Thin Pinstriped Line

  In the early hours of May 1982, following indications that a Spanish amphibious force, ostensibly on exercise, had begun sailing closer to Gibraltar, the Governor exercised powers to sortie armed Royal Navy warships, and deploy the Army onto the streets of the rock, to defend it from potential Spanish invasion. This sounds like the plot of a poor Cold War thriller but nearly happened for real. This article is about how in the 1980s the UK actively planned to defend Gibraltar from both Soviet & Spanish aggression in the most unlikely of circumstances. Crown Copyright In 1982 the UK and Spain had strained relations over the issue of Gibraltar since the Spanish closed the land border in 1969. Throughout the 1970s there was genuine concern that Spain could attempt some kind of military operation, leading to elaborate plans being developed to defend ‘the Rock’ against attack for long enough for cooler heads to prevail. The invasion of the Falklands by Argentina was a particular co...

In February 1996 a Russian VICTOR III nuclear submarine entered the Norwegian Sea on an unknown mission. The Cold War may have ended, but NATO remained alert to any potentially hostile submarine in its waters. Tracked by the Norwegians, the VICTOR began moving towards UK waters, and as a result the decision was taken to commence OPERATION SHARPSHOOTER. The goal of the operation was to allow the UK to monitor and covertly track the submarine to understand its presence and mission and gather invaluable intelligence on the vessel without giving away the British presence. Yet in a most remarkable turn of events, this was a mission that ended with the Royal Navy embarking personnel onboard the VICTOR at sea… Crown Copyright OP SHARPSHOOTER was like previous operations carried out over many years to monitor and track the Russians. In 1995 alone, Operations SYDNEY, PORRINGER and PADBURY were mounted for similar reasons – to find, track and monitor the submarine and understand its mission. ...

  In September 1991British hostage and WW2 RAF veteran Jackie Mann was released by his captors in Beirut and taken to Damascus. There he was reunited with his wife, before being flown by RAF VC10 to Lyneham to return to civilian life. With this flight, one of the final missions of OPERATION BACTON was completed. This short blog covers this relatively unknown RAF contribution to British history. Throughout the 1980s a number of hostages were taken by militia organisations in Lebanon. The hugely complex international politics of the time meant that westerners were seen as attractive targets for kidnapping, ransom and being held to achieve political goals by their captors. Some escaped, others were murdered, while more were kept in hideous conditions pending eventual release. The British government accepted that when released, it was vital to return these individuals as quickly as possible to safety in the UK. It also knew they would be vulnerable, potentially extremely unwell and...

  On 15 April 1986 the United States launched air strikes on Libya intended to punish the Gaddafi regime for its support of terrorism. Dozens of F111 bombers, A6 intruders and F18s launched from the UK and US Navy aircraft carriers carried out strikes across the country, damaging the air defence network and targeting regime facilities. The Libyans threatened a response against those deemed responsible for the attack, although nothing meaningful occurred. What is not realised is that in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the British Government was so concerned about the risk to UK interests in the Mediterranean region, that covert plans were put in place to defend Gibraltar and Cyprus from Libyan attack. This is the untold story of the MOD response, known as OP TOUCAN and OP CLOVER, and how the UK prepared for conflict with Libya in 1986. The British strategic position in the Med during the 1980s was built around two core locations in Cyprus and Gibraltar. The Sovereign Bas...