Steve Thorpe – Getting MBE for work with San Juan
I went to Argentina in 2017 for the San Juan …
Simon: For the what?
The San Juan, the Argentinian submarine that sank. We were invited out …
Simon: That was as SPAG was it?
Yeah, SPAG and some non-parachute trained people called Smerats which is Submarine Escape and Rescue Advisory Team, that can fly onto a ship to advise Command how to do things. So, there was four parachutists went out. Four stayed in the Falkland Islands, three went onto HMS Protector and I went in to Argentina to Command Advise in Argentina and work with the Americans and Argentinians first British plane to land in Argentina since 1982, which was unique. Stayed in the Port of Belgrano Naval Base which obviously we sank the Belgrano during the Falklands War, and I got my uniform, one with a white ensign and a set of submarine dolphins on. We were met by the Captain of the Port of Belgrano Naval Base and he said, “I’m really glad you’re here ‘cos I know why you’re here.
However, be warned, some people are not pleased you are here.” The Americans had got there on the Sunday. This was a Tuesday morning and we just basically tried to piece together what had happened and try and find the submarine. Unfortunately, we didn’t find it but we made some good connections with Argentina and we got debriefed by MI6 on the way out in Buenos Aries and they said, “Don’t underestimate your presence and country has for international relations” and Protector went into Buenos Aires a few months later.
Simon: That’s a ship was it?
Yeah, so clearly we’d done something right, and I got a Member of the British Empire out of it, an MBE, so that was quite nice. But I made a lot of connections …