Can it really only be £80m a year ? The annual salaries of the crew of the ship and FFA on board are going to be the wrong side of £50m before you start thinking about the actual costs of running the ship and aircraft, weapons etc. You will also need a couple of Frigates in attendance plus RFA’s, but I guess some of their costs would have had to have been paid anyway.

Maybe there were a lot of things excluded in that £80m.

It can cost that much as HMS Illustrious is planned to be retained in service for a few more years anyway, so the ship costs aren’t part of that cost, unless of course Illustrious‘ operational life is extended to bridge the gap until either HMS Queen Elizabeth or HMS Ark Royal VI enter service.

Its cool to see the J-15 out and about, will be great to see them lined up on the deck.

Possibly not if you’re Taiwanese.

The names are actually well choosen, as it will be a brave PM that dares go to the monarch and says they are scrapping or selling the ship named in honour of (Ones self/Mother/Grandmother Or Son/Ones self/father – delete as applicable depending who actually wears the crown at that point !!!).

G

Actually Her Majesty, the Late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had very close ties to both Ark Royals‘ four and five and given that she was apparently quite close to both the Queen and Prince Charles, if pitched to them right, ie emphasizing that connection, I doubt if it would be that difficult to sell the idea to them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12308437
Hi folks this was on the BBC website. I just skimmed through and the pics of CVF are pre SDSR 2010 I’m afraid.

The Buccaneer was always launched with the tailskid on the deck. Below are photos of an early mk2 on board USS Lexington for hot weather trials during 1965. Notice the holdback bracket behind the tail skid in the lowered position ready for fixing to the ships holdback linkage.

I believe RN carriers had more powerful cats than the USN supercarriers due to their shorter run. American Pilots cross opperating would comment on the extra kick given by the British cats.

The USS Lexington featured in the photos was a converted Essex class, slightly longer than HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal. When cross-decking with a ‘supercarrier’ such as a Forrestal class or later were they launched in this manner?

Thank you Obi for your excellent info 🙂

I once seen a RN produced movie titled “HMS Victorious” on the first frame came the sub title “The most modern Carrier in the fleet” We were shown it in the camp cinema whilst sprogs under training at Lee-on-Solent during 1973.

I searched the FAA muesum shop for a copy without success. I would love to see that movie again.

I remember our Chief Petty Officer trainer laughing out loud when shots of matlots in their dressing gowns on their way from mess deck to bathroom came up. We were cautioned this was purely for the camera and if we followed suit (wearing dressing gowns) when got on board any ship we would be branded “Brown Hatters” the more usual term nowadays is Gay! I waited until leaving the Navy before buying a dressing gown…..

Looking at Obi’s photos it would appear Flyco on the port side of Vic’s island has been rebuilt sometime between the first and the Sidney harbour photo were taken. I hadn’t noticed this before. The movie I seen would have been better Titled “The most re-built carrier in the fleet”.

Paul.

I’d love to see that one. Can you remember whether or not it was colour or b&w and from when in Victorious‘ career it was made, ie was she operating Scimitars or Buccaneers?
I am aware of one video featuring the carrier, it was part of an Imperial War Museum video entitled ‘Sixties Navy’. There were 3 films featured in all, the one relating to Buccaneers mentioned above by Pagen01, a film about HMS Belfast and one entitled ‘HMS Victorious: Out East’. It was about 30 minutes long, colour and made by the ship’s photographic department of the 1961 east of Suez deployment which saw the iconic series of photos of Ark Royal, Hermes and Victorious exercising together in the Med’ as well as helping to deter Iraq from invading Kuwait.

HMS Victorious, particularly during her final commission was easily the most aesthetically pleasing of the Navy’s postwar carriers. I’m still not clear how her bridle catcher worked, it didn’t appear to have any mechanism and it also appeared to be the wrong size and shape to arrest the bridle physically.

I was aware from reading various books on the subject and watching documentaries that only two British carriers had them, HMS Victorious for her1960-62 commission on her port cat’ and HMS Ark Royal post Phantomisation on both of her’s. According to Neil McCart’s ‘HMS Victorious 1937-1969‘ in 1960 money the bridle strops cost £15 apiece and with a 1,000 launches a month the saving was approximately £11,250, not sure what that is in today’s money.
I do wonder however, can anyone explain how Victorious’ bridle catcher worked as it just seemed to be a curved piece of metal with no visible mechanism on it, unlike the ones on Ark Royal and American & French carriers of the period?