ahead."
When we got into close combat we always won.
“We were up against it with the high command but we knew we were going to win anyway and we did. We led the way with superb kills on day one against enemy aircraft on the 1st of May. Then we deterred the enemy from attacking the amphibious landing as much as we could. We had air superiority against their fighters but we didn't have what was called "air space denial" - where you can deny the enemy the ability to operate at all in the air space. We could've done that with the Sea Harrier Mark II with its wonderful radar and long-range missiles but our own aircraft radar couldn't see anything over land with our radar looking down. When we got into close combat we always won."
I gave myself five minutes a day to think about my wife and my two kids back at home.
“… we had no way of getting mail or sending mail after we left Ascension until the end of the war. So, I gave myself five minutes a day to think about my wife and my two kids back at home - and that was before I got some sleep at whatever time of day or night it was. I was the lead night pilot, so I was always scrambled from my cabin if we had a threat coming in the middle of the night.
“Occasionally, when I was on the long journey back to the ship at night… beetling along at high speed and very low level to keep the position of the carrier secret at night in very bad weather, and not knowing whether I was going to be able to find the ship again, I sat back in the cockpit thinking, 'I wonder how my lads are, are they fast asleep now? I wish they were here flying with me,' because they'd say, 'Dad, this is so exciting.' I knew in my heart that we had the strongest support at home - not at any time did I think I might not return or might get shot down, it was beyond my ability to think that way.
“When we set sail, as far as I can remember and I may be wrong, the only two people on the naval side in the whole affair who thought, 'we're not going to lose, we're going to win this, in spite of all the odds’, were myself and Admiral Sandy [Woodward].
“Sandy became a lifelong friend after the war, after I'd insulted him in my first book, corrected it, then met him and we got on like a house on fire and worked together to send up all sorts of papers to the Ministry and to First Sea Lords saying, 'Come on, you've got to do this, you've got to do that, you're not going in the right direction.'"
'Sharkey, the war is over.'
“When the end came, we knew that the Gurkhas were about to descend upon Port Stanley from the hills, from Tumbledown Mountain and take the Argentine. They were so frightened of the Gurkhas that that's when they surrendered before the Gurkhas came.
“I was airborne at the time on combat air patrol and, as usual, fully dedicated and concentrating, there was nothing else in the world other than beating the enemy, winning and protecting our warships, that was all there was to my life. Invincible called me and said, 'Sharkey, weapons tight.' I said, 'What?' they repeated, 'Weapons tight!' I said, 'What the hell, what's going on?' They said, 'Sharkey, the war is over.'
“It's very difficult for me right now because I think I have some sort of PTSD because my emotions take charge at key moments in my life. In that moment my world collapsed.”
“…because suddenly we'd won, we'd got there and I had had no peace since leaving England. My team, my wonderful team had been so supportive and we'd done the job - and then suddenly there was nothing. It was a huge shock and I was tired out.
“I didn't know what to do with myself, so I went back on board and then the next few days we all celebrated victory and I wrote my record of the war as squadron commanders had to do. Then, I prepared to fly back to the UK because I had to go back early rather than with the ship, which was a great disappointment, to join the staff college.
"Going home was not an easy job… each day we got a signal back from the RAF at Port Stanley saying sorry we've got no space … eventually I said, 'Look, I'll go ashore to the airfield, sort this out.'
“…a sprightly young pilot officer was the movement manager there and I said, 'Look, I have to get to the UK today, we've got three aircraft coming in.' He said, 'I'm terribly sorry sir, there's no space on the aircraft,' and I said, 'Why not?'
“After some negotiating including explosive words from myself, In comes a flight lieutenant at the rush, doubles up, 'Excuse me, sir, are you Commander Ward?' 'Well, yes, I am Commander Ward.' 'From the Group Captain with compliments, you can go back out on the first aircraft.' I said, 'I don't want to go on the first aircraft, my relief is coming in and I want a short handover… go and tell your Group Captain that.' His eyes bulged and he shot off, came back shortly and said, 'Yes, sir you can have a seat on any aircraft you want.'
“[Brize Norton, UK]…at the foot of the gangway were three generals of the Welsh Guards who'd been welcoming their guys and I nodded to them and walked across the tarmac to where my family was waiting. It was brilliant seeing them, it was lovely, fantastic. Then I said after a very emotional hello, let's go home.”
…I didn't think I needed any of it…
“As you know in those days there was no recognition of PTSD or things like that and counselling. Like anybody else I didn't think I needed any of it and I was back in the fold being a young Commander in Whitehall again and actually quite an unhappy marriage which eventually split up.
“I can't blame my wife really because she'd been told that they thought 75% of us wouldn't come back and so she thought ‘well Sharkey's not coming back’ and that was fixed in her brain. So, we muddled on for another five years and then decided that it's time for a divorce, not her fault, not my fault.
“The best thing about the war was team spirit. Occasionally there were differences of opinion but as far as the ships and the ground forces were concerned we were all on the same team, at least most of us were. That was the most impressive thing about the whole affair. Nor was there any great animosity towards the Argentinians, even when they sank Atlantic Conveyor or when I lost my two pilots. It was just a question of doing one's duty with integrity and honour.
“There was no hatred involved, no enmity, just go up there, shoot them down or they shoot you down and that's the way it was. There was no enmity at all and they felt the same way, they were very honourable guys, their pilots.”