HMS Invincible visits Norfolk, Virginia, USA. |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Swan Hunter Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group |
| Operators: | Royal Navy |
| Preceded by: | Audacious class fleet carrier Centaur class light carrier |
| Succeeded by: | Queen Elizabeth class |
| In commission: | 11 July 1980 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Active: | HMS Illustrious |
| Laid up: | HMS Ark Royal |
| Scrapped: | HMS Invincible |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 22,000 long tons (22,000 t) fully loaded[1] |
| Length: | 209 m (686 ft) |
| Beam: | 36 m (118 ft) |
| Draught: | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Decks: | 19 |
| Propulsion: | 4 x Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbine COGAG, providing 97,000 hp on 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 28 knots (52 km/h) |
| Range: | 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km) |
| Troops: | 348 Air Group personnel |
| Crew: | 726 Ships company |
| Armament: | 2 × 20 mm anti-aircraft guns 3 Phalanx/Goalkeeper close-in weapons systems |
| Aircraft carried: |
22 aircraft;
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| Aviation facilities: | 168 m axial flight deck Bow 13° ski ramp |
The Invincible class is a class of light aircraft carrier operated by the British Royal Navy. Three ships were constructed, HMS Invincible, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal. The vessels were built as aviation-capable anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platforms to counter the Cold War North Atlantic Soviet submarine threat, and initially embarked Sea Harrier aircraft and HAS.1 Sea King anti-submarine helicopters. With the cancellation of CVA-01, the three ships became the replacements for the Audacious and Centaur classes, and the Royal Navy's sole class of aircraft carrier.
Invincible was decommissioned in 2005 and put in reserve in a low state of readiness.[3][4] She was sold to a Turkish scrapyard in February 2011,[5] and left Portsmouth under tow on 24 March 2011.[6] Pursuant to the Strategic Defence and Security Review, 2010, Ark Royal followed, decommissioning on 13 March 2011, leaving Illustrious as the sole remaining operational ship.[7] The three vessels have seen service in a number of locations, including the South Atlantic during the Falklands War, the Adriatic during the Bosnian War, and in the Middle East for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
Contents |
The Invincible class has its origins in a sketch design for a 6,000 ton, guided-missile armed, helicopter carrying escort cruiser intended as a complement to the much larger CVA-01-class fleet aircraft carrier.[8] The cancellation of CVA-01 in 1966 meant that the smaller cruiser would now have to provide the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) taskforce with command and control facilities. Two new designs were prepared for this requirement;[8] a 12,500 ton cruiser with missiles forward, six Westland Sea King helicopters and a flight deck aft, somewhat similar to the Vittorio Veneto of the Italian Navy and a larger 17,500 ton vessel with a "through-deck", nine Sea Kings and missiles right forward. By 1970, the "through-deck" design had advanced into a Naval Staff Requirement for an 18,750 ton Through-Deck Command Cruisers (TDCC).[8]
In February 1963, the Hawker P.1127 VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft had landed and taken-off from the carrier Ark Royal and the subsequent Hawker-Siddeley Kestrel had undergone trials from the "Commando carrier" (an aircraft carrier operating helicopters) HMS Bulwark. It was therefore perfectly possible that the new "cruisers" could be used to operate VTOL aircraft.[9] The new ships were called "through-deck cruisers" and not "aircraft carrier". This was in part because CVA-01's cancellation was so recent, but also because the ships were intended to serve in traditional cruiser roles of C3I and anti-submarine warfare, and were constructed like cruisers.[10]
Economic problems in the UK in the early 1970s delayed progress on the new ships, but the design continued to evolve. The order for the first ship was given to Vickers (Shipbuilding) on 17 April 1973.[11] By now, the design was for a 19,000 ton "CAH"[8] (helicopter carrying heavy cruiser, styled after the U.S Navy Hull classification symbols) with up to fourteen aircraft and a Sea Dart missile launcher on the bows.
The government decided that the carrier needed fixed-wing aircraft to defend against Soviet reconnaissance aircraft.[10] In May 1975, it authorised the maritime version of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier,[8][11] which was successfully developed into the Sea Harrier. This meant that the design was reworked again to include a small complement of these VTOL aircraft. In order to launch a heavily-laden Harrier more efficiently by STOVL (short take-off vertical landing) from the comparatively short - 170 m - flight deck, a 'ski-jump' was developed. The slope was initially 7° when incorporated into Invincible and Illustrious and 12° for Ark Royal. The class also has, since 1976,[8] a secondary role as an helicopter carrier, or LPH, in the reinforcement of NATO's Northern flank in Norway. In 1998 HMS Ocean, with a hull form based on that of the Invincible class, was commissioned specifically for this role.
