HMS Invincible (R05)

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See HMS Invincible for other ships of the same name.

Career	Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg
Image:HMS Invincible (R05).jpg
Ordered:	April 17, 1973
Laid down:	July 20, 1973
Launched:	May 8, 1977
Commissioned:	July 11, 1980
Decommissioned:	August 3, 2005
Fate:	In Reserve
Struck:
General characteristics
Displacement:	20,600 tons
Length:	194 m
Beam:	36 m
Draught:	7.5 m
Propulsion & power:	4 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines providing 97,000 hp (75 MW) 8 Paxman Valenta diesel generators.
Speed:	28 knots (52 km/h), 18 knots (33 km/h) cruising
Range:	7,000 miles at 18 knots (13,000 km at 33 km/h)
Complement:	685 crew, 366 Aircrew
Armament:	3 × Goalkeeper CIWS 2 × GAM-B01 20 mm close-range guns
Aircraft:	Sea Harrier fighter/bomber "jump jets", Sea King helicopters, Merlin and Lynx helicopters.
Motto:
Badge:

The sixth and current HMS Invincible (R05) is a light aircraft carrier, the lead ship of three in her class.

She was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. She was laid down in 1973, and launched on May 3, 1977. The ship commissioned on July 11, 1980, and joined the older carriers Hermes and Bulwark in service. Invincible was intended for sale to the Royal Australian Navy as a replacement for HMAS Melbourne (when she would likely have been renamed HMAS Australia). However, Invincible's central role in the Falklands War led to the sale being cancelled.

After 25 years of service she sailed into Portsmouth Naval Base for the last time on August 1, 2005 [1]. HMS Illustrious succeeded Invincible as the service's flagship.

The carrier's air group comprised nine Harriers and twelve helicopters (usually all Sea Kings, either anti-submarine warfare (ASW) or Airborne Early Warning (AEW) variants). The carriers also provide an operational headquarters for the Royal Navy task force. The runway is 170 m long and includes the characteristic "ski jump" (initially 7° it was later increased to 12°).

For defense the carrier has a number of systems. She originally had two 20 mm Raytheon Phalanx close in weapon systems, but these were upgraded to three Thales 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS; they also have two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Countermeasures are provided by a Thales jamming system and ECM system, Seagnat launchers provide for chaff or flare decoys. Initially the carriers were also armed with a Sea Dart SAM missile system, but these were removed in order to increase the flight deck size and to allow magazine storage for Royal Air Force Harrier GR7s.

On July 6, 2005 the Ministry of Defence announced that HMS Invincible would be mothballed until 2010, available for reactivation as an active aircraft carrier at 18-months notice. She was decommissioned on August 3, 2005 [2].

[edit] Trivia

Although Argentina claims to have damaged this ship during the Falklands War on their Air Force site, this version is officially denied by the British government and such claims are usually treated with scepticism outside Argentina.

The ship also was the stage for the "death" of the original Stig from Top Gear in 2003.

The Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden thank "The lads from HMS Invincible" in the liner notes of their Somewhere in Time (album)