11. The British responded to the loss of Sheffield with an operation worthy of James Bond
The loss of Sheffield led to a British plan to eliminate the stock of Exocet missiles at the Argentine Air Base at Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego. The first plan was known as Operation Mikado. C-130 Hercules aircraft were to be used to deliver Special Air Service (SAS) personnel to the base, their mission to destroy the five Etendard strike fighters based there. The plan was evaluated as too risky and dropped in favor of another. In the second plan, SAS agents were to be deposited on Tierra del Fuego by submarine after another group penetrated by air and prepared the way for the seaborne group. Agents were flown into Chile by helicopter to south of Punta Arenas.
The helicopter lacked fuel to return to HMS Invincible, so its three-man crew destroyed it by burning. On May 25, the crew surrendered to Chilean police. They were repatriated to the UK. Meanwhile the SAS team, despite being landed more than 50 miles from their assigned position, managed to enter Argentina. The international notice of the Chileans discovering the burned-out British helicopter raised Argentine suspicions of an espionage mission and over 2,000 Argentine police and army troops searched for British agents. Security was increased at Rio Grande as well. The SAS team made its way back to Chile, and from there took a commercial flight back to Great Britain, eluding detection.
Related: The Bizarre Origins of the British Special Air Service (SAS)