HMS Invincible (R05)

HMS Invincible (R05) was a STOVL Invincible-class light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Her air complement consisted of Sea Harrier aircraft and Lynx, Merlin and Sea King helicopters.

It was launched on May 3, 1977, sponsored by Queen Elizabeth II, and is the seventh Royal Navy ship to bear that name. She participated in combat in the Falklands War, where she was deployed with HMS Hermes. She took over flagship duties for the British fleet when she was sold to India. She was also deployed in the Yugoslav wars and the Iraq war. She was decommissioned in 2005 and eventually sold for scrap in February 2011.

Main tasks of the ship

1. Operations from the sea: Operations to attack land targets from the sea, without a ground base, using aircraft and helicopters.
2. Coastal maneuvers (LitM): Amphibious operations from the ship for troop landings.
3. Command and Control: You can perform operations control tasks from your command bridge.

History

The Invincible was built at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering. She was laid down in 1973 and launched on 3 May 1977. On 11 July 1980 she was commissioned and joined the fleet's other aircraft carriers, HMS Hermes and HMS Bulwark.

Sales proposal

On February 25, 1982, the Australian government announced, after several months of negotiations, that it had agreed to purchase the Invincible for $175 million. The sale was confirmed by the Ministry of Defence. On 1 June, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser suggested to the British Government that the sale of the Invincible to Australia could be canceled by mutual agreement.

In July 1982, the British Ministry of Defense announced that it had withdrawn its offer to sell the Invincible and that it would maintain a force of three aircraft carriers.

Malvinas War

On April 2, 1982, Argentina militarily recovered the Malvinas Islands and three days later, a naval force led by the aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes departed from Portsmouth with destination to the South Atlantic. On April 20, 1982, the British War Cabinet ordered the recapture of the Falkland Islands. Invincible's air group consisted of 8 Sea Harriers and 12 Sea Kings, and was slightly larger than the ship's designed capacity.

During the journey south from Ascension Island to the Falklands on April 23, the Invincible aimed its Sea Dart missiles at a Brazilian airline DC10, mistaking it for a Boeing 707. the Argentine Air Force which had been monitoring the fleet's movements for several days, as it believed it could precede an attack launched from the Argentine aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo against its own aircraft carriers. Woodward gave permission to shoot it down, as long as she got within a certain distance and could be positively identified. As the 707 was not a direct threat to the fleet, Woodward ordered its course monitored, and was informed that the aircraft was on a 'direct line running from Durban to Rio de Janeiro'. With this in mind, Woodward gave the 'arms ready' order, and sent a Sea Harrier to investigate. The pilot reported that "it was a passenger plane from Brazil, with all normal navigation and lights on."

Attack on the Invincible

Version of Argentina

Argentina claims that the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible was attacked and hit on May 30, 1982 by a joint force composed of two Super Étendards (3-A-202 and 3-A-205), with the callsign “Ala”, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Alejandro Francisco (he carried the last Exocet AM-39 that the Argentine forces had) and Lieutenant Luis Collavino (in radar support) and four A-4C Skyhawk, Group 4 Fighter with the callsign 'zonda', commanded by First Lieutenants José Daniel Vázquez, head of the A4C squadron, (plane C-312) and Ernesto Ureta (plane C-321), Lieutenant Omar Jesús Castillo (plane C-310) and Ensign Gerardo Guillermo Isaac (plane C-318). Once the Exocet was fired (it would have hit the base of the command tower), the four A-4Cs (Ureta and Isaac on the right and Castillo and Vázquez on the left) launched, converging almost in a line. Above the wake of the missile they saw a column of smoke on the horizon. Near the target, a missile (possibly a Sea Dart) hit the squadron leader's plane (Vázquez), the aircraft broke in two and crashed into the sea. Five seconds before the bombs were launched, the ship's artillery hit number 2 (Castle), whose plane exploded. It seems that his engine fell on the deck and slid into the airplane elevator shaft, where it entered and caught fire inside. The two remaining planes were also reaching the target, which was already covered in smoke. They both dropped their bombs on the deck.

After the attack, Ureta and Isaac refueled in flight and headed to the Río Grande Military Air Base. The operation lasted almost four hours.

