HMS Illustrious (R06)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Illustrious.

HMS Illustrious in 2012
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Illustrious
Ordered14 May 1976
BuilderSwan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Laid down7 October 1976
Launched1 December 1978
Sponsored byPrincess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Commissioned20 June 1982
Decommissioned28 August 2014
RefitFirst Major 1990s, Second Major 2003–2005, Third Major 2010–2012
HomeportHMNB Portsmouth
Identification
Motto
  • Vox Non Incerta
  • ("No Uncertain Sound")
Nickname(s)"Lusty"
FateScrapped[2]
BadgeShip's badge
General characteristics
Class and typeInvincible-class aircraft carrier
Displacement22,000 tonnes[3]
Length210 m (690 ft)[4]
Beam118 ft (36 m)
Draught25 ft (7.6 m)
Propulsion
Speed28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph), 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) cruising
Range5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement
  • 685 crew
  • 366 Fleet Air Arm
Armament
Aircraft carried

HMS Illustrious was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the second of three Invincible-class ships constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name Illustrious, and was affectionately known to her crew as "Lusty". In 1982, the conflict in the Falklands necessitated that Illustrious be completed and rushed south to join her sister ship HMS Invincible and the veteran carrier HMS Hermes. To this end, she was brought forward by three months for completion at Swan Hunter Shipyard, then commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea en route to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on board extra stores and crew. She arrived in the Falklands to relieve Invincible on 28 August 1982 in a steam past. Returning to the United Kingdom, she was not formally commissioned into the fleet until 20 March 1983. After her South Atlantic deployment, she was deployed on Operation Southern Watch in Iraq, then Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia during the 1990s and Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone in 2000. An extensive re-fit during 2002 prevented her from involvement in the 2003 Iraq War, but she was returned to service in time to assist British citizens trapped by the 2006 Lebanon War.

Following the retirement of her fixed-wing British Aerospace Harrier II aircraft in 2010, Illustrious operated as one of two Royal Navy helicopter carriers. After 32 years' service, the oldest ship in the Royal Navy's active fleet was formally decommissioned on 28 August 2014 even though she would not be replaced until HMS Queen Elizabeth's commissioning in 2017. Despite the UK Ministry of Defence's announcement in 2012 that, once decommissioned, Illustrious would be preserved for the nation, in 2016 she was sold and towed to Turkish company Leyal for scrapping.

  1. ^ "Royal Navy Fleet Bridge Card" (PDF). Royal Navy. February 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 July 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  2. ^ "Former Portsmouth-based aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious sold for scrap". BBC News. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  3. ^ "The Current UK Aircraft Carriers - The Invincible Class". Aircraft Carrier Alliance. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011.
  4. ^ "Helicopter Carrier: Invincible Class". Royal Navy. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.