ABSTRACT
The canvas I have selected is the Falklands Campaign in 1982, events encompassing some 100 days. My post was Captain of the 12,000 tonne assault ship HMS Fearless. In addition to command of the ship, I was Chief of Staff to the Commodore Amphibious Warfare (COMAW), the 106maritime commander for the military landings at San Carlos - the pivotal step in the re-possession of the Falkland Islands. As such, I was involved intimately with the planning of the amphibious tasks and the naval inshore operations around the islands, and the Commodore assigned me extensive elements of delegated tactical command authority within the amphibious force. Drawing upon the sum of my previous command experience, I could scarcely have been better prepared for the challenges; nor could I have gone to this peculiar war either with better people or in a better ship. Then 43, my first major command, a fine diesel-attack submarine with a crew of 60, had come to me at the age of 30. I had spent 12½ of the next 18 years in six command appointments of increasing responsibility and complexity. Three were in the submarine flotilla during the height of cold-war operations, and I was fortunate to keep an equal footing in the surface fleet. I stepped finally into the shoes of COMAW, commanding the UK's amphibious forces (and also, within NATO, those of the Netherlands), from 1985 to 87. On concluding my service with the Royal Navy in 1990 as a Rear Admiral with a central role in the Ministry of Defence crisis management organisation, I founded Octo Ltd. (see above and Larken, 1992, 1995a,b).
