30 Years ago today 17/09...........

[T66ORA]

HMS Invincible returned to Portsmouth from the South Atlantic,having achieving 166 days of continuous carrier operations.Contrary to belief she had not been sunk or damaged by the Argentine air force, she had been relieved by sister ship Illustrious,which had been completed months ahead of schedule,and had planned to sail south in June to join Hermes and Invincible. The Argentine surrender and various teething problems meant a delay in arriving at the Falklands in company with the "forgotten task force", which included, HM Ships, Amazon, Battleaxe,Birmingham, Liverpool RFA Brambleleaf amongst others.

To commemorate the occasion i have linked a couple of photos and you tube videos from the period and finally the rather sad photos of whats left of Invincible in a Turkish scrap yard, when the scrapping is complete HMS Ark Royal will take its place for the same fate, a travesty IMO

1982 Happy days, now? Not so sure?






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTs5ZUkjOAQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS8y-JUmxyk&fea...

Sorry for the cheesy music, but admire the skill of Captain "Jock" Slater.


AND FINALLY

[Simpo Two]

T66ORA said:

Sorry for the cheesy music

The anthem at the time was 'We are sailing' by Rod Stewart.



And sad as it is, every ship has to die - better that way than by enemy action.

[ralphrj]

Simpo Two said:

And sad as it is, every ship has to die - better that way than by enemy action.

Or do they?

Browsing the wikipedia pages for the Invincible class carriers I noted this comment on HMS Illustrious's page.

wikipedia said:

The UK Ministry of Defence announced on 10 September 2012 that once she is decommissioned, Illustrious will be preserved for the nation.

Ark Royal goes to the scrapyard though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-195...

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Latest...

[daz3210]

Since Ark Royal is the better known name, why would we not preserve that ship rather than Illustrious?

[T66ORA]

daz3210 said:

Since Ark Royal is the better known name, why would we not preserve that ship rather than Illustrious?

I tend to agree, however there is a possibility that one of the new carriers, (Prince of Wales i believe) might be renamed "Ark Royal" so that might have some bearing on the decision?

[D15CO D4VE]

It seems HMS Plymouth is about to go under the same treatment http://nwex.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10223

[TTwiggy]

daz3210 said:

Since Ark Royal is the better known name, why would we not preserve that ship rather than Illustrious?

There have been five 'Ark Royals', and we haven't preserved any of the others. Of the 'wooden walls' that kept this island safe for over a century, only Victory survives. No point being too sentimental about warships. The US Navy likes to park its old carriers up as museum ships, but I suspect that's more a case of 'public mothballing', in case they need the extra carrier capacity in the near future.

[daz3210]

TTwiggy said:

daz3210 said:

Since Ark Royal is the better known name, why would we not preserve that ship rather than Illustrious?

There have been five 'Ark Royals', and we haven't preserved any of the others. Of the 'wooden walls' that kept this island safe for over a century, only Victory survives. No point being too sentimental about warships. The US Navy likes to park its old carriers up as museum ships, but I suspect that's more a case of 'public mothballing', in case they need the extra carrier capacity in the near future.

Could that be an underlying reason for our doing this with Illustrious? Could she ever be recommissioned at short notice?

[TTwiggy]

daz3210 said:

TTwiggy said:

daz3210 said:

Since Ark Royal is the better known name, why would we not preserve that ship rather than Illustrious?

There have been five 'Ark Royals', and we haven't preserved any of the others. Of the 'wooden walls' that kept this island safe for over a century, only Victory survives. No point being too sentimental about warships. The US Navy likes to park its old carriers up as museum ships, but I suspect that's more a case of 'public mothballing', in case they need the extra carrier capacity in the near future.

Could that be an underlying reason for our doing this with Illustrious? Could she ever be recommissioned at short notice?

Well, she had her last refit around 2005, so I imagine that she is the best equipped of all the class. Her ability to operate as a helicopter platform and 'extraction platform' for Brits trapped overseas makes her very useful I guess.

[Godalmighty83]

I can easily see the PoW carrier being renamed due to charles unpopularity and various other reasons but I would be surprised of the Ark Royal name is used again so soon.

Would be nice to see the Argus name again or Centaur.

[T66ORA]

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=h...


I would prefare "HERMES" myself

[TTwiggy]

I've never quite understood the fuss over 'Ark Royal' either. Of the five there's been, one was involved in repulsing the Spanish Armada (ok, quite a big deal, but a very long time ago, and not actually an 'HMS'), and then there wasn't another one until WWI, when they built an experimental aircraft carrier.

There's any number of names of ships, currently unused, that took part in Trafalgar, any of them would be better (IMHO). And if we get to vote, I'd go for Bellerophon (or the 'Billy Ruffian' as the sailors called her).

[Simpo Two]

Godalmighty83 said:

I can easily see the PoW carrier being renamed due to charles unpopularity and various other reasons but I would be surprised of the Ark Royal name is used again so soon.

Wasn't aware he was unpopular - but anyway, the title 'Prince of Wales' is simply given to the heir to the throne, eg Edward VII.

Or perhaps it will be named HMS Diana so everyone can make cooing noises.

Here are the ships that fought at Trafalgar:

Victory
Temeraire
Neptune
Leviathan
Conqueror
Britannia
Agamemnon
Ajax
Minotaur
Spartiate
Orion
Africa
Royal Sovereign
Belleisle
Tonnant
Mars
Bellerophon
Colossus
Achille
Polyphemus
Revenge
Swiftsure
Defiance
Thunderer
Defence
Dreadnought
Prince

[perdu]

H.M.S Leviathan

('cos I enjoyed reading John Winton's great book)

Let's have Leviathan or is it time for a new Temeraire...

But in honesty what's wrong with P.O.W?

Nice name

[paulrussell]

I quite like Dreadnought.

[muckymotor]

Dreadnought is such a fantastic name.

[Big News]

Not as good as 'Swiftsure'.

[Godalmighty83]

perdu said:

But in honesty what's wrong with P.O.W?

Nice name

With the country full of daily fail readers who will completely ignore the historical significance and history of the name they will immediately jump to 'why did they name it after Charles?!?', the RN is in dire need of public support to prevent the government achieving their final goal of scrapping the entire fleet and as such needs ships the public can get behind even if it that means resorting to renaming the flagships which frankly I would call Centaur and Cerberus.

[Asterix]

Thunderer!

[Oily Nails]

AJAX!!!