Last Chapter Begins for Invincible
Welcomed back into the Fleet this month, carrier HMS
Invincible has completed her second refit – the ship’s final
major upkeep period – that has been designed to keep
her at the forefront of action until the end of the decade.
The work period at Rosyth Naval Dockyard spanned from September
2001 to January 2003 when Invincible set off back to her Portsmouth
home. Later this year in September Invincible will step forward
to take Ark Royal’s place as the ‘on-call’ aircraft
carrier.
Brought bang up to date with the latest Naval technology, the
work included customizing the hangar to welcome the new Merlin
helicopter, and installing new colour flat computer-screens
in the Ops Room.
Her engines have also been tended to, with the replacement
of the main gearwheel of the starboard gear box – no
mean feat considering its 20-tonne weight and the need to take
the old one out through the side of the ship.
As the first and oldest, Invincible gives her name to the class
of current carriers, which have five main operational roles.
These include: command and control; power projection jusing
Harriers (GR7 and FA2); power projection using helicopters;
sea control with the Merlin; and maritime strike and air defence
using her suite of aircraft.
But eyes are turned to the two future carriers which are expected
to come into service early in the next decade and will bear
the British-variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, also known
as the F35.
Invincible served with distinction in the 1982 Falklands Conflict,
and has played vital roles in Adriatic operations and the bombing
of Bosnia. In the late 1990s her FA2 Sea Harriers flew combat
patrols to enforce the No-Fly zone over southern Iraq, and
on her return home she was called to the Balkans to provide
protection for NATO forces and to support the refugee aid programme.
There have been six Invincibles within the Royal Navy, plus
one putative Invincible that was renamed the Black Prince in
1859, two years before completion.
The name began with the capture of a French ship in 1747 at
Cape Finisterre that served until wrecked in 1758. The second
was a third rate, 74-gun, ship that was launched in 1765 until
wrecking ended her days in 1801 just off Yarmouth.
Once again a 74-gun third rate carried the name Invincible
when launched in 1808, and this time she held truer to her
name, lasting until her breaking up in Plymouth in 1861.
The 1869 iron-screw Invincible was built on the Clyde in 1869.
After seeing action in the Egyptian War, she reverted with
a couple of name changes to become a training ship before foundering
off Portland in 1914.
The immediate predecessor was a battle cruiser built on the
Tyne in 1907. She saw action in World War I at Heligoland and
the Falkland Islands, but was finally sunk at Jutland with
the loss of all but six of her company.
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