After the 1982 Falklands War, CIWS guns were added to the design. Illustrious had them fitted at the last minute before commissioning, Ark Royal had them added as a normal part of the building process, and Invincible had them fitted during her first overhaul after the Falklands. Initially, Invincible and Illustrious were fitted with two Vulcan Phalanx units; these were replaced with three Goalkeeper systems. Ark Royal has the three Phalanx CIWS systems she was fitted with when built (she can be easily distinguished from her sisters by the Phalanx's distinctive white "R2-D2" radome). Electronic countermeasures are provided by a Thales jamming system and ECM system. Seagnat launchers provide for chaff or flare decoys. As part of upgrades during the mid 1990s, all three ships had the Sea Dart removed, with the forecastle filled in to increase the size of the flight deck.
| Pennant | Name | (a) Hull builder | Ordered | Laid down | Launched | Accepted into service |
Commissioned | Decommissioned | Estimated building cost[12] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R05 | Invincible | (a) Vickers Armstrong, Barrow.[13] | 17 April 1973 [11][13][14] | 20 July 1973 [13] | 3 May 1977 [13] | 19 March 1980 [15] | 11 July 1980 [13] | 3 August 2005[16] | £185,500,000 [15] |
| R06 | Illustrious | (a) Swan Hunter [13] | May 1976 [13] | 7 October 1976 [13] | 1 December 1978 [13] | 18 June 1982 [15] | 20 June 1982 [13] | planned 2014[17] | £215,400,000 [15] |
| R07 | Ark Royal | (a) Swan Hunter [13] | December 1978 [13] | 14 December 1978 [13] | 2 June 1981 [13] | 2 July 1985 [18] | 1 November 1985 [13] | 11 March 2011[19] | £332,900,000 [18] |
Prior to 1982, Invincible's air group consisted purely of Sea King HAS.5 anti-submarine helicopters and Sea Harrier FRS.1 aircraft. Typically, nine Sea Kings, and four or five Sea Harriers were embarked. This was due to the fact that the originally envisioned mission for the ships was to provide the heart of ASW hunter-killer groups in the North Atlantic during a war against the Soviet Union. In that context, the main weapon of the carrier would not be its fighter aircraft, but its ASW helicopters. The fighters were on board to shoot down the occasional Soviet maritime patrol aircraft nosing around the ship and its escorts.
The Falklands War changed that posture, since it proved that Britain needed to retain the capability to use carrier air power in its traditional role of power projection, both over land, and against enemy fleets. The Falklands War saw Invincible, and the larger and older HMS Hermes filled to capacity with both the Sea Harrier and the Royal Air Force Harrier GR3 ground attack variant of the aircraft, along with ASW helicopters. The RAF Harriers proved to be a temporary aberration at the time. However a permanent addition to the usual air group was made due to lessons learnt during the war: the Sea King AEW2A (Airborne Early Warning) version. Illustrious carried the first examples of the type when it was rushed south in the aftermath of the Falklands War to relieve Invincible of its guard duty around the islands.
In the aftermath of the Falklands, the typical air group was three AEW Sea Kings, nine ASW Sea Kings and eight or nine Sea Harriers. Analysis of the Sea Harrier's performance during the war lead to the requirement for an upgrade, approval for which was granted in 1984. Initially to be known as the FRS.2, the Sea Harrier FA2 entered service on 2 April 1993, deploying on Invincible to Bosnia in 1994. The FA2 featured the Blue Vixen radar which is described as one of the most advanced pulse Doppler radars in the world. The Blue Vixen formed the basis for the Typhoon's CAPTOR radar. The FA2 carried the AIM-120 AMRAAM. The final new build Sea Harrier FA2 was delivered on 18 January 1999. Other improvements were made to the class during the 1980s and early 1990s, with probably the most important being the increase of the ski jump angle on Invincible and Illustrious to match the 12° slope of Ark Royal.
In recent years, three other changes have been made. One was the removal of the Sea Dart system, creating an increased deck park for aircraft. The Sea Dart magazines were converted to increase air-to-surface weapons stowage, and new aircrew briefing facilities created under the extended flight deck, both to support the embarkation of RAF Harrier GR7s as a routine part of the air group. The ships have all also been fitted to handle the new Merlin helicopters. The HM1 variant of the Merlin has replaced the HAS6 variant of the Sea King in the carrier borne ASW role. Since the integration of the Harrier GR7, typical deployments have included seven or eight of those aircraft, pushing the Merlin onto the carrier's accompanying Fort-class auxiliaries.
The two most recent wartime deployments of the class have seen them in their secondary LPH role, as it was officially judged that Sea Harriers could provide no useful role in the missions. During those deployments, the class has embarked RAF Chinook helicopters, in lieu of their fixed wing complement.
The Invincible's last refit was in 2004.[4]
The Sea Harrier was officially retired on 1 April 2006. The principal weapon of the Invincible-class carriers then became the Harrier GR9 flown by two Fleet Air Arm and two RAF squadrons until they were retired in 2010. Since then they have only operated helicopters.
Invincible was decommissioned in July 2005, and was mothballed until September 2010.[3] She was put up for sale in November 2010.[4] In early February 2011 it was announced that she had been sold to a Turkish scrapyard, Leyal Ship Recycling; Leyal has been involved in the scrapping of various Royal Navy ships, including the Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow and RFA Oakleaf.[5] The Invincible left Portsmouth under tow for scrapping on 24 March 2011.[6]
Ark Royal took over as the flagship, was planned to be decommissioned in 2016, but retired in 2010 following the Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Illustrious remains the only one of the class in service but will also retire once HMS Ocean comes out of its next refit in 2014.
Two much larger Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers are being built, although whether they will both enter service is unclear. They are expected to displace around 65,000 tonnes each[20] - more than three times the displacement of the Invincible class.
The Paxman Valenta power units used for electrical power generation are similar to the engines originally used in the British Rail Class 43 HST Power cars
The United States designed the Sea Control Ship to serve a similar role, and though none were built, a number of foreign small aircraft carriers were based on the concept including:[23] the Thai Chakri Naruebet, the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Spanish Principe de Asturias.
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