HMS Invincible was the Royal Navy's lead ship of the three light aircraft
carriers in her class. She was launched on 3 May 1977 as the seventh ship to
carry the name. She saw action in the Falklands War when she was deployed with
HMS Hermes and took over as flagship of the British fleet when Hermes was sold
to India. Invincible was also deployed in the Yugoslav Wars and the Second Gulf
War. In 2005, she was decommissioned and eventually sold for scrap to the Turkish
company Leyal Ship Recycling in February 2011.
History Invincible was built at
Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. She was
laid down in 1973, launched on 3 May 1977 and commissioned on 11 July 1980,
whereafter she joined the fleet's other carriers Hermes and Bulwark in service.
= Proposed sale and Falklands War = On 25 February 1982, after several
months of negotiations, the Australian government announced that it had agreed
to buy Invincible for £175 million as a replacement, under the name HMAS
Australia, for the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Melbourne. The sale was
confirmed by the Ministry of Defence. On 2 April 1982, however, Argentina
invaded the Falkland Islands. Three days later, a naval task force headed by
Invincible and Hermes left HMNB Portsmouth bound for the South Atlantic
and, on 20 April, the British war cabinet ordered the repossession of the
Islands. Along with eight Sea Harriers, the Invincible's airgroup included
twelve Sea King helicopters that were slightly larger than the ship had
originally been designed to accommodate. Small machine guns were added around the
flight deck and island for close-in defence.
On 23 April, while en route from Ascension Island to the Falklands,
Invincible mistakenly locked her Sea Dart missile system on a VARIG Brazilian
Airlines DC-10 rather than on the Argentine Air Force Boeing 707 that had
been monitoring the fleet's movements. The previous day, Task Group Commander
Rear Admiral "Sandy" Woodward had sought permission from Commander-in-Chief
Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse to shoot down the 707 as he believed its activity
indicated a raid would be launched from the Argentine aircraft carrier ARA
Veinticinco de Mayo. As the 707 would be no direct threat to the fleet, Woodward
ordered Weapons Tight and the continued tracking of the aircraft's course while
a Sea Harrier was dispatched to investigate. The Harrier pilot reported
that "it was a Brazilian airliner, with all the normal navigation and running
lights on." Details of the Harrier interception appeared in the Brazilian
press along with the claim that the DC-10's passengers were "alleged to have
been frightened" and Woodward's comment that "[i]nconvenience to passengers'
underwear regretted unless any of them were Argentinian".
On 1 June, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser advised the British
government that the sale of Invincible to Australia could be cancelled if
desired. In July 1983, a year after the end of the Falklands conflict, the
Ministry of Defence announced that it had withdrawn its offer to sell
Invincible so it could maintain a three-carrier force.
Although Argentina claimed to have damaged the ship during the conflict,
this was officially denied by the British government and no evidence of
any such damage has been produced or uncovered.
= 1983–2005 = In December 1983, Invincible was refused
the use of dry dock facilities in Sydney when the Royal Navy declined to divulge
to the Australian authorities whether or not the ship was carrying nuclear
weapons. Between 1993 and 1995, Invincible was
deployed in the Adriatic for Operation "Deny Flight" and then Operation
"Deliberate Force" during the Yugoslav Wars. In 1997, flying the flag of
Rear-Admiral Alan West, Commander UK Task Group, Invincible led a deployment
that included 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. During the following two years,
Invincible contributed to Operation "Bolton" in southern Iraq before she was
redeployed to the Balkans to support the NATO action against Yugoslavia over
Kosovo. There, while her helicopters aided refugees, her Harriers were
involved in military strikes. = 2005–2011 =
On 6 June 2005, the Ministry of Defence announced that Invincible would be
inactive until 2010 but available for reactivation at eighteen months' notice.
She was decommissioned on 3 August 2005, twenty months after an extensive refit
that had been intended to give her ten more years of service. Illustrious
succeeded her as the service's flagship. The Royal Navy maintained that
Invincible could have been deployed had the need arisen and that Navy policy
assumed she was still an active aircraft carrier. According to Jane's, however,
Invincible had been stripped of some parts for her sister ships, so
operational readiness would require not only eighteen months but also the
replacement or removal of systems from those other ships.
In March 2010, Invincible was tied up and minimally maintained with other
decommissioned ships up-river of HMNB Portsmouth. On 10 September 2010, she
was struck off the Naval Reserve List and, in December, offered for sale by
the Disposal Services Authority with tenders due by 5 January 2011. The DSA
tender documents confirmed that the ship's engines had been removed and that
its generators and pumps were "generally unserviceable or not working". On 8
January 2011, the British press relayed an earlier report in the South China
Morning Post that a £5-million bid had been made for the ship by the UK-based
Chinese businessman Lam Kin-bong with plans to moor her at Zhuhai or Liverpool
as a floating international school. In light, however, of China's re-arming of
the Varyag – bought under a similar pretext – and the EU arms embargo on
China, doubts were raised as to whether such a sale would go ahead.
A month later, in February 2011, BBC News reported that the Ministry of
Defence had announced the sale of Invincible to Leyal Ship Recycling in
Turkey. She was towed out of Portsmouth on Thursday 24 March and arrived at
Leyal's Aliağa yard on 12 April 2011 for scrapping. By June 2011, work was
underway to break up the ship. Weapons and aircraft
Invincible initially lacked any close-in weapon systems. As one of the lessons
from the Falklands War Invincible had two 20 mm Raytheon Phalanx close-in
weapon systems fitted but these were later upgraded to three Thales 30 mm
Goalkeeper CIWS; there are also two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Countermeasures
were provided by a Thales jamming system and ECM system, Seagnat launchers
provide for chaff or flare decoys. Initially the carriers were armed with a
Sea Dart SAM missile system, but this was removed to enlarge the flight deck
and to allow magazine storage and deck space for Royal Air Force Harrier GR7s.
After the various refits, the carrier's air group grew from the original planned
5 Sea Harriers and 9 Sea Kings to nine Sea Harrier or Harrier GR7/9s and twelve
helicopters or Airborne Early Warning variants). Alternative airgroups were
occasionally tested with 16 Harriers and 3 helicopters being embarked. The
carrier was equipped with flagship facilities and could provide an
operational headquarters for Royal Navy task forces. The runway was 170 metres
long and included the ship's characteristic "ski jump".
Commanding Officers 1979–1982: Captain Michael Livesay RN
1982–1983: Captain Jeremy Black RN 1983–1984: Captain the Hon. Nicholas
Hill-Norton RN 1984–1986: Captain Christopher Layman RN
1988–1990: Captain Michael Gretton RN 1990–1992: Captain John Tolhurst RN
1992–1993: Captain Fabian Malbon RN 1993–1995: Captain Richard Hastilow RN
1995–1996: Captain Ian Forbes RN 1996–1997: Captain Roy Clare RN
1997–1999: Captain James Burnell-Nugent RN
1999–2001: Captain Rory McLean RN 2002–2004: Captain Trevor Soar RN
2004–2005: Captain Neil Morisetti RN References
Bibliography Childs N The Age of Invincible, 189pp
+xvi, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley UK, ISBN 978-1-84415-857-7
External links HMS Invincible: Aircraft Carrier
Invincible class Aircraft Carrier Information
Maritimequest HMS Invincible photo gallery
HMS Invincible Down Under Argentina's claim to have damaged HMS
Invincible.