Built at Swan Hunter,
shipyard, Wallsend, she was commissioned at sea on 20th June 1982, and
headed directly to the Falkland Islands to relieve HMS Invincible. She
has participated in most major UK and NATO campaigns over the last years;
including the First Gulf War, the Sierra Leone Evacuations and the war in Afghanistan
in 2001. In October 2002, HMS Illustrious undertook a 104 week refit at a total
cost of 118 million pounds. Illustrious was meant to stay in service until
2014, when she was expected to be replaced by the new aircraft
carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. However she was decommissioned in 2014 despite
her replacement not being completed. Attempts were explored to keep her as a
floating museum, but this was not possible and in 2016 it was decided to
sell her for scrap.
|