HMS Invincible (R05)

HMS Invincible in 2005
History
United Kingdom
Name	Invincible
Ordered	17 April 1973
Builder	Vickers Shipbuilding Limited, Barrow-in-Furness, England
Laid down	July 1973
Launched	3 May 1977
Sponsored by	Queen Elizabeth II
Commissioned	11 July 1980
Decommissioned	3 August 2005
Stricken	10 September 2010
Homeport	HMNB Portsmouth
Identification	IMO number: 8949551 Pennant: R05 Deck code: N
Nickname(s)	"Vince"[1]
Fate	Scrapped 2011[2]
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Invincible-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	16,000 t (16,000 long tons) (light)[3] 22,000 t (22,000 long tons) fully loaded
Length	689 ft (210 m)
Beam	118.1 ft (36.0 m)
Draught	28.9 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion	4 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines providing 97,000 hp (72,000 kW) 8 Paxman Valenta diesel generators
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) max
Range	7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Complement	1,051 total, including 726 ship's company and 384 Air Group personnel
Armament	3 × Goalkeeper CIWS 2 × GAM-B01 20 mm close-range guns
Aircraft carried	Until December 2010, 22 aircraft; Multi Mission - Strike, ASuW and ASW 12 x Harrier GR.7/9 10 x Sea King ASaC and Merlin HM Mk.1 helicopters Multi Mission - Strike and ASuW 18 x Harrier GR.7/9 4 x Sea King ASaC and Merlin HM Mk.1 helicopters[4]

HMS Invincible was the Royal Navy's lead ship of her class of three light aircraft carriers. She was launched on 3 May 1977 as the seventh ship to carry the name. She was originally designated as an anti-submarine warfare carrier, but was used as an aircraft carrier during the Falklands War, when she was deployed with HMS Hermes. She took over as flagship of the British fleet when Hermes was sold to India. Invincible was also deployed in the Yugoslav Wars and the Iraq War. In 2005, she was decommissioned, and was eventually sold for scrap in February 2011.^[5]