An Upgraded HMS Illustrious Begins Sea Trials

[MoD_RSS]

HMS Illustrious has begun sea trials following the completion of a £40m maintenance and upgrade programme.

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[wurz]

Upgraded, shouldn't that read "Re-painted"?

 

[Ninja_Stoker]

Upgraded, shouldn't that read "Re-painted"?

Tsk, such cynicism.

It's been converted to helicopter carrier.

The 22,000-tonne ship, affectionately known as 'Lusty', left Rosyth in Fife over the weekend after 16 months in the dockyard where she underwent modifications to turn her into a helicopter and commando carrier, capable of carrying a force of up to 20 helicopters and 600 fully kitted-out personnel.

As we all know, to increase deck space the ski-ramp will have been removed as it will have no useful function beyond downhill skiing, as can erm, plainly be seen...

 

[Naval_Gazer]

Upgraded, shouldn't that read "Re-painted"?

At £40m, that's over 42,500,000 litres (42,500 cubic metres) of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Matinee Grey Paint (excluding labour) but a lot more if it's Pusser's Grey.

 

[wurz]

Yep, I would have thought gas axing off the ramp would be pretty straight forward. Couldn't it carry helicopters and Booty's before or have they built proper messes for embarked forces now?

If not then it seems to me it can do the same without having the option of fast jets so cynicism or not it seems to me to be more of a downgrade than an upgrade. Hopefully someone in the know will come along and explain the finer points.

 

[Naval_Gazer]

Isn't the space underneath the ramp required for hiding stuff during Captain's rounds?

 

[Longgone]

Was'nt this supposed to have been a 'through deck' Cruiser,so what's the lump for then?, exercise for the boot's?.

 

[scouse]

Bit wishfull thinking in the MODs News (1.)... we couldnt muster 20 choppers , and probably not 600 booties?? as well. To ever embark onto Lusty, we have some small ships now, without a dedicated flight!!! (2) a slip of the tongue when talking about Queen Elizabeth class Carriers Plural as one is never going to be commissioned... :scratch: Lusty goes in 2014, and The Mighty Ocean is the FAA sole surviving flat top:cry: ... not good news is it!!!!

 

[off_les_aura]

From wurz -

Yep, I would have thought gas axing off the ramp would be pretty straight forward. Couldn't it carry helicopters and Booty's before or have they built proper messes for embarked forces now?

If not then it seems to me it can do the same without having the option of fast jets so cynicism or not it seems to me to be more of a downgrade than an upgrade. Hopefully someone in the know will come along and explain the finer points.

For those who have never been onboard a CVS, there are 2 messdecks in the ramp-spaces (1B and 1C) and a large layapart store so removing the ramp would have reduced the amount of living space.

That said, I would also be interested to know what modifications have been done. I can see how maybe some of the AE workshop facilities that are Harrier-specific (Battery shop, LMR, Radio workshops, Bombhead spaces etc) would have been ripped out but apart from that, superficially I don't see any real evidence of 16-months' work.

 

[flymo]

Can someone put the garden wall back on the bridge roof please. That used to be my off watch action station. And unlike the Invincible, we were able to shelter out of the wind there.

 

[soleil]

For those who have never been onboard a CVS, there are 2 messdecks in the ramp-spaces (1B and 1C) and a large layapart store so removing the ramp would have reduced the amount of living space.

That said, I would also be interested to know what modifications have been done. I can see how maybe some of the AE workshop facilities that are Harrier-specific (Battery shop, LMR, Radio workshops, Bombhead spaces etc) would have been ripped out but apart from that, superficially I don't see any real evidence of 16-months' work.

Media Centre | Babcock International Group PLC

 

[Flammin Gallah]

Smiles are free

Will the Booties that are embarking be greeted with the briefing that includes the imortal line.....'Welcome to the Lusty, where smiles are free'.....from that god awful doco about the Illustrious.

 

[off_les_aura]

Thanks sol

 

[wurz]

Can someone put the garden wall back on the bridge roof please. That used to be my off watch action station. And unlike the Invincible, we were able to shelter out of the wind there.

Pardon my ignorance but what is an off watch action station? I guess it's a woo thing on normal ships I only remember being at action stations, in defence watches or in normal cruising. Cheers.

 

[Ninja_Stoker]

Yep, during my time on Lusty in the mid 90's, whilst the rest of us went to action stations, the Woos were still entitled to their twelve a day & any extra of a night time being a bonus. (Kaboom, Crash. I thang yew, I'm here all week.....)

Bizarrely the Woos that were accommodated in the humprty bit used to like nothing more than having 3/8" steel plate between themselves and a fully laden & armed Harrier FA2 thundering a couple of feet above their heads in the bunk-space. Oddly they all used to bawl & shout to each other in the dining hall during scran too.

With regard the merits of keeping the tiny bunk-space for the benefit of 600 Booties, I'm afraid it doesn't hold water. When the Squadrons embarked (801, 820 & 849B) the ship's company increased by 600 souls anyway, so that accommodation broadly existed already. In addition the rev oval of SeaDart yonks back & the redundancy of the deep magazines down Golf section with the loss of fast jet capability means there's oodles of space for Royal.

 

[wet_blobby]

Will the Booties that are embarking be greeted with the briefing that includes the imortal line.....'Welcome to the Lusty, where smiles are free'.....from that god awful doco about the Illustrious.

Doubt it, more like the immortal line...

"Which one of you'ze fcukers is the father of....."

 

[flymo]

Pardon my ignorance but what is an off watch action station? I guess it's a woo thing on normal ships I only remember being at action stations, in defence watches or in normal cruising. Cheers.

On Illustrious I was a Golly. I was in the 1st Stbd watch, so if one of the two starboard watches were to be on watch I would be in the ops room - if a port watch were on watch I'd be "off watch" and have to go upstairs into the bleeding wind on the GDP as GPMG gun crew.

 

[wurz]

Thankyou. Sounds like too many warrants at depco's reinventing wheels and chasing BEM's to me. :-D

 

[Ninja_Stoker]

Thankyou. Sounds like too many warrants at depco's reinventing wheels and chasing BEM's to me. :-D

That's not the end of it, there's a floating paradeground on top & a lot of very clever individuals at the rank of Commander, under-stimulated, who idle away the hours at sea dreaming up wizard ideas to bugger everybody else around :-D