A British warship fired on and killed three whales during the Falklands War after mistaking them for enemy submarines.
The startling revelation is contained within new eyewitness accounts of the tense days aboard anti-submarine frigate HMS Brilliant during the 1982 conflict in the southern seas.
Radar on the Royal Navy ship was unable to distinguish between attacking 'Wolf Packs' of subs and a pod of whales.
In one instance, two of the mammals were killed by torpedoes and the third was attacked by one of the ship’s helicopters. Engineer Ginge Offord, whose account was written five years ago and only just been published on www.hmsbrilliant.com - a site dedicated to recording the testimony of crew for posterity.
In an extract from his experience of the Falklands War, he wrote: 'During the day we went to Action Stations a number of times as we were receiving reports of enemy aircraft taking off from their bases on the mainland. They were chased off by our CAP (combat air patrol).'Searches and attacks went on until darkness, when we broke off and headed back to the main group.
'Our tally for the day was a pair of whales. Sadly, their signature on sonar is similar to that of a submarine. The torpedo Petty Officer gained the sobriquet "Wolf Pack".' Read More HERE
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