ILLUSTRIOUS TO BE REDEDICATED AFTER VETERAN CARRIER TAKES A BOW
With a greatly enhanced capability, strike carrier HMS Illustrious has succeeded her sister-ship HMS Invincible as Fleet Flagship and will be rededicated on August 4.
The rededication ceremony, conducted at sea off Portsmouth, follows the ship’s £120-million refit and months of trials and sea training. Chief guest at the ceremony will be Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band.
Next year the third of the Navy’s carriers, HMS Ark Royal, is due to return to the Fleet after her regeneration and upgrade conducted at Rosyth. When she returns to Portsmouth the Royal Navy will have in service two of the most powerful and capable warships in its history.
Meanwhile, the veteran carrier HMS Invincible, one of the oldest ships in the Fleet, will enter a state of reduced readiness. The decision to rest her from active service a few months earlier than previously planned has been taken on the basis of current operational assessments and will allow resources to be re-directed to the Service’s greater benefit.
Invincible, launched in 1977 and commissioned three years later, entered Portsmouth Naval Base on August 1. Almost 250 family members of the ship’s company joined the carrier for her entry into Portsmouth, which was marked by a gun salute and fly-past.
The warship will be at reduced readiness until she becomes due for disposal at the long-planned date of 2010, when the scheduled entry into service of the new generation of much larger aircraft carriers will be approaching. - Month - Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec - Year - 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999
The decommissioning ceremony for the former British Royal Navy flagship HMS Invincible has taken place in Portsmouth, Hampshire today.

The ceremony marks the end of the aircraft carrier's 25-year career. Invincible was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 11 July 1980 and first saw service in the Falklands War in 1982. The Duke of York served aboard Invincible as a helicopter pilot.

Pipers played aboard Invincible while it sailed into Portsmouth Naval Base on 1 August for the last time. A gun salute and a flypast also marked the event.

Last month, Invincible undertook a UK tour to celebrate the ship's silver jubilee. In June, the carrier acted as flagship for the International Fleet Review to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that Invincible would be 'mothballed' for five-years in a state of reduced readiness. 

It is unlikely that Invincible will ever be recommissioned into the Royal Navy.

The MoD said that a decision to either sell, scrap or even turn Invincible into a museum ship will be made in 2010.

The decommissioning took place six-months earlier than planned and has prompted fears that the Royal Navy will be left overstretched. The move has been criticised by the opposition Conservative Party, who say that it will reduce the Royal Navy's capability at a time of "unprecedented international tension". 

Ark Royal is about to undergo a major refit at Rosyth, which leaves Illustrious — the Royal Navy's new Fleet Flagship — as the only aircraft carrier on active service. 

The three aircraft carriers are expected to be replaced by 2015 with two 65,000 tonne aircraft carriers — believed to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.