For Sale: Ideal project for a sailing historian!

Do you have plenty of spare time? Lots of space and a few million pound lying around?  If you said yes, then perhaps you might be in with a chance of buying HMS Illustrious!

Following reports that government efforts to find a heritage solution to look after the aging aircraft carrier have failed, the MOD have now put her up for sale for scrap.

History of HMS Illustrious

HMS Illustrious was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the second of three Invincible-class ships constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name Illustrious, and was affectionately known to her crew as “Lusty”. In 1982, the conflict in the Falklands necessitated that Illustrious be completed and rushed south to join her sister ship HMS Invincible and the veteran carrier HMS Hermes. To this end, she was brought forward by three months for completion at Swan Hunter Shipyard, then commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea en-route to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on board extra stores and crew. She arrived in the Falklands to relieve Invincible on 28 August 1982 in a steam past.

Returning to the United Kingdom, she was not formally commissioned into the fleet until 20 March 1983. After the Falklands War, she was deployed on Operation Southern Watch in Iraq, then Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia during the 1990s and Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone in 2000. An extensive re-fit during 2002 prevented her from involvement in the 2003 Iraq War, but she was repaired in time to assist British citizens trapped by the 2006 Lebanon War.

Following the retirement of her fixed-wing British Aerospace Harrier II aircraft in 2010, Illustrious operated as one of two Royal Navy helicopter carriers. By 2014 she was the oldest ship in the Royal Navy’s active fleet (having 32 years’ service) and will not be replaced until HMS Queen Elizabeth is commissioned in 2017.

The UK Ministry of Defence announced on 10 September 2012 that once decommissioned, Illustrious would be preserved for the nation. Illustrious was formally decommissioned on 28 August 2014. On 6 May 2016, the MOD’s Disposal Authority placed a notice for the potential sale of HMS Illustrious.

Anyone interested in buying Lusty should note that a Bank Guarantee of £2 Million will be required by the MOD and it will not be released until the recycling of the vessel is nearing completion.

News report on Lusty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=BzHHEn9-R3Y

You can find out more information from here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/520925/20160208-LUST_SALES_General_Part_Feb_16.pdf

Did you serve on Lusty? Have you got any pics and memories that you’d like to share? If yes, please contact us by using our handy form here.