Aircraft Carrier HMS Invincible

These photos feature the Light Aircraft Carrier HMS Invincible during a visit to the Greenock Container Terminal in the year 2000 AD.

They were taken with an early point-and-shoot (PAS) digital camera the Sony S70, one of the first 3MP cameras on the market at the time.

The colour, tones, contrast and exposure look fairly vulgar compared to my Fujifilm DSLR cameras that superseded this.

It was a lovely, warm, calm, balmy day and the public swarmed over the ship in a relaxed atmosphere.

The bridge and funnel on the carrier.

These were the blissful days before the paranoia about security and political correctness took hold.

People were able to get up close and personal with everything including this Sea King Helicopter. 88, two fat ladies. Are you allowed to say that now?

Looking back down the Greenock Esplanade from the main deck.

A Sea Harrier jet.

Radar, masts, antenna, aerials, domes. All very impressive and intimidating.

The carrier was laid out in 1973 at Barrow-in-Furness and launched on 3rd May 1977 AD

The ship was to be sold to Australia in 1982 AD but when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands on 2nd April 1982 AD the sale was cancelled. HMS Invincible headed the Royal Navy task force sent to repossess the Islands.

HMS Invincible also saw service in the Adriatic in operations related to the troubles in Yugoslavia, in Southern Iraq and in the Balkans once again related to the wars around Yugoslavia.

Looking down the water through the summer haze from the Tail of the Bank over the Clyde Estuary towards the Argyll Hills.

An aircraft lift provides a staging for the public to ascend from the ships “hangers” and hold areas.

HMS Invincible was decommissioned in 2005, just 20 months after an extensive refit and modernisation. In April 2011 she was finally sold for scrap to be broken up in Turkey.

Muse on the British Political system.

I consider myself a pragmatist and don’t wish to be party political. However it seems to me that the story of HMS Invincible could represent an attitude of different government ideologies when different parties are in power.

The nature of “see-saw” politics in the UK impacts on the decisions and commitment (or lack of it) to major investments and the associated financial implications to maintain and service them. It all depends on the government and political climate of the day.

One government builds the ship, the next attempts to sell it. It is rescued from the sale by a war. Subsequently its value is recognised, it is retained, perhaps with a beady eye on potential and looming future conflicts. In its final years one government refits it then mothballs it soon after, as contracts are announced for 2 new costly aircraft carriers amid hot debates as to their value in defending the country. The next government sells the ship finally for scrap and probably would have cancelled the contracts for the new carriers had the contracts not been so stitched up that it would be more costly to cancel than continue.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of war, whatever the political flavour we prefer, there can be no denying that this push-pull on major capital projects and military strategies results in additional costs to the public purse, funded by the tax-payer.

The public is not well served by the process that results in this see-saw. It is wasteful and costly. Of course if any one political party were allowed an indefinite free hand, it would almost certainly result in unacceptable extremes in so many areas. In this sense the see-saw provides a balance that protects us from either of the main two “evils” that dominate British politics. But it is wasteful and costly.

You wouldn’t run a business like that.

It is economic madness sponsored by the taxpayer. Either you decide to spend and go for it or you decide to do something else. Starting then stopping all kinds of projects is a waste of resources and no one seems to be accountable, apart from that the electorate can “choose the other party” at the next election.

The British parliament usually has two main political parties sitting on each side of the House of Commons. One in opposition, one in government. They just swap over periodically. That hardly seems like any punishment or threat to either.

The electorate who are loyal to a party seldom seem to remember the scandals and irresponsible conduct when voting. Amid the lies and spin on all sides of the House, further selectively misrepresented by the media, many of the electorate are too ill-informed or not sufficiently educated to make valued judgements on the major issues affecting the country.

Certainly individual MPs count the cost of their conduct occasionally but that is usually due to a “kiss and tell” type scandal or some ill-chosen words/opinions. Hardly very significant compared to the large scale squandering of scarce resources.

I do have an opinion on the rights or wrongs of the decisions and policies of various political parties but this is not the place to express them. This has just been a muse on the process of government.

It makes me wonder whether the government is here to serve the public as we would all be led to believe or whether the public are in fact here to serve and fund the government, fobbed off with an illusion of democracy.

When I set out to post a few pictures of HMS Invincible I had no idea I would end up writing and publishing this.

Stiff upper lip everyone and carry on.

Photography details

The photographs in this post were taken in June 2000 using a Sony S70 (PAS).

All the photographs were taken by Scottish photographer Norman Young and are copyright ©. Please respect copyright.

Should you wish to purchase or use any of the images on this site please get in touch.