Invincible-class (aircraft carrier)
 Aerial view of the Invincible
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The Invincible- class was a class of light aircraft carrier operated by the Royal Navy . The three units Invincible , Illustrious and Ark Royal entered service from 1980. In addition to helicopters, aircraft with short take-off distances and vertical landing capabilities ( STOVL ) were also embarked. The ships' missions included the Falklands , Bosnia and Iraq wars .
history
Planning and construction
In the early 1960s, the Royal Navy planned to acquire new aircraft carriers. The plan to procure large attack vehicles with a displacement of around 50,000 tons as part of the CVA-01 project was abandoned in 1966. Instead, only several flight deck cruisers should be purchased, which should displace around 12,000 ts. As an alternative, a 50% larger carrier with a continuous flight deck was proposed. This was selected in 1970 and finally the Invincible class was developed from it, the first unit of which was commissioned in 1973. At that time it was planned to use it as a helicopter carrier. It was not until 1975 that the Royal Navy decided to order a naval version of the Harrier GR.1 , the Sea Harrier , and deploy it from the porters, with the use of helicopters remaining in the foreground. For this reason, the designation through-deck cruiser (smooth deck cruiser ) was retained until 1980.
Since the first unit had already been keeled two years before the decision for the Sea Harrier at Vickers Shipbuilding , extensive modifications had to be made to it during construction, for example the installation of a ski jump, which was not originally planned. The Invincible was the first of the ships to join the fleet in 1980. The second and third units were laid down at Swan Hunter in 1976 and 1978, respectively , and commissioned in 1982 and 1985, respectively.
The name of the third unit, Ark Royal, was originally Indomitable , so the Royal Navy's tradition of having all ship names in a class begin with the same initial letter would have been fulfilled. Instead, the tradition of always having an aircraft carrier named Ark Royal should be maintained. The previous Ark Royal was canceled in 1980.
Development from helicopter to aircraft carrier
_and_HMS_Illustrious_(R_06)_in_the_Persian_Gulf_on_April_9,_1998.jpg)
With a displacement of around 20,300 ts , the Invincible- class units were rather small when they were commissioned for aircraft carriers. For example, the US-American porters of the Kitty-Hawk class , who were 20 years older than the British porters, displaced about four times as much and the French Clemenceau, also from the 1960s, at least 50% more. This is due to the fact that the Invincible- class units were originally designed not as aircraft, but as helicopter carriers, for which such tonnage is not uncommon. They were also not intended to play an offensive role in warfare; rather, they were to be used for submarine hunting .
However, this sparked fears that the Royal Navy would only play a role in NATO's anti-submarine arm in the future, and the general use of the carriers for Great Britain was questioned. Therefore, plans arose to hand over the porters to the Royal Australian Navy . There have already been talks with Australia via Invincible , which wanted to pay £ 175 million to replace the Melbourne . However, during the Falklands War in 1982 , the Invincible proved that it could also be useful as an aircraft carrier, so plans for sale were abandoned. Only from this point on did the three ships gain in importance in their role as aircraft carriers and replace the old carriers of the Audacious and Centaur classes , which came from the 1950s and of which only two units were in service in 1980. In the first few years there were generally only four to six Harrier on board, but from now on up to 16 fighter planes were carried.
The new concept of the Invincible class also took smaller navies as a model, which could not afford the operation of a larger aircraft carrier. With ships of this type, it was now possible for them, for the first time, to use combat aircraft from the sea, which meant great progress for them. In the late 1970s, for example, Spain designed the Príncipe de Asturias and Italy the Giuseppe Garibaldi , both of which were even smaller than the Invincible class.
Further period of service and whereabouts
In 1991 the Invincible was used in the Second Gulf War. In the course of the 1990s, the units were mainly used in the Mediterranean, where they supported, among other things, the enforcement of the no-fly zone over Bosnia in Operation Deny Flight . After 2000, the units finally served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Multinational associations involving an Invincible- class carrier were not uncommon. In 2007, the Royal Navy was forced to temporarily use Harrier from other armed forces, including the United States, for training purposes on the Illustrious . After reducing the company's own fleet and expanding the Harrier's operations in Afghanistan, there were no longer enough machines available for the aircraft carriers.
The Invincible , the first unit of the class, was taken out of active service in 2005, assigned to the reserve and removed from the ship list on September 10, 2010. On the 28th, it was put up for sale to a recycling company with expected proceeds of around £ 2 million. The Ark Royal was in service until March 11, 2011 after an RAF Harrier landed on a Royal Navy ship for the last time at the end of November 2010. In addition, the Illustrious was decommissioned in 2014; the Ocean will remain in service as a helicopter carrier until the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth .
