HMS Illustrious Departure

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7 December 2016 at 16:22 #9496
Colin Bishop
Moderator
@colinbishop34627
Illustrious departing Portsmouth to be broken up
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7 December 2016 at 16:22 #68960
Colin Bishop
Moderator
@colinbishop34627
I went down to Portsmouth today to see HMS Illustrious setting out on her final journey.

Further photos can be found in my album:

**LINK**

Colin
7 December 2016 at 17:49 #68961
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
Illustrious departing Portsmouth to be broken up by Colin Bishop

Colin

Will Mrs Bishop not get a tad fed up with Illustrious being sat in your back garden as you get busy with the gas axe?

Paul
7 December 2016 at 18:01 #68962
Colin Bishop
Moderator
@colinbishop34627
Ha Ha! Just enjoy the photos Paul!

Colin
7 December 2016 at 18:11 #68963
Paul T
Participant
@pault84577
The photos are great and thank you for sharing them with us.

So is Illustrious at 1:100 going to be your next project?

Paul
7 December 2016 at 19:44 #68964
mike farrell
Participant
@mikefarrell21522
Hi All The saddest part for me is that it has to go to Turkey to be scrapped . Can we do anything right .Sorry for the anger or is it important that we get £2 million for the scrap

As a country we used to take pride in resurrecting our nautical history ,save nothing from our generation . My lord where have we gone wrong .

Maybe some model builder will build it for posterity Sorry for the anger Michael
7 December 2016 at 21:10 #68966
Colin Bishop
Moderator
@colinbishop34627
Yes it's a shame Mike but in reality Illustrious would not have been a good candidate for preservation, just a money pit. The size of the hangar is quite small for the size of the ship (which is why HMS Eagle was chosen to stay in service instead) and the rest of the ship is a rabbit warren of small compartments which would be a nightmare to convert for general public access if it were possible at all. The chances that she could pay her way would be pretty minimal and no public subsidy could be expected in the current economic climate. She has not participated in any major battles and therefore doesn't have a high public profile as, say, does HMS Belfast. Mooring opportunities and costs for such a large vessel also present a big problem.

Existing preserved ships struggle to pay their way, even those in Portsmouth and Chatham dockyards and their future is always precarious. The general public doesn't appreciate our shipping and naval heritage as it once did, and is often quite ignorant of it so ship preservation is always an uphill struggle. Not the way we would want it perhaps but that is the reality.

Colin
7 December 2016 at 22:48 #68967
Tim Cooper
Participant
@timcooper90034
I was lucky a few weeks ago to visit the USS Midway in San Diego. It seemed very busy but the ship was enormous and was more like a floating museum with lots of aircraft and helicopters to look at and sit in. It has the advantage of a regular tourist trade and being next to a Naval base.

A great visit .

Tim
8 December 2016 at 10:38 #68968
Paul Freshney
Participant
@paulfreshney24971
Colin

I think you mean HMS Ocean and not HMS Eagle!

Another reason for keeping HMS Ocean was/is that Chinook helicopters fitted the lifts according to reports a couple of years' ago, whereas those of the Invincible class did not and in any event, once the Harrier force was scrapped, a ship with a ski-jump was no longer needed until the Lightning 2 enters service.

Paul F
8 December 2016 at 10:43 #68969
Colin Bishop
Moderator
@colinbishop34627
Sorry Paul. yes, Ocean of course! Must have been all the excitement getting to me!

Colin
8 December 2016 at 19:18 #68971
Steve Walker 1
Participant
@stevewalker1
I agree with Tim and Paul.

I was at USS Yorktown berthed in Charleston a few weeks ago and have to admit that naval history and a visitor experience is something the US just seems to do better. A whole day isn't enough to explore but they have a knack of mooring their vessels near so many other historical sites, in the above case Fort Sumter. There were volunteers or paid staff at every point keen to tell you the background or interesting anecdotes. At our sites you'd have to be able to read signs in size 12 font.

Chatham and HMS Belfast are good but I really think we've missed the boat in so many respects. Have to face it, not enough folk care.
8 December 2016 at 20:30 #68974
Colin Bishop
Moderator
@colinbishop34627
It is certainly true that the Americans put more value into preserving their historic ships than we do in the UK although I have seen reports that some of them are in a precarious financial situation as the old Navymen volunteers fade away and income from the public falls off too. In the UK the PR people I dealt with when preparing my MB articles on Portsmouth, Chatham and HMS Belfast all confirmed that it is a constant struggle to keep organising events and finding revenue sources to meet costs. Getting people to visit isn't the problem, it's getting them to come back again that is the issue.

The USA and indeed Canada, do place a lot of importance in preserving their history but you have to remember that this only goes back 250 years or so. It is a completely different time scale to Europe which has sites like Stonehenge and Knossos etc. which go back 3,500 years or more and lots of stuff since then to preserve. On this sort of timeline the Romans are actually quite recent!

Colin
8 December 2016 at 20:52 #68976
David Allison 6
Participant
@davidallison6
What a crying shame a giant like the Illustrious has left on its final voyage. I worked on her construction from laying the keel, general construction, splitting out on launch day and fitting out during my Shipwright days in the Neptune Yard. A massive ship, and at the time of leaving the Tyne, was packed with all the latest weaponry and technology. I believe that all the warships of that era are either scrapped or waiting to be scrapped ( Newcastle, Glasgow etc) and have not been replaced. Lets hope we do not rue this in the future.
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