THIS WEEK IN 1982: Portsmouth gets ready for Falklands war
Defence secretary John Nott spent two hours watching the 28,700-ton aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, getting ready for war at Portsmouth Dockyard.
On April 2, 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands.
The British governement promised to protect the British dependancy from the menace of the Argentine navy.
The Falklands crisis meant a rapid change of plans for the dockyard men who had been handed their redundancy notices just days before.
They worked around the clock, removing scaffolding and getting the ships back to a state of operational readiness.
On April 5, 1982, the task force, headed by HMS Invincible and HMS Hermes left Portsmouth bound for the South Atlantic.
See pages 22 and 26 for more on the Falklands War