Posted on 01/23/2008 7:14:39 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Faulty Fridge Causes Aircraft Carrier To Turn Back
Jan 23 2008 Press Association
A FAULTY meat fridge is forcing a Royal Navy aircraft carrier to return to base today just two days after setting off for the Indian Ocean.
HMS Illustrious departed from Portsmouth Naval Base on Monday to head the multi-national Task Group Orion 08 which will be carrying out exercises and diplomatic visits during the next four months in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean.
Navy spokesman Anton Hanney said a refrigeration unit used to store meat on the warship had been found to be in danger of breaking down.
He explained: "She has a minor problem with her refrigeration unit. It hasn't broken down but because she is off the south coast, the sensible thing is for her to come in and get that fixed before she goes off again.
"It wouldn't be prudent for her to go off with the chance of the unit breaking down while she was in warmer climates and then engineers would have to be flown out to her to fix it.
"It will not delay her programme in any significant way, she will be able to make up 24 hours without a problem."
Mr Hanney said Illustrious was likely to undergo the repairs at Portsmouth this afternoon before heading off again tomorrow.
Orion 08, which incorporates more than 2,500 personnel, 13 ships, a nuclear-powered submarine and fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft is aimed at boosting peace and stability in the area by exercising with a number of navies in the region.
During its deployment, the Task Group will be visiting 20 ports in the Mediterranean, Africa, Middle East, South Asia and the Far East.
A navy spokesman said: "The deployment is part of the Royal Navy's regular operating pattern, repeating a similar deployment to the Indian Ocean in 2006.
"It will exercise deploying a maritime strike force for a prolonged period away from the home base and working with allies."
In both displaced tonnage and length, HMS Illustrious is comparable to US aircraft carriers of WWII.
Without reading the article, I’m going to guess it was made by Lucas...
What do I win?
That's an improvement over what they did on the Maryland after it weathered a Kamikaze attack off Okinawa. The remains were dripping in cargo nets outside the mess hall.
One of the few things my Dad will talk about from that war...
They're not talking about the freezer chest in your garage or basement.
I though all it tok to make the Royal Navy go was rum, sodomy and the lash...
We had an S-3 one night snag the wrong wire coming in. At some point before it went over the side they had iniated jetison. By the time it happened one went straight into the hull.
At least the resulting headache was very short.
Yep. We lost quite a few in the late 70’s. A six month deployemnt meant several weren’t coming back. Some were plane crashes or catrostrophic failures, one was ran over during in the hanger bay a plane movement, several died of natural causes. 5200 people things are gonna happen like that. One even jumped off the ship into the river coming back in to port go figure. They found him washed up two days later.
Rest assured when we useless Limeys do, we will shoot the enemy.
Not allies.
To be fair, it was launched in 1981...
CVF - Royal Navy Future Aircraft Carrier, United Kingdom
The new UK CVF Royal Navy aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are expected to enter service in 2014 and 2016.
“CVF carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are expected to enter service in 2012 and 2015.”The design continues to evolve but CVF is expected to displace 65,000t, a size between the USA’s 100,000t Nimitz class and the French 43,000t Charles de Gaulle class aircraft carriers, and three times larger than the 20,000t UK Invincible class carriers.
The carrier will have a maximum speed of 25kt. At 15kt the range is 10,000nm and the ship carries food, fuel and stores for an endurance of seven days between replenishments. Each ship will have a complement of typically 1,200, including 600 aircrew.
http://zope06.v.servelocity.net/hjs/sections/britain_world/images/hms_queen_elizabeth.jpg
Let me get this straight. I posted a thread yesterday about this task force and got 2 or 3 replies. A thread comes on today about HMS Illustrious returning to port to fix some stuff and every Yank with an anti british handicap rips the s**t out of us?!!!
STFU boys.
Thats 2 supercarriers mate, the Prince of Wales and the Queen Elizabeth. 65,000 tonnes each, 40-odd strong air-wing, and will be the most advanced ship on the seas.
Its a common misconception that we the British drink warm beer, just as its probably a misconception that all Yanks like the UK.
If we ever got served a warm beer in the pub we would beat the landlord to death.
I dont know if you have any grasp of geography, but with the ship just off the South East coast of the UK, returning to harbour in Portsmouth isnt exactly a stretch.
Yawn, wow mate, really funny as always. you boys make such great jokes, honestly, its ‘hilarious’, as you are wont to say in the US of A.
PS. Your taglines reads ‘terrorism and liberalism never sleep and neither do I’. Does that make you a Liberal Terrorist???
Thanks mate for helping to set the record straight. That little carrier of ours has more combat experience that most of the US carriers in any event. It will be a sad day when they are all mothballed.
Somebody was moaning that you guys should have flown whatever equipment out to the carrier ... I posted the picture to point out that she's a bit small, compared to what that fellow was likely thinking.
To be fair, it was launched in 1981...
USS Enterprise (if you're wondering what a "supercarrier" really looks like) was launched in 1961. I seem to recall that in the Age of Sail, it was not uncommon for Royal Navy ships to be older than most of their crew, possibly including even the Captain. Looks like we're there, again ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
