INVINCIBLE HMS (R05) 1980

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a light aircraft carrier under yard No 1096 by Vickers Shipbuilding Ltd., Barrow-in-Furness, U.K. for the Royal Navy.
20 July 1973 keel laid down.
03 May 1977 launched as HMS INVINCIBLE (R05). She was christened by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II. One of the Invincible class, two sisters.
Displacement 16,000 tons standard, 19, 500 tons full load. Dim. 206.6 x 27.4 x 8.8m. (draught). Length bpp. 192.6m.
Powered by four Roll-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines, 97,000 hp, four shafts, speed 28 knots.
Range by a speed of 18 knots, 7,000 miles.
Armament 1 twin Sea Dart SAM launcher with 22 missiles, 2 single 20mm AA guns. 2 – 20mm Phalanx CIWS mountings for anti missiles.
Carried Sea Harrier fighter/bomber, Sea Kings, Merlin and Lynx helicopters.
Crew 1.000 plus 320 air group.
11 July 1980 commissioned.

On 25 February 1982 the Australian government announced that it had agreed to purchase INVINCIBLE and a number of Sea King and Wessex helicopters as embarked airpower for £175 million after several months of negotiations. The sale was confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.[3] The ship would have replaced the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS MELBOURNE and would have been named HMAS AUSTRALIA.
On 2 April 1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. On 5 April 1982 a naval task force headed by INVINCIBLE and HERMES left Portsmouth bound for the South Atlantic. On 20 April 1982 the British War Cabinet ordered the repossession of the Falkland Islands.
During the journey south from Ascension Island to the Falklands, on 23 April, INVINCIBLE locked her Sea Dart system onto a Brazilian Airlines DC10 which was initially believed to have been an Argentine Air Force Boeing 707 which had been monitoring the fleets movements for several days. Task group commander, Rear Admiral "Sandy" Woodward had the previous day requested permission from Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse to shoot down the 707, which had been nicknamed the "burgler", as he believed it could precede a raid launched from the Argentine aircraft carrier ARA VEINTICINO DE MAYO against his own carriers. Woodward believed he had been given permission to shoot it down as long as it came within a certain distance, and could be positively identified, although he held this belief as a result of a conversation via the Defence Secure Speech System, and had not had this confirmed in writing. As the 707 was no direct threat to the fleet, Woodward ordered its course tracked, and it was reported to him that the plane was on a "direct line running from Durban to Rio de Janeiro". With this in mind, Woodward gave the order "weapons tight" which immediately stopped any ship from engaging the plane, and sent a Sea Harrier up to investigate. The Harrier pilot reporting that "it was a Brazilian Airliner, with all the normal navigation and running lights on". Details of the Harrier interception appeared in the Brazilian press, with passengers "alleged to have been frightened", with Woodward's reply to Fieldhouse's request for details of the incident being "Inconvenience to passengers underwear regretted unless any of them were Argentinian".
On 1 June, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser advised the British Government that the sale of INVINCIBLE to Australia could be cancelled if desired.
The UK formally declared an end to hostilities on 20 June 1982. In July 1982 the British Ministry of Defence announced that it had withdrawn its offer to sell INVINCIBLE and that it would maintain a three-carrier force. Although Argentina claims to have damaged this ship during the Falklands War, this is officially denied by the British Government and there is no evidence that any damage was inflicted.
In December 1983 Australia refused the use of dry dock facilities in Sydney for INVINCIBLE during the Orient Express group deployment when the Royal Navy declined to say whether the ship was carrying nuclear weapons. INVINCIBLE was accompanied by a number of other ships, including HMS ACHILLES, during this deployment.
From 1993 to 1995, INVINCIBLE was deployed in the Adriatic for Operation Deny Flight over Yugoslavia and contributed to Operation Deliberate Force which concluded the deployment. In 1997, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Alan West, Commander UK Task Group, INVINCIBLE led the Ocean Wave '97 deployment, which also included Commodore Amphibious Warfare and 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines.
In 1998 and 1999, she contributed to Operation Bolton in Southern Iraq along with air forces from Saudi Arabia, the United States and (in 1998) France.
Also in 1999, she was deployed once more the Balkans to assist action against Yugoslavia. Her Harriers were involved in military strikes while her helicopters aided refugees.
INVINCIBLE was originally completed without any close in weapon systems. As part of the lessons from the Falklands War, INVINCIBLE initially had two 20 mm Raytheon Phalanx close in weapon systems fitted but these were later upgraded to three Thales 30 mm Goalkeeper CIWS; they also have two Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Countermeasures are provided by a Thales jamming system and ECM system, Seagnat launchers provide for chaff or flare decoys. Initially the carriers were armed with a Sea Dart SAM missile system, but these were removed in order to increase the flight deck size and to allow magazine storage for Royal Air Force Harrier GR7s.
The carrier's air group comprised nine Harriers and twelve helicopters (usually all Sea Kings, either anti-submarine warfare (ASW) or Airborne Early Warning (AEW) variants). The carriers also provide an operational headquarters for the Royal Navy task force. The runway is 170 m long and includes the characteristic "ski jump" (initially at 7°, later increased to 12°).
On 6 June 2005 the British Ministry of Defence announced that HMS INVINCIBLE would be inactive until 2010, available for reactivation at 18 months notice. 03 August 2005 decommissioned in Portsmouth and classed as inactive. 2009 was she crewed by a few people, and raided of spare parts. It is given it will take at least 18 months to make her ready for operational readiness.
2010 Her engines removed.
2011 Sold to Turkish shipbreakers.
24 March 2011 will be towed out from Portsmouth for the breakers yard in Turkey.
12 April 2011 arrived at Leyal Ship Recycling in Aliaga, Turkey.

Guernsey 2007 50p sg?, scott? (The Guernsey Philatelic Bureau gives: "the Sea King helicopters evacuating men from the burning SIR GALAHAD, but she is not depict on this stamp, the stamp shows us HMS INVINCIBLE.)
Montserrat 2009 $5.00 sg?, scott?
Sierra Leone 2018 LE9800 sg?, scott?
Source: downloaded mostly from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Invincible_(R05) The Encyclopedia of warships. http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz

[aukepalmhof]

2011 HMS INVINCIBLE at the breakers yard at Aliaga

Bahamas 2001 70c sg 1268, scott?

Niger 2019 800Fr sg?, scott?