HMS Illustrious sets sail to scrapyard

[adolf hamster]

The government really need to preserve more ships than they do. So many iconic ships have ended up scrapped - I get the impression there is a concerted effort not to preserve a lot of them as they seem to scrap them before anyone even has the chance to raise money to keep them.

Yeah, its a shame even a ship like hms caroline has to get lucky with national lottery funding to be restored properly, and yet she's the sole survivor of the largest naval battle in history?

I suppose its the equivalent of someone who got rid of their original (insert now valuable but wasnt at the time classic car here) because at the time it was just an old pile of junk.

I must admit my favourite of all the old ships i've been on has to be the waverly, theres a massive difference between walking around an empty shell in a still dock and being out on the sea with the thumping of the paddles, the heat and what i can only describe as "that steam smell", but ofc i suppose the government is only looking at money in the short term and not thinking how valuable proper history is or will become.

 

[Lil old me]

Did someone say museum ship?

 

[Tefal]

Yeah, its a shame even a ship like hms caroline has to get lucky with national lottery funding to be restored properly, and yet she's the sole survivor of the largest naval battle in history?

I suppose its the equivalent of someone who got rid of their original (insert now valuable but wasnt at the time classic car here) because at the time it was just an old pile of junk.

I must admit my favourite of all the old ships i've been on has to be the waverly, theres a massive difference between walking around an empty shell in a still dock and being out on the sea with the thumping of the paddles, the heat and what i can only describe as "that steam smell", but ofc i suppose the government is only looking at money in the short term and not thinking how valuable proper history is or will become.

except non of them are valuable they are all hideously expensive money sinks.

 

[scorza]

Did someone say museum ship?

I was just thinking of how the US keeping the USS Missouri as a museum ship helped protect us from aliens in Battleship. You never know when you might need the old boys to get out some welding gear and start playing Thunderstruck on max volume!

 

[wordy]

For me, its not this ship but her sistership HMS Invincible that should have had a more dignified send-off or effort to have saved her. Most famously, or infamously, depending on which side you are on, the Invince fought in the Falklands conflict and was invaluable in providing a base for Harrier aircraft.

My cousin served on the Invincible throughout the 90s and as a young kid I got taken out of school by my parents to go on the ship during a crew members "family day". Super exciting! I was around 10 years old and we got practically free roam of the ship. We set sail and went around the Isle of Wight, during which we went to the flight deck, mess decks, hangers, the bridge (where we met the captain and had our photos taken, much to the embarrassment of my cousin! I think it was Captain Roy Clare). Then, as if all that wasn't enough, we stood outside, on top of the bridge and watched two Lynx helicopters take off and then two Harriers went off down the ski-ramps, followed by a low -flight pass of the ship. My cousin also lost her Invincible hat that day when my young sister was wearing it on the flight deck, it blew off her head in the wind, went skipping across the flight deck, over the safety netting and into the sea!

I will NEVER forget that day.

I loved these, my father served in the Navy all of his life and we went on quite a few of these when we were kids (can remember walking around one of the carrier's flight decks), also had a spin round the Solent on HMS Gloucester whilst having lunch in the captains mess. Good times.

Urrgh, I used to hate Families days (I didn't really) Every time my family came of board they had a great time. But as soon as they left the 1st thing EVERYONE would say to me was "Jesus, you're sister is divs*, what the **** happened to you!".

*very attractive.

 

[ubersonic]

So otherwords, we have no long range anti-ship weapons.

No problem we can just buy some Exocets XD

Thinking about it we prob still have the plans France gave us during the Falklands, are missiles copyrighted? lol.

 

[adolf hamster]

except non of them are valuable they are all hideously expensive money sinks.

Depends, if your talking purely as a revenue generating business i'd definately agree with you, i cant imagine theres many would be profit making.

But then theres other types of value, these things are a bigger version of say a grandfathers war medal, maybe not monetarily speaking worth that much, but it still has value to you, stories and memories attatched to it that are worth keeping.

I'm by no means saying preserve everything, we cant, but theres definately a case to be made for preservation at all levels.

 

[Tefal]

Depends, if your talking purely as a revenue generating business i'd definately agree with you, i cant imagine theres many would be profit making.

But then theres other types of value, these things are a bigger version of say a grandfathers war medal, maybe not monetarily speaking worth that much, but it still has value to you, stories and memories attatched to it that are worth keeping.

I'm by no means saying preserve everything, we cant, but theres definately a case to be made for preservation at all levels.

its never even seen combat....

 

[zola25]

No problem we can just buy some Exocets XD

Thinking about it we prob still have the plans France gave us during the Falklands, are missiles copyrighted? lol.

Excocet is so 1980s, we used to have them ourselves and retired them for Harpoon (soon to go apparently), and Sea Eagle (already gone).

The US has developed newer versions of Harpoon, I'm not sure what our plans are - throw rocks I suspect until we actually put F-35s on the carriers.

 

[ubersonic]

I'm not sure what our plans are - throw rocks I suspect until we actually put F-35s on the carriers.

In an ideal world we would buy Russian anti-ship missiles however politics precludes that.

 

[adolf hamster]

its never even seen combat....

well, maybe not this specific example, i'm talking in more general terms of ships that have been scrapped that are of potential historical interest.

 

[Tefal]

In an ideal world we would buy Russian anti-ship missiles however politics precludes that.

why russian out of curiosity?

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Has anyone made any mention of actual upkeep costs if it was kept?

 

[zola25]

why russian out of curiosity?

Russia has always taken a different approach to naval strategy, rather than investing in carriers to support large numbers of aircraft they focus on disabling the enemy's carriers. They have developed some of the most advanced, fastest and hardest hitting anti ship missiles, both surface and air launched.

 

[ubersonic]

why russian out of curiosity?

Anti-ship missiles are one of the few areas where Russia lead the way (both historically and currently), it's sort of driven out of necessity as they are the only developed nation on the planet that has to deal with the realistic possibility of large scale conflict with the US navy.