The Last British Carrier with British Aircraft onboard has Departed

Today was the last departure for the Ark Royal from the riverof her birth, the last departure by a British Carrier carrying British Aircraft.

The Harriers will by now have departed and she arrives in Portsmouth - via Hamburg - on the 3rd December to pay off

When she's paid off, or sold, just say
To pay off the bankers we gave her away
No Carriers or Harriers anymore

Thank David and Georgie - Sure - Sure!!

 

A sad day mate and the Harriers haven't go long to go either. Latest info is that all operational flying ceases on 16th December. Two great British icons gone at the stroke of a pen.

 

Still can't see the sense of keeping a carrier (although I understand that it may be HMS Ocean, which is not a "Harrier Carrier" that is kept rather than HMS Illustrious), buy new ones (which i do support) but keep the far more aged Tornados instead of Harriers. 2 out of 6 Amphibious Warfare ships also go (I suspect NATO will be concerned about this, as the UK is a major part of the Alliance's Amphibious capability)

They say history repeats itself. In 1981, a defence Review axed all serving carriers - and the South Atlantic patrol vessel. Argentina took this as being a "To Let" over the Falklands and invaded. Unfortunately for them, they had to invade just before the ships in question had been decommissioned. The Armed Forces retook the islands, loosing 255 lives (plus over 1,000 Argentinians) in the process, but the very politicians responsible for the Defence Review took all the credit and got re-elected on the back of it.

The plan then was to cut expenditure and sell State owned assets so as to give tax cuts and bribe the electorate into voting for the Government. (Normally selling some-one something they already owned is fraud but not when it is a privatisation, apparently!) I predict that large scale tax cuts will come along in 4 years or so time whether Britain can afford it or not!

Odds on the Falklands being Argentinian by then?

On another forum I am a member of, I have been taken to task for calling a Cabinet Minister an idiot - my response was "idiot is as idiot does"!

Steven

 

If the Goverment can find the money to help Ireland it shouldn't be impossible to fund Ark Royal and enough Harriers for one ship,they are an asset we have already paid for.
Colin

 

Whilst I deplore the scrapping of the Ark Royal and the Harriers, the Argentinians will have a much slimmer chance of invading the Falklands than they did in 1982. There is a flight of four Typhoons permanently based there plus airborne support as opposed to no air cover at all when the Argentinians invaded. Also there is an Army garrison instead of a party of Royal Marines and the Navy has a warship in the immediate area. You can also bet your bottom dollar there's a sub not too far away even though such deployments are classified. So if Argentina decided on another invasion, they would have a much more difficult if not impossible time getting ashore.

 

It's not just the Falklands though is it, what this means is that we will have a much reduced Royal Navy and will probably no longer taken seriously with regards to having the sea and airsea power to be able to protect our national interests in other areas of the world. I agree with Bean-counter having re-read several books on the Falklands conflicts quite recently, history does indeed seem to be repeating itself and the lesson of just 29 years ago does not seem to have been learned, or if it was then it is being forgotten!

 

Oh Mr TBird Frank, hope no one goes off to Southampton to see her arrival - it is a few miles down the Solent to which she returns, her home base of Portsmouth!

Nice pics by the way.