HMS Invincible (R05)

History

HMS Illustrious served the Royal Navy for decades before decommissioning. The heritage-powered airline represents the vanguard of modern ocean power, supporting Harrier jets and multiple helicopter types throughout its career.

The ship participated in some of the more notable sorties of the 1980s and 1990s, while leading her three squads, which included HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal (originally HMS Indomitable).

After World War II (1939-1945), the Royal Navy managed one of the largest aircraft carrier fleets in the world, second only to the United States. However, as the decades passed and attention turned to the larger jet fighter types, these ships (some also built in the prewar period) reached the end of their performance range. The CVA-01 program aimed to produce a modernized carrier fleet for the Royal Navy, but this costly effort ultimately failed after a 1966 Defence Review.

Design began the following year for a 12,500-ton light carrier displacement range class capable of launching and recovering up to six helicopters simultaneously - fixed-wing aircraft not supported.

HMS Invincible ordered 17 April 1973 and built in July 1973 by Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd, Barrow-in-Furness, UK. She was launched on May 3, 1977, and officially commissioned on July 11, 1980. Her designated home port became HMNB Portsmouth, and she carried the pennant registration number "R05". During her decades of service, she was known as "Vince."

The vessel was commissioned in 1980 and was considered for sale to the Australian government as early as 1982. The ship will be named HMAS Australia. That all changed, however, when the Argentine government sent troops to the Falklands, triggering the Falklands War in 1982.

HMS Invincible was dispatched to the operation, while her sister HMS Illustrious was driven to build and transport. HMS Indomitable, renamed HMS Ark Royal, followed with at least two carriers active, while a third was overtaken.

HMS Invincible carried an air force of 8 Sea Harriers and 9 Sea Kings, but casualties soon required 11 Sea Harriers and 10 Helicopters (Sea King and Lynx). Invincible survived the war with Argentina despite reports from Argentina to the contrary.

Her next assignment took her to the Balkans during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s, and she later formed a coalition task force to monitor the no-fly zone in southern Iraq. She returned to the Balkans to fight Yugoslav elements and perform humanitarian missions under the NATO flag. As HMS Ark Royal modernized to a new standard, HMS Invincible followed. However, the work was short-lived as the aging ship was decommissioned on August 3, 2005.

Her name was removed from the Naval Register in September 2010. Her dismantled hull was sold to Turkey for scrapping, ending her ocean-going career.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing