The British Ministry of Defense has decommissioned an aircraft carrier and put it up for sale. The Invincible-class HMS Illustrious (photo) is currently moored in Portsmouth Harbor. It was in service for over thirty years and served in Bosnia and the Gulf War. The Disposal Services Authority (DSA) has placed the ship for sale, for recycling only. The sale may be discontinued if a heritage option becomes available.Rico says that, even if one could afford it, it seems a bit over the top. (And parking it would be a bitch...)
Interested buyers must place their bids by May 23rd; all interested parties must e-mail: here and here no later than 1700 (GMT) on Monday 23 May 2016. Viewings will be held in June.
All parties interested in acquiring the vessel should note that a Bank Guarantee of two million pounds will be required by the DSA, and will not be released until the recycling of the vessel is nearing completion.
HMS Illustrious was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the second of three Invincible-class ships constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name Illustrious, and was affectionately known to her crew as Lusty.
In 1982, the conflict in the Falklands necessitated that Illustrious be completed and rushed south to join her sister ship HMS Invincible and the veteran carrier HMS Hermes. To this end, she was brought forward by three months for completion at Swan Hunter Shipyard, then commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea, en-route to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on extra stores and crew.
She arrived in the Falklands to relieve Invincible on 28 August 1982. Returning to the United Kingdom, she was not formally commissioned into the fleet until 20 March 1983. After the Falklands War, she was deployed on Operation Southern Watch in Iraq, then Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia during the 1990’s and Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone in 2000. An extensive re-fit during 2002 prevented her from involvement in the 2003 Iraq War, but she was repaired in time to assist British citizens trapped by the 2006 Lebanon War.
Following the retirement of her fixed-wing British Aerospace Harrier II aircraft in 2010, Illustrious operated as one of two Royal Navy helicopter carriers. By 2014, she was the oldest ship in the Royal Navy’s active fleet (having thirty-two years of service) and will not be replaced until HMS Queen Elizabeth is commissioned in 2017.
21 May 2016
A man cave?
War History Online has an article about a purported 'man cave' for sale:
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