Normally the passageways and messes resounded to the noise of Naval banter and the cold urgency of conflict, simulated or genuine.

Today there’s a hollow echo about HMS Ark Royal as she begins a lengthy spell on the sidelines with just a skeleton crew to keep watch on her.

Commanding Officer Cdr Paul Cook handed over the ‘keys’ of the Ark to her CO during extended readiness, Cdr Steve Thompson, who will nurture the aircraft carrier until the nation needs her again.

The spell alongside in the inner basin of Portsmouth Naval Base brings the curtain down on an eventful three years since Ark left Rosyth in the summer of 2001 following a £150m refit.

Those three years have seen the final public engagement by the Queen Mother, who re-dedicated the carrier in November 2001, a visit from the Queen to celebrate her Golden Jubilee, the carrier serving as the springboard for amphibious operations in Iraq, staging a Status Quo concert to launch the rock band’s album Heavy Traffic, appearing in a three-hour TV documentary (and 15 other television shows), visiting nine countries, most recently Germany, landing the first Harrier GR9 at sea and, not least, hosting 7,000 visitors since leaving Rosyth, 2,000 of them during a visit to London earlier this year.

From her peak complement of 1,300, including air group, during last year’s operations off Iraq, just 58 sailors are now charged with the task of looking after Ark during her lay-up.

The readiness period is not dormant for the ship.

Experts from dockyard repair and support firm FSL will use the time alongside to overhaul many of Ark’s systems before she emerges from her hibernation in 2006.

The extended readiness move is part of the Navy’s rotation programme for the carrier fleet.

One of the flat-tops is always ready for front-line deployment, and that task currently falls to HMS Invincible, while a second can be swiftly reactivated – which is where the Ark stands.

The third of the trio, HMS Illustrious, is in refit.