Plan to have ‘Ark Royal’ as floating tourist attraction in Gibraltar:

Gibraltar could end up as the home for one of Britain’s most high-profile named naval vessels, one that has a long and rich military history behind it.

All this could materialize if a multi-million pound bid from an international consortium is successful, a proposal that would see the former Royal Navy flag ship and recently decommissioned HMS Ark Royal end up berthed in Gibraltar as a floating tourist attraction.

HMS Ark Royal was decommissioned at a ceremony last March in its home base of Portsmouth. The warship was scrapped after 25 years' service as part of the British Government's defence budget review and was later placed on the Ministry of Defence auction website.

The Ark Royal in fact was originally due to be retired in 2016 but the British government decided to decommission her by early 2011. The vessel's sister ships HMS Invincible was decommissioned in 2005 and Illustrious is expected to be retired in 2014. HMS Albion has taken over as the Royal Navy’s flagship.

The last mission of HMS Ark Royal saw her in operations leading the UK's naval forces during the invasion of Iraq.

Until recently HMS Ark Royal which is an Invincible-class aircraft carrier, was the proud flagship of the Royal Navy. The vessel was built by Swan Hunters on the River Tyne and launched in 1981 by The Queen Mother. The Ark Royal entered service as stated alongside its two similar ships: HMS Invincible and HMS Illustrious and was the fifth Royal Navy ship to bear the famous ‘Ark Royal’ name of the 1587 flagship that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Although originally Ark Royal was supposed to be named HMS Indomitable to match the rest of the class but this was changed due to the public reaction to the loss of the Ark Royal name after the scrapping of the previous Ark Royal in 1980, after 30 years’ service.

There is concern in Britain that the Ark Royal should also end up in a scrapyard, thus the idea of having it berthed in Gibraltar as a showpiece for the Royal Navy is gaining support.

The third Ark Royal went down, torpedoed, during the Second World war in a spot near Gibraltar.

A spokesman for the Gibraltar-based consortium told The Sun: "Having the last Ark here would be a fitting tribute to her and all the others. We know how supportive the British public will be.

Many in Gibraltar would see The Rock as a fitting home to such a naval vessel with such a distinguished name, particularly after the original Ark Royal defeated the Spanish Armada!

It would be a positive sign of Gibraltar's long association with the Royal Navy.

Source: PANORAMA. 4 May 2011

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