 This was partly due to British concerns about escalating the war too early, but also to avoid scaring off more valuable targets such as the Argentine aircraft carrier .Unlike , neither "Spartan" nor "Splendid" fired in anger during the Falklands War, but they did provide valuable reconnaissance to the British Task Force on Argentine aircraft movements and the submarines' presence effectively restricted the freedom of action of the Argentine Navy which spent most of the war confined to port.In the late 1990s, "Splendid" became the first British vessel to be armed with American-built Tomahawk cruise missiles.