Invincible-class aircraft carrier

HMS Invincible in 2005
Class overview
Name:	Invincible class
Builders:	Swan Hunter Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Audacious-class fleet carrier Centaur-class light carrier
Succeeded by:	Queen Elizabeth class
In commission:	11 July 1980 - 28 August 2014
Completed:	3
Scrapped:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Aircraft carrier
Displacement:	22,000 tonnes
Length:	209 m (686 ft)
Beam:	36 m (118 ft)
Draught:	8 m (26 ft)
Propulsion:	COGAG 4 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines 8 × Paxman Valenta diesel generators 100,000 shp (75 MW) 2 shafts
Speed:	28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) maximum 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) cruising
Range:	7,000 nmi (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at cruising speed
Troops:	Up to 500 Marines
Complement:	650 ships company, 350 air crew
Armament:	2 × 20 mm anti-aircraft guns 3 Phalanx/Goalkeeper close-in weapons systems
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
Aviation facilities:	168 m (551 ft) axial flight deck Bow 13° ski-jump
Notes:

The Invincible class was a class of light aircraft carrier operated by the Royal Navy. Three ships were constructed, HMS Invincible, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal. The vessels were built as aviation-capable anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platforms to counter the Cold War North Atlantic Soviet submarine threat, and initially embarked Sea Harrier aircraft and Sea King HAS.1 anti-submarine helicopters. With cancellation of the aircraft carriers renewal program in the 1960s, the three ships became the replacements for Ark Royal and Eagle fleet carriers and the Centaur-class light fleet carriers, and the Royal Navy's sole class of aircraft carrier.

The three vessels have seen active service in a number of locations, including the South Atlantic during the Falklands War, the Adriatic during the Bosnian War, and in the Middle East for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

Invincible was decommissioned in 2005 and put in reserve in a low state of readiness. She was sold to a Turkish scrapyard in February 2011, and left Portsmouth under tow on 24 March 2011. Pursuant to the Strategic Defence and Security Review, 2010, Ark Royal followed, decommissioning on 13 March 2011. This left Illustrious as the sole remaining ship, serving as a helicopter carrier from 2011 to 2014 when it was decommissioned as well. After Invincible was decommissioned in 2005, and with the retiring of Illustrious in 2014, Royal Navy aircraft carrier usage has temporarily ceased. However, it will restart with the commissioning of the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, the first of which was launched in July 2014.

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