Why Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram remained exposed

Commodore Michael Clapp asked whether terrain would conceal the landing ships and was assured that it would, despite his doubts from the map. Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram were then visible to Argentine aircraft and remained in danger longer because an Army unit had borrowed a landing craft assigned to the offload sequence. The missing craft prevented the planned one-ship-at-a-time turnover and left both vessels present together. Clapp personally checked the next landing-ship position, illustrating how unreliable information and disrupted joint logistics can compound tactical exposure. On that inspection he found the next RFA captain resting after a night maneuver, a decision the captain defended as trusting his crew and preserving his own ability to command rather than exhausting himself by hovering over them.