HMS Invincible sold to Turkish ship recyclers

[cabatli_53]

The aircraft carrier HMS Invincible has been sold to a Turkish scrapyard which specialises in recycling ships.

The carrier, which saw action in the Falklands war, was sold through an internet site.

Leyal Ship Recycling, which is based near Izmir, was chosen ahead of a bid by a UK-based Chinese businessman.

Lam Kin-bong – who owns restaurants in the West Midlands – had offered £5m and wanted to turn the former warship into an international school in China.

But a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “After 25 years of service HMS Invincible was decommissioned nearly six years ago and having reached the end of her distinguished career, it is right that we secure a good financial return for the taxpayer.

“The bid from Leyal Ship Recycling does this and also ensures she is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.”

Leyal has been involved in the scrapping of several Royal Navy ships – the destroyers Cardiff, Newcastle and Glasgow and auxiliary ship RFA Oakleaf.

HMS Invincible is expected to be towed from Portsmouth by the end of March and is expected to arrive in Turkey four weeks later.

It will take eight months to dismantle

Short URL: HMS Invincible sold to Turkish ship recyclers | TRDEFENCE

 

[Pax Ottomana]

Nice aircraft carrier with historical significance. Turkey's scrapping it partially for reverse engineering for Turkey's LHD project, perhaps?

BTW, love your articles on TRDEFENCE Cabatli bro, you are on your way to becoming a great defence analyst. You should do that for a living.

 

[Jigs]

It would be interesting to find out if this recycling company is state owned or private.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

I think we have not seen the last of that aircraft carrier ... it will be fixed up 100% sure on that

 

[Obambam]

Yay, Turkey can fix it up and call it "Mustafa Kemal Atatürk"

 

[Saithan]

That would be a bad move i think. It will be recycled as promised, however I believe a proper picture taking and analysis will be done before it's scrapped. It might be useful in the future as input in future projects.

I also believe it's outdated enough for the british not to care much about it...

 

[AerospaceEngineer]

Just a question.

Does Turkey has the desire or need to operate an aircraft carrier battle group??

Please answer.

 

[Saithan]

I am not convinced that we need an aircraft carrier, as we're not hellbent on travelling around the world waging wars. But it's a nice way of flexing muscles.

Do keep in mind that a carrier needs destroyers, fregats and covettes in the convoy for protection. (and probably other things as well).

 

[Jigs]

@AerospaceEngineer
hmm no not really. However we need a LPD/LHD we have a project out for it. I think this is just going to get recycled by the company and nothing more.

 

[turkaholic]

Yeah, we really don't need one. We should just protect our borders and that is all I want.