HMS Ark Royal (R07)

HMS Ark Royal

Ship data flag  United Kingdom Ship type Aircraft carrier class Invincible class Shipyard Swan Hunter , Wallsend Launch June 20, 1981 Commissioning November 1, 1985 Decommissioning March 11, 2011 Whereabouts Scrapped in 2013 in Aliağa , Turkey

Ship dimensions and crew length 210 m ( Lüa ) width 36 m Draft Max. 7.5 m displacement 22,000 ts   crew 685 seamen, 366 aircrew

Machine system machine 4 gas turbines Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B Machine performance 97,000 PS (71,343 kW) Top speed 30 kn (56 km / h) propeller ∅

Armament 3 × goalkeepers - CIWS 2 × 20 mm guns 12 to 18 Sea Harrier 4 to 10 Sea King

The HMS Ark Royal was a British aircraft carrier of the Invincible class . The ship's home port was Portsmouth in southern England.

The Ark Royal was decommissioned on March 11, 2011 in the port of Portsmouth . After more than two years of idle time, it was towed to Turkey for scrapping in May 2013.

history

The Ark Royal was laid down in 1978 at Swan Hunter Shipbuilders ( Wallsend near Newcastle upon Tyne ) and put into service in 1985. During construction, there were discussions within the government as to whether a third Invincible- class aircraft carrier was even necessary. Ultimately, however, it was decided to retire the previous flagship HMS Hermes and replace it with the Ark Royal . The ship was christened on June 2, 1981 by Queen Mum , who was closely associated with her sponsored ship throughout her life. Originally, the aircraft carrier was to be christened Indomitable , corresponding to its sister ships Invincible and Illustrious . However, the scrapping of the previous Ark Royal had led to massive protests among the population in 1980, so it was decided to use the traditional name again for an aircraft carrier.

During the 1980s, the ship was mainly in use in Southeast Asia and was an integral part of the Ocean Wave Fleet stationed in Hong Kong . After the end of the Cold War , the tasks of the British aircraft carriers changed. The Ark Royal was now mainly used in the Adriatic Sea to support NATO in its control flights over Yugoslavia . Its particular flexibility earned the ship the nickname "Martini Carrier" in neighboring Italy , based on an advertising slogan of the Martini company: "Anytime - Anywhere - Anyhow".

In 1999, a three-year modernization began in Rosyth, Scotland . The anti-aircraft guns at the bow were removed and the hangar was expanded. In addition, all communication facilities were renewed. In January 2003 the aircraft carrier was dispatched to the Persian Gulf . It served as the flagship of the British armed forces during the Iraq War . On March 22nd, during the war, a serious accident happened. Two Ark Royal Sea King helicopters collided over the Persian Gulf. One American and six British soldiers died.

After returning from the Gulf, the ship made several visits to European ports. So it was in Amsterdam in November 2003 and in March 2004 it was the first aircraft carrier to visit Hamburg in 15 years . From July 2004 to September 29, 2006, the Ark Royal in Rosyth, Scotland, underwent extensive modernization. The capacity of the carrier was increased from 22 to 26 aircraft and helicopters and the tonnage from 20,600 to 22,000 tons. In addition, the Ark Royal was now the second aircraft carrier in the world, after its sister ship HMS Illustrious , to be equipped for the use of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter .

The Ark Royal should initially be replaced by the HMS Prince of Wales in 2015 . However, all future plans of the previous Labor government were "shelved" with the publication of their new white paper by the new coalition government of Prime Minister Cameron in October 2010. The Ark Royal was temporarily decommissioned on March 11, 2011, and her farewell tour also took her to Hamburg at the end of November 2010. The ship was put up for sale. In May 2013 the ship was sold for 3.4 million euros and towed to Turkey, where it was scrapped after arriving in Aliaga.

After a fire broke out on the sister ship HMS Illustrious in 2014 , experts traveled to Aliaga to buy the necessary spare parts from the scrap dealer.

technology

As the first British warship, the crew of the Ark Royal also used the short message service Twitter as a communication platform to keep in touch with families and friends. The commanding captain and the Department of Defense did not share initial concerns that the crew could publish such secret information, whether knowingly or unknowingly .

photos

• 

  Hamburg, June 1, 2007

See also

• List of aircraft carriers

Web links

Commons : HMS Ark Royal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The website Ark Royal (English)
• Pictures of the Ark Royal at maritimequest.com (English)
• Photos, data and film at marine-portraits.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Luke Salkeld: Will HMS Ark Royal be turned into an international floating hospital? In: Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd., January 28, 2012 accessed February 11, 2012 ( English ). 
2. ^ Carrier HMS Ark Royal put up for auction on MoD website. BBC News, March 28, 2011, accessed June 5, 2011.
3. ↑ Newsreel of the Marineforum ( Memento of the original from December 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Marine forum newsreel, accessed May 30, 2013. 
4. ↑ Mark Nicol: Scandal of our scrapyard Navy: We sold Ark Royal to the Turkish for scrap ... now we have to buy back bits of her to repair UK's last carrier. DailyMail, January 25, 2014, accessed February 12, 2014 . 
5. ^ Ian Drury: HMS Ark Royal becomes the first Royal Navy ship to sign up to Twitter. In: Daily Mail Online, December 30, 2009.