MAY 4, 1982, was a day that will live with Dave Glasbey forever.

For Dave was a 19-year-old sailor on Type 42 destroyer, HMS Sheffield, when it was hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands conflict.

Twenty of the crew died and a further 26 were injured. It was the first British warship to be lost since the Second World War.

As HMS Sheffield had just completed a training exercise it was deemed the most 'war ready' of the British ships, and Captain Sam Salt made the tannoy announcement shortly before midday to say that the Argentinians had invaded the Falkland Islands and that the ship was preparing to form a task force to go to war.

The order came as a complete surprise to the entire crew.

"There had been some rumours that we were going to war with Argentina over the Falkland Isles," explains Dave, 53, from Fareham. "But it was the 1st of April so we thought it was an April Fool's joke at first.

"It wasn't."

During the trip to the South Atlantic the ship was prepared for battle, with repairs urgently carried out and supplies received from other vessels.

The conflict between Argentina and the UK escalated when Royal Navy submarines sank the Argentinian battle cruiser General Belgrano.

Only a few days later HMS Sheffield came under attack from the Argentinian air force.

"After the Belgrano was sunk we had a couple of scares where we were called to action stations," says Dave, who is married to Evelyn with three children and five grandchildren. "I'd hit the deck and pray that we wouldn't be hit.

"On May 4 we were on defence watch when I heard the hydraulics start up. Thinking something was about to happen, the section base leader told us to start getting ready - then it hit, with no warning at all.

"The blast knocked me off my feet and threw me about 10ft.

When Dave got back to his feet, it was pitch black. He and another sailor were told to make their way towards the stern [aft].

"We were told to don respirators and I had a head lamp on, but the visibility was zero. We slowly edged our way aft and noticed a red glow above us - we couldn't tell whether it was fire, police or lighting."

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The two sailors continued on their way until they reached the galley servery, but they did not want to open the door as they could not tell if there was fire burning behind it.

"We couldn't tell if the door was getting hot," Dave says. "We took off our anti-flash gloves and felt the door again, but still couldn't tell if it was getting warm. We kept the door shut and started to return to the section base when we came across CMECH [Chief Mechanician] John Strange, who had been badly burnt. I gave in my report and then returned to help carry the CMECH. My colleague carried his feet and I put my arms under his armpits and linked my hands.

"At first I dropped him because his blood soaked through my shirt - he had been in the compartment where the missile came in and managed to get out but collapsed in the passageway. He had a large burn on his arm and back and the heat of the blast had melted his overall to his skin and his back had stuck to the floor.

"I quickly picked him up again and carried him to the nearest escape hatch, which was jammed. The only other one was in the paint store. As we got closer and the smoke was less dense, all I could see in the dim glow of my head light was his smouldering fingers and badly burnt hands.

"I don't remember much after this, but I remember telling the gun bay to evacuate, carrying equipment to the hangar and seeing HMS Arrow and HMS Yarmouth come alongside, with the Yarmouth firing off its mortars.

"The next thing I recall is strobe images of looking down on the carrier."

The reason Dave doesn't remember much more is because whilst retrieving essential firefighting equipment he was overcome by smoke and collapsed, along with Petty Officer David Briggs, who sadly died. He was the only body recovered from HMS Sheffield and later buried at sea.

Dave was pulled through the escape hatch by his hair, simply because he was closest to it.

"I didn't know where I was when I came round," continues Dave. "And when I sat up, I saw my friends and colleagues wrapped in cling film to stop their skin falling off."

Dave was in the sick bay of HMS Hermes.

As the fires continued to rage, the burning vessel was abandoned after five hours due to the risk of further explosions, but the lack of damage below the water line meant HMS Sheffield did not sink immediately and continued to burn fiercely for another two days.

A salvage attempt failed and the ship eventually sank while being towed away from the Falklands, almost a week later.

Dave was commended for his bravery, determination and dedication to duty in trying to save his ship.

"I was just doing my job," he says humbly. "The British Navy is like a big family to me.

"I was one of the lucky ones."