BMIFlyer From UK - England, joined Feb 2004, 8810 posts, RR: 62 Posted (2 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1204 times:
Portsmouth bids farewell to warship HMS Ark Royal.....
The carrier was opened up to the general public today so they could see what life is / was like on board this vessel. She is due to be retired and then scrapped very soon.
HMS Ark Royal has clocked up 621,551 nautical miles as part of her service
The early retirement and subsequent scrapping of this ship is something that I don't agree with, at least in the current climate. It's ironic that we will now be left with no carrier defence until later in the decade when HMS Queen Elizabeth arrives on the scene. It won't be until 2019 that we have any aircraft capable of operating from a carrier, when the US built JSF arrives.
So, I all I have left to say is 'goodbye' to a mighty fine warship, which has served us well over the last 25 years.
ZANL188 From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 3247 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (2 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1179 times:
I understand taking her out of service, with no aircraft and all. But why scrap her? She's relatively new, mid 1980s as I recall - a youngster in carrier years...
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photopilot From Cuba, joined Jul 2002, 2439 posts, RR: 20 Reply 2, posted (2 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 1145 times:
Quoting BMIFlyer (Thread starter): It won't be until 2019 that we have any aircraft capable of operating from a carrier, when the US built JSF arrives.
Quoting ZANL188 (Reply 1): I understand taking her out of service, with no aircraft and all. But why scrap her? She's relatively new, mid 1980s as I recall - a youngster in carrier years...
Because if Britain's hopes are on the JSF, then I fear they will be still waiting long past 2019.
Cadet985 From United States of America, joined Mar 2002, 1408 posts, RR: 5 Reply 3, posted (2 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1116 times:
Isn't the HMS Illustrious still in service? Also, why wouldn't the Ark Royal be kept in some sort of reserve fleet in case it should be needed?
Bongodog1964 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2006, 3018 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (2 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 994 times:
Quoting Cadet985 (Reply 3): Reply 3, posted Sat Jan 22 2011 20:20:46 your local time (15 hours 51 minutes 32 secs ago) and read 121 times:
Isn't the HMS Illustrious still in service? Also, why wouldn't the Ark Royal be kept in some sort of reserve fleet in case it should be needed?
Marc
I doubt that Ark Royal will be disposed of in the near future. Invincible has only just been offered for scrap, having been out of service for a good few years, having been tied up at Portsmouth as a spares source for Illustrious and Ark Royal. The sale particulars for Invincible stated that she has no engines, pumps etc, having been stripped of everything useful. I imgaine this will now be the fate of Ark Royal, a floating spares source for illustrious.
Obviously her state of readiness will gradually reduce as more and more parts are removed.
dl021 From United States of America, joined exactly 9 years ago today! , 11433 posts, RR: 81 Reply 5, posted (2 years 3 months 4 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 918 times:
To be fair the state of naval aviation in the UK has been lacking for years. Currently the UK cannot send her aircraft carriers into harms way without being in company with other forces that can provide air defence, and since the retirement of Sea Harrier and their AIM120 capability there has been little remedy for that. In that light it was a fairly honest and easy target for budget cutters who couldn't see as much utility in what are basically helicopter carriers that can carry Harriers that are being retired anyway (as evidently the entire Harrier force is being done in).
Without airplanes there is no need for these carriers and the UK has been spending money keeping them going for years now without good reason. Until they have a credible air defence capability and are capable of projecting power without assistance they are as much a liability as anything else. The Italians, Spanish, Indians and French all maintain air defence capabilities on their vessels and retain the ability to project power (the primary reason for a carrier). The British chose not to do so.
Whether the decision to go with the C model F-35 was right or not is another story. It may be less complicated but it requires more complex and expensive machinery on the carrier making it less likely to get two of them. One carrier is also a liability since any carrier spends more than half it's life in port.
Bongodog1964 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2006, 3018 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (2 years 3 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 889 times:
Quoting dl021 (Reply 5): To be fair the state of naval aviation in the UK has been lacking for years. Currently the UK cannot send her aircraft carriers into harms way without being in company with other forces that can provide air defence, and since the retirement of Sea Harrier and their AIM120 capability there has been little remedy for that. In that light it was a fairly honest and easy target for budget cutters who couldn't see as much utility in what are basically helicopter carriers that can carry Harriers that are being retired anyway (as evidently the entire Harrier force is being done in).
Its good to see that you realise that we lost our ability to defend our carriers years ago with the scrapping of the Sea Harrier. The Uk press totally failed to appreciate this when the carriers and the Harrier force were axed recently. Our government has wasted money for the past 5 years on a carrier force which could never be sent into a danger zone, as it had only mud movers on board.
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