"First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can."
- Horatio Nelson

HMS Invincible was the Royal Navy's lead ship of the three light aircraft carriers in her class. She was launched on May 3rd, 1977, as the seventh ship to carry the name. She saw action in the Falklands War when she was deployed with HMS Hermes and took over as flagship of the British fleet when Hermes was sold to India. Invincible was also deployed in the Yugoslav Wars and the Second Gulf War (Iraq War). In 2005, she was decommissioned and eventually sold for scrap to the Turkish company Leyal Ship Recycling in February 2011.

HMS Invincible was the Royal Navy's lead ship of the three light aircraft carriers in her class. She was launched on May 3rd, 1977, as the seventh ship to carry the name. She saw action in the Falklands War when she was deployed with HMS Hermes and took over as flagship of the British fleet when Hermes was sold to India. Invincible was also deployed in the Yugoslav Wars and the Second Gulf War (Iraq War). In 2005, she was decommissioned and eventually sold for scrap to the Turkish company Leyal Ship Recycling in February 2011.

As built, Invincible was 677 feet (206 m) long overall and 632 feet (193 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 90 ft (27 m) at the waterline and 115 ft (35 m) at flight deck level, and a draught of 24 ft (7.3 m) at full load. Displacement was 16,000 long tons (16,000 t) standard and 19,500 long tons (19,800 t) full load. The ship was powered by four Rolls-Royce Olympus TBM3 gas turbines, with a maximum total continuous power of 94,000 shaft horsepower (70,000 kW). These drove two propeller shafts via reversible gearboxes, giving a maximum speed of 28 knots (32 mph; 52 km/h). The ship had a range of 5,000 nmi (5,800 mi; 9,300 km) at 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h).

Invincible's flight deck was 550 ft (168 m) long and 55 ft (16.8 m) wide. It was connected to the ship's hangar by two lifts, with dimensions of 54 ft 8 in (16.66 m) x 31 ft 8 in (9.65 m) and rated to carry aircraft with a weight of 35,000 pounds (16,000 kg). The hangar itself was 500 ft (150 m) long, with width varying between 74 and 40 ft (23 and 12 m) and a height of 20 ft (6.1 m). An upward-curved ski-jump ramp at an angle of 6.5 degrees was fitted at the forward end of the ship's flight deck. This allowed the carrier's Sea Harriers to take off with a higher disposal payload, while shortening the take-off run, leaving more space for helicopter operations. The ship had a design air wing of ten Westland Sea King anti-submarine helicopters and eight British Aerospace Sea Harrier STOVL jet fighters.

As built, defensive armament consisted of a twin Sea Dart surface to air missile launcher in the ship's bows. 22 Sea Dart missiles were carried. A Type 1022 long-range air-search radar was mounted above the ship's bridge, with Type 909 fire control directors for the Sea Dart system mounted at the fore and aft end of the ship's superstructure. A Type 992 air-surface search radar was mounted on the ship's mainmast, while a Type 1006 navigation radar was also fitted. Type 184 medium range sonar was also fitted.

Pictured here is a 1:700 scale waterline replica of the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible (R05). Pre-order! Ship Date: May 2024.

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Historical Account: "Sale Rescinded" - On February 25th, 1982, after several months of negotiations, the Australian government announced that it had agreed to buy Invincible for 175 million pounds as a replacement, under the name HMAS Australia, for the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Melbourne. The sale was confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.

On April 2nd, 1982, however, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. Three days later, a naval task force headed by Invincible and Hermes left HMNB Portsmouth bound for the South Atlantic and, on April 20th, the British war cabinet ordered the repossession of the Islands. Along with eight Sea Harriers, the Invincible's airgroup included twelve Sea King helicopters that were slightly larger than the ship had originally been designed to accommodate. Small machine guns were added around the flight deck and island for close-in defence.

On April 23rd, while en route from Ascension Island to the Falklands, Invincible mistakenly locked her Sea Dart missile system on a VARIG Brazilian Airlines DC-10 rather than on the Argentine Air Force Boeing 707 that had been monitoring the fleet's movements. The previous day, Task Group Commander Rear Admiral "Sandy" Woodward had sought permission from Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse to shoot down the 707 as he believed its activity indicated a raid would be launched from the Argentine aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo. As the 707 would be no direct threat to the fleet, Woodward ordered Weapons Tight and the continued tracking of the aircraft's course while a Sea Harrier was dispatched to investigate. The Harrier pilot reported that "it was a Brazilian airliner, with all the normal navigation and running lights on." Details of the Harrier interception appeared in the Brazilian press along with the claim that the DC-10's passengers were "alleged to have been frightened" and Woodward's comment that "[i]nconvenience to passengers' underwear regretted unless any of them were Argentinian".

On June 1st, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser advised the British government that the sale of Invincible to Australia could be cancelled if desired. In July 1983, a year after the end of the Falklands conflict, the Ministry of Defence announced that it had withdrawn its offer to sell Invincible so it could maintain a three-carrier force.

Although Argentina claimed to have damaged the ship during the conflict, this was officially denied by the British government and no evidence of any such damage has been produced or uncovered.