Invincible-class aircraft carrier

	HMS Ark Royal in 2008
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
Built	1973–1981
In commission	1980–2014
Completed	3
Scrapped	3
General characteristics
Type	Light 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
Sensors and ; processing systems	Type 1022 Air Search Radar; Type 996 Surface Search Radar; Type 1006/1007 Navigation Radar; Type 909 Fire Control Radar (until 1998-2000); Type 2016 Sonar;
Armament	Sea Dart missile system (removed during late 1990s); 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 12° 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 programme 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 saw 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. The Royal Navy was without an aircraft carrier for the first time in nearly a century, until the commissioning of the first of two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers in December 2017.

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