Foxtrot 4 had sailed through the night to Goose Green where she was loaded with Land Rovers and trailers with specialist radio equipment aboard. There would be eight signallers and one Royal Engineers Officer aboard for the trip to Fitzroy.
The day was one of the best with clear skies and calm seas but, the day had already been dramatic with the attacks on the two LSL's Galahad and Tristram with those on Galahad suffering the worst of the day.
F4 was tasked with getting the equipment to Fitzroy as soon as possible so they set off in daylight which was not the normal procedure for a craft as they would be vulnerable.
We know the rough position from the officer who was aboard as he had been on the bridge just before the attack and Colour Sergeant Johnston had remarked that they were just off Johnson's Island. The officer then left and returned to his Land Rover.
The attack was by four Skyhawk A=4's under the code name 'Mazo flight,' they had spotted F4 and came towards her, at the time Marine Quigley was at the helm and proceeded to put her hard over to port in and evasive manoeuvre.
High above two Harriers were on CAP ( Combat Air Patrol) and the attack was witnessed by them, David Morgan (Sea Harrier ZA177) and his wingman Lt Dave Smith RN (Sea Harrier XZ499) were witness to the attack and put their planes into a deep dive towards the attacking planes. They saw the first plane strafe with its canons and miss by about 100 feet with its bomb, then the second plane flew in and scored a direct hit. Morgan managed to shoot down the first Skyhawk before it could attack again and quickly dispatched another, his wingman shot down the third with the fourth plane breaking away for Argentina, all three Argentinian pilots died with their planes. Morgan managed to give a very accurate account and position of the attack. Morgan sent out an immediate SAR request or Search and Rescue as he could see the damage was substantial to the vessel.
The bomb had torn through the vessel and exploded inside the engine room blowing a hole in the bottom a that saw one of the engines blown out, the explosion took out the radio shack and the bridge was blown apart Marine Quigley was blown from the bridge into the water but later managed to get back aboard over the rear that was slightly submerged as she was taking on water fast due to the gaping hole in the engine room. The bomb had damaged most of the starboard side of the rear of F4. Five of the crew are presumed to have been killed instantly in the blast, Marine Quigly had minor injuries and Marine Cruden had suffered injuries to his head and face, Marine Griffin suffered major injuries. Both Griffin and Cruden were rescued by the passengers on the Tank Deck who managed to get them through the damaged bulkhead from the crew accommodation. Marine Griffin had suffered fatal injuries and died on the deck despite the best efforts of those around.
Fires that had ignited were quickly extinguished using fire extinguishers from the Land Rovers. The light was starting to fade.
The survivors included Two Royal Marine crew, eight Royal Signals and a Royal Engineers Officer. The Royal Signals account states that “F4 was over a mile from land in the gathering dark. Both of F4's life rafts had been damaged, and no message had been sent due to the speed of the attack. The Signallers moved the Land Rovers as far forward as possible to help counterbalance and raise the slowly sinking stern and slow the rate of flooding. Marine Quigley checked the LCU forward watertight spaces vents to ascertain if they have been ruptured. No air had escaped, so a degree of forward buoyancy remained.
One of the Lance Corporal Signallers, managed to get a Clansman radio working and tuned into a 5 Infantry Brigade frequency. An urgent Mayday call for assistance was sent, This was received by 5 Brigade around 20.35. MV Monsunen received a directive on sailing at 20.40 to proceed and assist. The Lance Corporal did not give a Grid Reference; reporting the attack as “off Johnson’s Island.” It can reasonably be assumed that an operator at 5 Brigade converted this into the wrong location, when F4 would actually have been at least 2.5nm further east in the originally recorded attack position.
A Royal Signals account states that they received a message that two light helicopters (Scout or Gazelle) from 656 Sqn Army Air Corps would attempt to locate F4 to pinpoint its position for the RN rescue helicopter. A light was to be shown by survivors to aid these small helicopters when they were heard, but unfortunately it was not seen. If they had been sent to the right location it might have quickened the rescue from F4 in the dark. Thankfully an RN Sea King, was heard and the light from F4 was seen. The Aircrew man lowered himself onto F4 to ascertain the physical state of the survivors and to conduct the recovery briefing. It took about 30 minutes to lift all the survivors into the helicopter. The survivors were flown first to Ajax Bay Field Hospital to land the three injured and then on to HMS Fearless
Five and a half hours after the attack, Monsunen sent a detailed damage report to HMS Fearless when she found F4. “Sea water was entering the vessel from aft, causing her to be down at the stern. F4 had been hit on the quarterdeck aft behind the bridge; devastating the steering gear compartment, engine room and crews’ quarters. The forward part of bridge and transom were only just hanging on. The forward part of the bridge had only suffered minor whip damage. The after part of well deck was awash to a depth of approximately three feet but well deck itself was mostly dry. The Land Rovers had taken some minor shrapnel hits.”
F4 was at this point slowly sinking and the Monsunen’s civilian skipper advised strongly against towing F4, stating that F4’s 115 tons would take his vessel (326 tons) down also if F4 sank. Monsunen was also overloaded with 500 fully armed personnel and equipment embarked. There was an attempted tow which had to be aborted after the rope fouled Monsunen’s propeller. HMS Yarmouth, was close by ready to commence Naval Gunfire Support, came across Monsunen. Yarmouth’s divers cleared the rope from the propeller at 06.30. It was now essential that Monsunen should depart and return to Goose Green before dawn at 11.12 .
Monsunen signalled F4’s last known position and that she was sinking slowly. Monsunen was to return 17 hours later to conduct a radar and visual search for F4. This search extended 19nm out from the entrance of Choiseul Sound on 10 June. Nothing was found.