Pair: Petty Officer Steward R. J. Burner, Royal Navy, who was serving in H.M.S. Sheffield at the time of her loss off the Falklands in May 1982

South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (P.O. Std. R. J. Burner, D060270X, H.M.S. Sheffield); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.II.R. (P.O. Std. R. J. Burner, D060270X, H.M.S. Nelson), mounted as worn, good very fine or better (2) £1600-1800

At approximately 10 a.m. on 4 May 1982, H.M.S. Sheffield was at defence watches and on second degree readiness, as part of the British Task Force dispatched to the Falkland Islands - Sheffield had relieved her sister ship Coventry as the latter was having technical trouble with her radar. The two ships were chatting over the radio when communications suddenly ceased, followed by an unidentified message flatly stating "Sheffield is hit".

The flagship, Hermes dispatched the escorts Arrow and Yarmouth to investigate, and a helicopter was launched. Confusion reigned until Sheffield's Lynx helicopter unexpectedly landed aboard Hermes carrying the Air Operations Officer and Operations Officer, confirming the disaster. Sheffield had picked up the incoming missiles on her ancient radar system and the Operations Officer informed the Missile Director, who queried the contacts with the fire control system. The launch aircraft had not been detected as the British had expected, and it was not until smoke was sighted that the target was confirmed as sea skimming missiles. Five seconds later, an Exocet impacted Sheffield amidships, approximately 8 feet above the waterline on Deck 2, tearing a gash in the hull, whilst the other one splashed into the sea half a mile off her port beam.

The Exocets were fired from two Super Étendards launched from Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Naval Air Base. Piloted by Lieutenant Armando Mayora and Captain Augusto Bedacarratz, who commanded the mission. The M.O.D. report into the sinking of the Sheffield concluded that, ‘Evidence indicates that the Warhead did not detonate’. Some of the crew and members of the Task Force believe however that the missile's 165 kilogram warhead did in fact detonate upon impact. Regardless, the impact of the missile and the burning rocket motor set Sheffield ablaze. Accounts suggest that the initial impact of the missile immediately crippled the ship's onboard electricity generating systems and fractured the water main, preventing the anti-fire mechanisms from operating effectively, and thereby dooming the ship to be consumed by the raging fire.

After the ship was struck, her crew, waiting to be rescued, sang "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's Life of Brian. The burnt-out hulk was taken in tow by the Rothesay class frigate H.M.S. Yarmouth but sank at 53°04'S, 56°56' W on 10 May 1982; high seas led to slow flooding through the hole in the ships side which eventually took her to the bottom. This made her the first Royal Navy vessel sunk in action in almost forty years. Twenty of her crew (mainly on duty in the Galley-area) died during the attack. The wreck is a war grave and designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

Raymond Jeffery Burner was born at Chandlers Ford, Hampshire in October 1944 and entered the Royal Navy as a Junior Assistant Steward 2 in January 1961. Having in the interim held appointments as a Steward in the Fleet Air Arm and Submarine Branch, he joined the Sheffield as a Petty Officer Steward in March 1979 and was similarly employed at the time of her loss in May 1982. Burner finally came ashore in October 1984; sold with the Daily Mirror’s edition reporting on Sheffield’s loss and copied service record.