HMS Ark Royal to be scrapped - What's next?

[james_tigerwoods]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

[Iain328]

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

In case you hadnt noticed they are still pressing ahead with building two new carriers which will be the largest vessels ever built for the UK navy I believe.....

[eharding]

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

Shhhh - the whole thing is a ruse to make the French think they can get on with a national meltdown without neighbouring states settling a few scores.

By this time next week, we'll have destroyed the out-of-fuel French Air Force on the ground, sunk the French Navy whilst the crews are busy mutinying in port, and ze Chermans will be goose-stepping down the Champ de Mars.

[DonkeyApple]

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

The Ark Royal was flogged off to the Aussies in 1980 when it was just too fked to remain in the Royal Navy.

We then renegged on the deal when the Falkland's crisis appeared.

It was screwed in 1980 and we have 2 state of the art carriers coming on stream that we can't afford. I believe they are trying to sell at least one to some other country.

[MonkeyHanger]

DonkeyApple said:

The Ark Royal was flogged off to the Aussies in 1980 when it was just too fked to remain in the Royal Navy.

We then renegged on the deal when the Falkland's crisis appeared.

That was HMS Invincible.

The current Ark Royal is 25 years old, so it missed the Falklands by a few years.

[eharding]

DonkeyApple said:

The Ark Royal was flogged off to the Aussies in 1980 when it was just too fked to remain in the Royal Navy.

Was that after she sank in the Medway in 1636, or before she was launched in 1981?

[Bing o]

Labour bankrupted us. Why don't you get this? We are skint and stuff has to go. No room for sentiment.

[Gun]

Hope they'll be naming one of the new carriers Ark Royal, I just think it's a great name for a warship, much better than the American way of naming them after Presidents.

Speaking of that, wonder which of their ships will have the honour of being name USS George W. Bush??

[FourWheelDrift]

Gun said:

Speaking of that, wonder which of their ships will have the honour of being name USS George W. Bush??

Don't know but I bet it will be launched backwards by mistake and immediately capsize.

[FourWheelDrift]

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

I for one (and many actually) will be glad to finally see the back of those through deck cruisers.

[TankRizzo]

Gun said:

Hope they'll be naming one of the new carriers Ark Royal, I just think it's a great name for a warship, much better than the American way of naming them after Presidents.

Speaking of that, wonder which of their ships will have the honour of being name USS George W. Bush??

The names are already chosen, they'll be HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

[ninja-lewis]

Ark Royal only came out of a £12 million refit last year - typical!

[Blib]

eharding said:

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

Shhhh - the whole thing is a ruse to make the French think they can get on with a national meltdown without neighbouring states settling a few scores.

By this time next week, we'll have destroyed the out-of-fuel French Air Force on the ground, sunk the French Navy whilst the crews are busy mutinying in port, and ze Chermans will be goose-stepping down the Champ de Mars.

I remember our geography teacher telling us that the only reason we were armed with nuclear weapons was to defend ourselves against the French.

[Corsair7]

Iain328 said:

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

In case you hadnt noticed they are still pressing ahead with building two new carriers which will be the largest vessels ever built for the UK navy I believe.....

And in case you hadn't noticed we wont have any suitable aircraft to launch off them for at least 8 years.

Pointless fekin white elephants.

[FourWheelDrift]

ninja-lewis said:

Ark Royal only came out of a £12 million refit last year - typical!

In the big scheme of things £12m is not much but it's going to need more and more spent on it to keep it operational. It's 25 yrs old now. I bet it was never planned to be in service so long.

[BeeRoad]

Corsair7 said:

Iain328 said:

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

In case you hadnt noticed they are still pressing ahead with building two new carriers which will be the largest vessels ever built for the UK navy I believe.....

And in case you hadn't noticed we wont have any suitable aircraft to launch off them for at least 8 years.

Pointless fekin white elephants.

I thought the carriers had been designed to allow easy modification to launch non-VSTOL aircraft, ie a navalised Typhoon variant so would not necessarily have to wait for the JSF?

[Dixie68]

MonkeyHanger said:

DonkeyApple said:

The Ark Royal was flogged off to the Aussies in 1980 when it was just too fked to remain in the Royal Navy.

We then renegged on the deal when the Falkland's crisis appeared.

That was HMS Invincible.

The current Ark Royal is 25 years old, so it missed the Falklands by a few years.

HMS Hermes surely?

[FourWheelDrift]

No HMS Invincible was going to be sold to Australia, HMS Hermes eventually went to India, in service (still but very cranky) as INS Viraat.

[Corsair7]

BeeRoad said:

Corsair7 said:

Iain328 said:

james_tigerwoods said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11570593

So, that's it then - we're on the downhill slope to giving up all our military capability? What's next - Cut the air force and merge the remainder of the RAF with the Army & Navy? Or will we, in 10 years time, have only a "border defence force"?

Such a shame.....

In case you hadnt noticed they are still pressing ahead with building two new carriers which will be the largest vessels ever built for the UK navy I believe.....

And in case you hadn't noticed we wont have any suitable aircraft to launch off them for at least 8 years.

Pointless fekin white elephants.

I thought the carriers had been designed to allow easy modification to launch non-VSTOL aircraft, ie a navalised Typhoon variant so would not necessarily have to wait for the JSF?

no. If we have no harriers then we have no planes capable to launch off these new ships until the F35, and lets face it, at this rate we probably wont be able to afford those either.

If they scrap the harriers, which also looks certain, they'll turn the boats into helicopter platforms until they can get some JSFs on board.

[Dixie68]

FourWheelDrift said:

No HMS Invincible was going to be sold to Australia, HMS Hermes eventually went to India, in service (still but very cranky) as INS Viraat.

I didn't realise Invincible was at the Falklands, but I knew Hermes was the flagship - you learn something every day on PH!