JOURNEYMAN

Code name for a Royal Navy task force led by HMS Dreadnought and deployed secretly to the South Atlantic in 1977 in response to intelligence that Argentina intended to invade the Falkland Islands. The nuclear hunter-killer  submarine moved quickly ahead of the surface component, and when news of the deployment circulated in Buenos Aires, the plan was abandoned. Although JOURNEYMAN is credited with having deterred aggression, there remains some doubt as to whether the Argentine plan was anything more than a deception scheme to conceal a move against Chile in the disputed area of Tierra del Fuego. Exactly how JOURNEYMAN was deliberately compromised is also the subject of debate, as submariners are always reluctant to reveal their positions.