In early 2014, the last remaining ship in the class, the Illustrious, caught a fire. Experts then traveled to Aliaga to buy the necessary spare parts from the scrap dealer from the Ark Royal, which is currently being scrapped there .
technology
hull
The Invincible- class ships were around 210 meters long, 36 meters wide and displaced 20,300 ts when they were commissioned. They had a straight flight deck as a carrier for vertical take-off and landing . At the bow there was a ski jump called a ski jump , which catapulted the aircraft into the air when they took off. This system was not originally intended, but was retrofitted after initial tests, as it increased the amount of fuel and weapons that the aircraft could carry. The ramp with an incline of 7 ° on the first two units after construction was later retrofitted to the 12 ° ramp of the Ark Royal , and the runway was also lengthened by around twelve meters, which increased the displacement to around 22,000 ts. A hangar deck was located below the flight deck, where the aircraft were stored and serviced.
All living and common rooms for the crew were still under the hangar deck. The crew consisted of around 1,100 people, including 725 for the ship and 365 for the operation and maintenance of the aircraft. In addition, there was enough space to accommodate up to 500 Royal Marines . Only still the "island" in which the above the flight deck was located bridge and other spaces were housed for the control of ships and aircraft.
drive
The carriers were powered by four Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines operating on two shafts. According to the principle of the COGAG drive ( combined gas and gas ), only one of the gas turbines could be used per shaft; only when more power was required was the second turbine added. The maximum speed of the units was around 30 knots , they achieved a range of around 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 kilometers) at a cruising speed of just under 20 knots.
The two chimneys, which each served two turbines, were located above the flight deck and therefore limited the extent of the hangar deck in the middle of the ship with the necessary discharges.
Armament
All three carriers had three close-in-weapon systems (CIWS) for close-range defense . American Phalanx CIWS were installed on the Ark Royal , while the Goalkeeper system manufactured by the Dutch company Thales Naval Nederland was installed on Invincible and Illustrious . In addition, there were two 20-millimeter GAM-B01 guns from Oerlikon-Contraves on each ship .
From 1998 the anti-aircraft missiles of the Sea Dart type , which were located on the bow next to the ski jump, were removed. This measure increased the storage space available below deck, among other things for aircraft armament, and created space for an extension of the flight deck.
electronics
The carriers had their own radar systems on the island . These were an aerial search radar Type 1022 , a surface search radar Type 996 or Type 992 (on Ark Royal ) and a navigation radar Type 1006 or Type 1007 (on Illustrious ). Together with the Sea Darts , the Type 909 homing radar used for this was also removed.
For radar interference and distraction from approaching anti-ship missiles each ship had a Type-675 (2) -Radarstörer and DLJ - chaff launchers .
An actively and passively working sonar system Type 2016 existed in the bow to search for underwater targets .
Aircraft
Up to 24 aircraft were on the Invincible- class carriers on each trip . Up to 16 Harrier aircraft were possible . While the Sea Harrier type was initially in use, which was decommissioned by 2006, BAE Harrier II (versions GR7 and GR9) were also embarked later .
There were also helicopters on board. The Westland WS-61 Sea King was used as a multi-mission helicopter, among other things for transport, aerial surveillance and early warning as well as combat search and rescue . The AgustaWestland HM.1 Merlin was used for carrier-supported submarine hunting .
The number of the individual types was variable; within the framework of the Tailored Air Groups , the number of the respective types was compiled according to the mission's profile.
Mission profile
The carriers of the class, like most modern aircraft carriers, have been without any offensive armament since the removal of the Sea Dart , which is why they have always operated within an aircraft carrier combat group that offers both air defense and protection against surface and underwater targets at all times. This consists of submarines and guided missile frigates or destroyers as well as supply ships to supply the group with fuel.
Ship list
| Identifier | Surname | shipyard | Launch | Commissioning | Decommissioning | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R05 | Invincible | Vickers , Barrow-in-Furness | May 3, 1977 | July 11, 1980 | August 3, 2005 | Scrapped in Turkey in 2011 |
| R06 | Illustrious | Swan Hunter Shipbuilders , Wallsend | December 1, 1978 | June 20, 1982 | August 28, 2014 | Scrapped in Turkey in 2016 |
| R07 | Ark Royal | Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Wallsend | June 2nd 1981 | November 1, 1985 | March 11, 2011 | Scrapped in Turkey in 2013 |
literature
- Paul Beaver: Invincible Class. Ian Allan, London 1984, ISBN 0-7110-1386-1 .
- Leo Marriott: HMS Invincible. Ian Allan, London 1990, ISBN 0-7110-1940-1 .
Web links
- ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: HMS Illustrious ) on the website of the Royal Navy (English)
- Invincible class on naval-technology.com (English)
- Invincible class on globalsecurity.org (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ Eric J. Grove: Vanguard to Trident: British Naval Policy since World War II. Bodley Head, London 1987, ISBN 0-370-31021-7 , pp. 341, 350.
- ↑ Chris and David Miller: Modern Warships. Verlag Stocker-Schmid, Dietikon-Zürich 1990, ISBN 3-7276-7093-2 . P. 106.
- ^ Vago Muradian: Learning To Fly Off Big Decks Again , Defensenews.com. July 30, 2007. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 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 .
- ^ Portsmouth-based HMS Illustrious retires from Navy. BBC News, accessed April 27, 2015 .
