 |
| Career (UK) |
 |
| Ordered: |
17 April 1973 |
| Builder: |
Vickers Shipbuilding Limited, Barrow-in-Furness, England |
| Laid down: |
July, 1973 |
| Launched: |
3 May 1977, by Queen Elizabeth II |
| Commissioned: |
11 July 1980 |
| Decommissioned: |
3 August 2005 |
| Homeport: |
Portsmouth (From August 2005) |
| Nickname: |
"Vince"[1] |
| Fate: |
In reserve until 2010 |
| Notes: |
Pennant = R05, Deck code= N |
| General characteristics |
| Displacement: |
22,000 tonnes |
| Length: |
686 ft (209 m) |
| Beam: |
118 ft (36 m) |
| Draught: |
26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Propulsion: |
4 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines providing 97,000 hp (75 MW)
8 Paxman Valenta diesel generators. |
| Speed: |
28 knots (52 km/h), 18 knots (33 km/h) cruising |
| Range: |
7,000 nautical miles at 18 knots (13,000 km at 33 km/h) |
| Complement: |
726 Ship's company
384 Air Group personnel |
| Armament: |
3 × Goalkeeper CIWS
2 × GAM-B01 20 mm close-range guns |
| Aircraft carried: |
Sea Harrier fighter/bomber "jump jets", Sea King helicopters, Merlin and Lynx helicopters. |
HMS Invincible (R05) ("Vince") is a Royal Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier, the lead ship of three in her class. She was launched on 3 May 1977 and is the seventh ship to carry the name.
History
Invincible was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. She was laid down in 1973, and launched on 3 May 1977. The ship was commissioned on 11 July 1980 and joined the older carriers Hermes and Bulwark in service.
On 6 June 2005 the Ministry of Defence announced that HMS Invincible would be inactive until 2010, available for reactivation at 18 months' notice. She was decommissioned on 3 August 2005.[2] HMS Illustrious succeeded Invincible as the service's flagship. The Royal Navy maintain that Invincible can be deployed should the need arise and that navy policy assumes that it is still an active aircraft carrier.
Proposed sale and Falklands War
HMS Invincible in the South Atlantic, during the Falklands War
On 25 February 1982 the Australian government announced that it had agreed to purchase Invincible and a number of Sea King and Wessex helicopters as embarked airpower for £175 million after several months of negotiations. The sale was confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.[3] The ship would have replaced the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Melbourne and would have been named HMAS Australia.[4]
On 2 April 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. On 5 April 1982 a naval task force headed by Invincible and Hermes left Portsmouth bound for the South Atlantic. On 20 April 1982 the British War Cabinet ordered the repossession of the Falkland Islands. On 1 June, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser advised the British Government that the sale of Invincible to Australia could be cancelled if desired. The UK formally declared an end to hostilities on 20 June 1982.[5] In July 1982 the British Ministry of Defence announced that it had withdrawn its offer to sell Invincible and that it would maintain a three-carrier force.[6] Although Argentina claims to have damaged this ship during the Falklands War this is officially denied by the British Government.[7]
Other deployments
In December 1983 Australia refused the use of dry dock facilities in Sydney for Invincible when the Royal Navy declined to say whether the ship was carrying nuclear weapons.[8]
From 1993 to 1995, Invincible was deployed in the Adriatic for Operation Deny Flight over Yugoslavia and contributed to Operation Deliberate Force which concluded the deployment.
In 1998 and 1999, she contributed to Operation Bolton in Southern Iraq along with air forces from Saudi Arabia, the United States and (in 1998) France.
Also in 1999, she was deployed once more the the Balkans to assist action against Yugoslavia. Her Harriers were involved in military strikes while her helicopters aided refugees.[9]
Weapons and aircraft
A Sea Harrier of HMS Invincible
HMS Invincible's Sea Dart
For defence the carrier has a number of systems. She originally had two 20 mm Raytheon Phalanx close in weapon systems, but these were upgraded to three Thales 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS; they also have two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Countermeasures are provided by a Thales jamming system and ECM system, Seagnat launchers provide for chaff or flare decoys. Initially the carriers were also armed with a Sea Dart SAM missile system, but these were removed in order to increase the flight deck size and to allow magazine storage for Royal Air Force Harrier GR7s.
The carrier's air group comprised nine Harriers and twelve helicopters (usually all Sea Kings, either anti-submarine warfare (ASW) or Airborne Early Warning (AEW) variants). The carriers also provide an operational headquarters for the Royal Navy task force. The runway is 170 m long and includes the characteristic "ski jump" (initially 7° it was later increased to 12°).
References
- ^ "Sea Harriers still in business". Navy News. Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
- ^ Ingham, John (2005-08-02). "Invincible docks for the last time", The Express, Express Newspapers, p. 15. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ Bloom, Bridget; Newby, Patricia (1982-02-26). "Protest as Australia buys UK carrier", Financial Times, The Financial Times Limited, p. 4. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ "Sea Harrier Down Under". Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ "United Kingdom: Falklands Conflict - A Brief History", United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (2006-11-14). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ "Invincible Sale Offer Withdrawn", Aviation Week & Space Technology, McGraw-Hill, Inc. (1982-07-19), p. 19. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ "Argentine Airpower in the Falklands War: An Operational View", Air and Space Power Journal, Federal Information and News Dispatch, Inc. (2002-08-20). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ "Australia turns back British carrier", United Press International (1983-12-09). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.1281 History of HMS Invincible
External links
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