Might HMS Ark Royal's final farewell (British carrier)

Sunday Sun ^ | Nov 21 2010 | Rob Pattinson

[tanknetter]

Thanks..one follow-up..a few comments on the thread suggest that 25 years is NOT a long life..our CVNs last 50+ years..with one refueling at 25-30 years..

What matters are the ships' design life, and how much operational work they have under their belt.

Modern USN CVNs are designed from the start for 50 years. Older USN supercarriers weren't: they were more like 30-35 years and a number (three Forrestals and two Kitty Hawks) were SLEP'd (Service Life Extension Program) to run them out an additional 10-15 years. As it was, the two most successful SLEPs were the ships that ended up being the forward-deployed decks in Japan (Independence and Kitty Hawk), where they had a lighter operational tempo than CONUS-base decks and got better upkeep (as was the case with Midway before them).

The Essex-class carriers had operational careers that averaged around 20 years (remember that many were mothballed after WWII and not reactivated until Korea), and by all accounts they were pretty much falling apart at the seams when taken out of service in the late 60s through mid 70s.

The Invincibles were designed for about 30 years of service. They had a somewhat lighter OpTempo because of the RN policy to keep one in overhaul/extended readiness and the other two operational (one as the high-readiness deck, the other as RN Flagship). But the RN also treats its ships much differently than the USN does. The previous Ark Royal was an absolute shambles when decommissioned and paid off in the late 1970s, after a ~25 year operational career.

[ken5050]

Many thanks for your learned input..

[BroJoeK]

tanknetter: "The Invincibles were designed for about 30 years of service."

Very interesting. Thanks for a great post.

[DesScorp]

"In following a kinds of news stories about Britain over the past 10 years, it seems pretty clear that they have completely lost their minds, and their soul. Britain is finished."

Not So Great Britain was finished a long time ago. They were finished when they kicked the greatest Prime Minister in the history of Britain out of office after WWII in favor of an Honest-To-No-God Socialist. They were finished when they willingly, eagerly embraced all the ills of socialism after WWII. They were finished when they cheerily supported nationalization of their industries. They were finished when they decided that their ethinicity was seperate from "Britishness", and that an anti-freedom Muslim from Pakistan was just as much a Briton as a Londoner raised in the Church. They were finished when they turned their back on Britania in favor of Europa. They were finished when they decided that national greatness is not an ideal to be worked for, but an arrogant affront to the community of nations.

It's painfully clear that Churchill and Thatcher were the exceptions to the rule, and that Clement Atlee and Harold Brown are the rule.

Worse, Cameron is about as good as they can expect, and the truth is, they have no choice to but make these defense cuts. They have no money.

[Dragonwight]

Why make this about the UK, Britain is finished blah blah blah isnt that similar to what a german guy by the name of Hitler said. Truth is the Ark Royal was knackered, i know plenty of people who use to work on her and truth is she was falling apart and needed replacing. The harrier, that great fantastic plane was aged and few in number. Yes its regrettable that the new carriers with aircraft cant be here sooner but they will arrive, meanwhile the RN will have to do what it has always done for 500+ years make do with what it has. Unlike the USA we dont need the latest toys to win a battle because we realise sometimes the best way to win isnt to get into a fight in the first place and if we do, we pick our fights.