If you’re kicking yourself because you missed the sale of HMS Invincible a few months back, take heart: HMS Ark Royal is now up for grabs.
Britain put the mothballed carrier Ark Royal up for sale Monday on a military auction website.
The former flagship of the Royal Navy was decommissioned this month, four years ahead of schedule, as part of defense spending cuts. Bidders have until June 13 to make an offer. No minimum price was set.
The story goes on to say that while the carrier could be sold for scrap (China bought Invincible and in turn sold it to Turkey to cut into little bits) there is one initiative in play to turn it into a heliport on the Thames.
(Gouge — MA)
– Ward
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Sell it to Argentina.
the funniest thing today
thanks for making my day happier
:)
Perfect, now when America executes its plan to take over the world, there will be no nation left with a navy to oppose us!
Flags always need more stars
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! (Mad Scientist laugh),
Their onto our plot, Pretending to not want to conqure the world when we are!
Be real, who would want a 1980's British built ship!
Your industry was a laugh then, sell it to Muammar al-Qaddafi.
No minimum price was set? I'd buy it, but I'm afraid my wife would have it out for me! :)
Brilliant thinking from the UK government.
Get rid of the carriers and their Harrier aircraft, destroy the Nimrod recconaissance aircraft and issue redundancy notices to 11,000 military personnel; then start a war in an African country 3000 miles away.
And retire thier almost new Sentinel R1 once thier not needed in Afgan.
What country is going to attack Britain? The UK shouldn't be in Iraq or Afghanistan and should keep to its own borders and other protectorates like The Falklands. :)
Well, technically they're not getting out of the carrier business, they're just selling off their Invivibles to make way for the new carriers that they plan on building, all 1 or 2 of them. Then there's also their plan for sharing a carrier with the French, like that will work out well.
Free to India if they buy 120 eurofighters – decommissioned just in time to be thrown into a deal to go with $1.2 billion in "aid"
I feel bad for you Britons, at least our politicians haven't done this yet.
They've gotta cut something. Kiss SS and Medicare goodbye.
Bye bye. Ill be willing to save my own money for retirement as long as the government saves its money and invests in what is defined in the Constitution such as DEFENSE!
I'm not really expecting to see my share of it anyway.
damn you musta missed al those brand new frigates they decommisiond in the 80's lol. mothballed at Bremerton naval ship yard!.
Say what you will. At least their politicians are actually taking action about their deficit, which is more than any of our have done thus far. They've made serious cuts to their social/welfare programs as well, hence the demonstrations and riots in Britain of late.
While I recognize the need to cut this accursed deficit I'd rather not see our military gutted for the next two decades here.
Its not like Gates has not been pro-active at cutting waste. So yes we are taking
" baby steps ".
Cutting a defecit is one thing. Abandoning expeditionary capability is something else entirely. The British are cap sizing the boat the opposite way from the US, but they are still cap sizing the boat.
I don't buy our DoDs bottom line at all. At the risk of sounding like some conspiracy nut it really is a big magic show as far as I'm concerned. I think we could spend less and be more capable and more relevant, if we weren't constantly fear mongered into paying for the last 5% of capability for the Tom Clancy scenarios.
The popular media is directing the perceived capability of the military in the brains of Congressmen, think tanks and eventually it gets to the heads of people in the military. I imagine it doesn't hurt DARPA or any company's bottom line to answer the following question (and those in its ilk)
"Why can't we fire on those terrorists from space?!?!"
The politico fear is a drawdown to the 1930's and getting smacked in World War 3. However, overspending without economic diversification will cripple a nation just as easily. If we are like the Confederate South, rich in money but poor in industry…what happens next?
What a shame. Sold for scrap to Turkey? Wouldn't it be better as a tourist attraction?
I'm hoping the Powerball comes through for me so I can place a bid. It would look good in Duluth. And if the Brits changed their mind, I'd even lease it back to them.
Defend Lake Superior from the Canadians. Interesting to think how the Canadians would react at first glance haha.
Crazy. If you go on the disposal site, you can actually add the aircraft carrier to your 'wishlist'. lol
I was thinking of putting in a bid, but I really don’t know what I’d do with all the space.
I just don’t have enough furniture in my apartment to fill an aircraft carrier, even a little one like Ark Royal.
I'm surprise that some super rich mogul somewhere doesn't buy it an turn it into his/her own private super yacht. Imagine the envy of all the other super rich moguls if you had a decommissioned carrier as your own yacht. While a lot of the super yachts have a helo pad for one helo, with the Ark Royal you'd have enough room for multiple helos; and with a little extra money it might be possible to convert a Gulfstream jet so that it would be able to take off and land on a carrier.
Hell, if I had the money Bill Gates has, I would buy this and turn it into my personal yacht / floating aviation museum. And I would like to see pirates try to take me hostage when I buy some remote controlled 30mm cannons for where the CIWS used to be.
Had the same thought.
Imagine some Russian oligarch entertaining friends on his new toy – the former flagship of the Brit fleet!
Kinda funny that way, citizens will riot and complain if the country goes to war, but they will also riot and complain if the country has to make civic cuts.
To the winner goes the spoils… if you aren't winning anything, there are no spoils. There are only so much natural resources in British territories and what made them so successful in the past was that they were amazing fighters (same story for Japan, small island nations are typically highly competitive).
If Britain doesn't offer something BIG to the world, something only they can provide, they will dwindle smaller and smaller. Same story for any nation that chooses not to conquer.
Sad Sad anymore cuts and the Brits will have NO military at all.