What is specifically known is that the aircraft carrier withdrew from the immediate area of the Falklands on the night of June 5 and stopped providing air cover at the height of the ground fighting. The newspaper La Nación of Buenos Aires, reported on June 7: The Task Force without an aircraft carrier was forced to withdraw from the waters of the Malvinas due to some damage caused by Argentine aviation, according to diplomatic sources. The aircraft carrier withdrew again from the Malvinas area on June 18 accompanied by the frigate HMS Andromeda to carry out repairs, and stopped operating in the middle of a state of war for two weeks. When it anchored in Puerto Argentino on July 2 sported a magnificent coat of paint despite the poor season at sea. During his absence (the night of June 5 to 6 and the period between June 18 and July 2) the Invincible was able to replace two Olympus engines.

In 2012 the British Ministry of Defense published the "Recycling of Ex-HMS Invincible" On page 8 you can see the aircraft carrier being scrapped, with a patch in the area where 1st Lieutenant Ureta of the Argentine Air Force said his bombs had hit, and in the same area where two of the four turbines were " Olympus" that were changed on the high seas.

• "Web of the British Defense Ministry" (in English).

UK Version

Great Britain denies that this attack was successful. The original version circulated by the British is that the last Exocet hit the hull of the Atlantic Conveyor, semi-destroyed by the previous attack. It was later established that the Atlantic Conveyor capsized on 28 May. According to more recent accounts, Exocet was shot down by the destroyer HMS Exeter at 12,800 m, while the two surviving A-4s unsuccessfully attacked the frigate HMS Avenger, who was producing a smoke screen to cover the Invincible.

Another version indicates that the Exocet missile was shot down by the 114 mm cannon of the frigate HMS Avenger.

According to the report from HMS Exeter, evasive tactics were employed, and the Exocet flew harmlessly towards the sea astern, passing very close to the Avenger.

The aircraft carrier Invincible carried 25% of Britain's deep-sea nuclear arsenal, which was transferred between 2 and 3 June 1982 to Fort Austin, according to the Ministry of Defense report.

The United Kingdom formally declared the end of hostilities on June 20, 1982.

1983-2005

In December 1983, the Australian government denied the use of Sydney drydock facilities to the Invincible during the deployment of the Orient Express group, when the Royal Navy refused to state whether the ship carried nuclear weapons. Invincible was accompanied by other ships, including HMS Achilles, during this deployment.

From 1993 to 1995, the Invincible was deployed to the Adriatic for Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia and contributed to the NATO bombing raids in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995 (Operation Deliberate Force).

In 1997, Invincible led the deployment of Operation Ocean Wave 1997, which also included amphibious warfare operations and the Royal Marines' 3 Brigade Commando.

In 1998 and 1999, it contributed to Operation Bolton in southern Iraq together with the air forces of Saudi Arabia, the United States and in 1998 also with that of France.

In 1999, he was deployed once again to the Balkan conflict to assist in NATO bombing missions in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Their Harriers intervened in the military attacks, while helicopters provided aid to the refugees.

2005-2011

• Wikinoticias has news related to HMS Invincible (R05).

On June 6, 2005, the British Ministry of Defense announced that the Invincible would be inactive until 2010, available for reactivation within 18 months. It was out of service until August 3, 2005, 20 months after an extensive modernization and renovation that had aimed to give it ten more years of service.

In March 2010, she was minimally maintained and stationed with other decommissioned ships at Portsmouth Naval Base. The Invincible was removed from the naval reserve list on 10 September 2010, and offered for sale beginning in December 2010, with bids submitted on 5 January 2011. Tender documents DSA confirmed that the ship's engines had been dismantled and that generators and pumps were 'generally out of service or not working'. On 8 January 2011, the British press announced an earlier report in the South China Morning Post that an offer of £5,000,000 had been made for the vessel by UK-based Chinese businessman Lam Kin-bong., who planned to moor the ship in Zhuhai or Liverpool as a floating international school. Doubts were raised as to whether this sale would go ahead, due to the European Union's arms embargo on China. BBC News reported on 8 February 2011 that the Ministry of Defense had announced the sale of Invincible for scrapping to the Leyal Ship Recycling Ltd shipyard in Aliağa, Turkey. She was towed from Portsmouth on Thursday 24 February March and arrived in Aliaga on April 12, 2011, beginning scrapping work in June 2011.