He knew that General Belgrano, and particularly her Exocet armed escorts, were a threat to the task force and he ordered that she be sunk. Possibly the best known single incident was the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano. Knowing that the Argentine forces had to be defeated before the Southern Hemisphere winter made conditions too bad, he set a latest date by which the land forces had to be ashore, that in turn set a latest date by which control of the air had to be achieved, and so on. He worked out the timetable for the campaign, starting from the end and working to the start. The task group containing the amphibious ships which launched the invasion TG 317.0 was commanded by Commodore Michael Clapp, with Task Group 317.1 being the landing force itself. The Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse, served as the Task Force commander, CTF-317. In 1982, he commanded the HMS Hermes aircraft carrier group, Task Group 317.8, in the Falklands War. In July 1981, he was promoted to rear admiral and appointed as Flag Officer First Flotilla. He became Head of Naval Plans in the Ministry of Defence in 1978.

In 1974, he became Captain of Submarine Training and in 1976 he took command of HMS Sheffield. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1972. He took command of HMS Warspite in December 1969. In 1967, he was promoted to commander and became the Instructor (known as Teacher) of The Perisher Course. Promoted to lieutenant-commander in May 1962, he then commanded HMS Grampus before becoming the second in command of the nuclear fleet submarine HMS Valiant. In 1960 he passed the Royal Navy's rigorous Submarine Command Course known as The Perisher, and received his first command, the T-class submarine HMS Tireless.

He became a submariner in 1954, and was promoted to lieutenant that May.

On graduation from the Royal Naval College Dartmouth Woodward joined the Royal Navy in 1946. He then continued his education at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon. He was educated at Stubbington House School, preparatory school in Stubbington, Hampshire. Woodward was born on at Penzance, Cornwall, to a bank clerk. Knight Commander of the Order of the BathĪdmiral Sir John Forster ' Sandy' Woodward, GBE, KCB ( – 4 August 2013) was a senior Royal Navy officer who commanded the Task Force of the Falklands War. Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire

One hundred days sandy woodward