Ark Royal Enters Pompey For The Last Time
A very poignant picture from the Navy News. After 50,762 hours at sea and 621,551 miles sailed the massive decommissioning pennant stretched from the main mast, along the flight deck and into the Solent.
Doesn’t it remind you of Turner’s Fighting Temeraire being towed away to be broken up?
Here’s the footage, murky through the pea-souper and flecked with snow, from ITN:
Ring off main engines.
I was on the sister ship to the ‘Ark’ , HMS ‘Lusty’ back in the 80s. Fine ship I must say. But there our pro-EU Prime Minister wants to ensure greater ties with the French. I wonder what Maggie thinks?
Do I understand that she is to be decommissioned? If so why?
I ask being I see the fine vessel as just that, perfectly fine.
Is she outdated?
Budgetary shit? PC crap?
Newer, faster and technologically advanced ship being launched?
What?
Anther question if I may; Where was she coming into port? Awfully foggy there.
Extremely complicated to explain briefly, but here’s the $0.02 version.
* Ark Royal is 25 years old.
* Gordon Brown ordered 2 much larger ships to replace the UK carrier fleet.
* The replacements are great ships but vastly expensive.
* Brown fixed those building contracts as an election bribe to Labour constituencies in such a way that it was more expensive to cancel them than finish building them.
* All UK budgets were cut earlier this year by 10%+ and the only way Defence thought they could do this was by scrapping the carrier fleet and planes early, before the replacements arrive.
* This leaves us without carrier cover until 2020.
* One of the 2 new ships will be sold off to another country almost straight away.
I think that’s a fair summary of a subject you could write a book on. A long book.
She’s coming in to Portsmouth Harbour, often abbreviated to “Pompey”. The Solent, mentioned in my post, is the stretch of water outside.
Yes, great ships both of them. Maggie’s thoughts won’t be printable.
Maybe, though, just maybe we’ll have a more defence-minded PM as Cameron’s replacement…and they will decide when the second of the two replacement carriers come along that we can afford them both – with escort groups to match. Maybe.
I can well imagine Christopher’s next question ..
So here’s a few possible answers ..
http://www.welcometoportsmouth.co.uk/pompey.html
I shall be sorry to see the “Ark” go .. although I never served in her .. my home City (Leeds) has a long & happy affiliation with warships bearing the proud name “Ark Royal” ..
Up until a few years ago many MPs – on all sides of the house – had served in the armed forces in one way or another, some with great distinction. Enoch Powell, for example, started the war as private and finished as a Brigadier. These men understood in their guts the value of a properly equipped Army, Navy and Airforce, even if they were later to allow politics to intrude on the ideal.
The majority of the arses in HMG today have no concept of service, of camaraderie, or the needs of our Armed Services if they are to protect our nation. The decisions they are making now are at best ill-advised and at worst positively treasonous.
I’d better shut up now; the bad words are starting to bubble up…
Indeed ..
Today’s politicians only have any loyalty to themselves, their cronies or anyone who might be able to do them a favour ..
To a man/woman .. they’d make ideal Fig 11 targets ..
A poignant image. Wish we could decommission those who commissioned this decommissioning….er, if you know what I mean…
Thanks for the post — lets hope there’s no need for an aircraft carrier for a few years…