British aircraft carrier (HMS Invincible) for sale | Hacker News Reader

British aircraft carrier (HMS Invincible) for sale

edisposals.com

From the fact that they're very interested in telling you its precise metal content I think we can assume that they're not expecting to sell it for a floating museum or a billionaire's private yacht.

There's no price given, but I would estimate that it will go for approximately the cost of ten thousand tons of scrap steel, minus the cost of towing it to China.

Properly, but then the fun things usually happens when somebody does something you wouldn't expect.

Sadly, I don't have the money to buy it; would be awesome as a place to create a free port of call though. Work on your startups while sailing the mediteranian. Plus no pirates are stupid enough to attack an aircraft carrier.

Engines - Removed

Generators and Pumps - Generally unserviceable or not working

Doesn't quite seem so seaworthy now, eh? If the Royal Navy wanted to sell it as a ship, they would have sold it to an allied country; in fact, there were plans to sell it to Australia in the 80's, but the Falkland Islands War queered the deal.

The carrier isn't tremendously useful though--it can only carry helicopters and Harriers, not full aircraft.

Why is a Harrier or a helicopter not a full aircraft? They certainly look and behave like aircraft.

Well, they are but they also have vertical take-off. What the person above was probably trying to say is that it is no good for launching fighter jets.

More to the point, while your hypothetical eccentric billionaire can probably afford a helicopter or two, a Harrier is currently the only kind of fixed-wing aircraft that can launch from these ships--good luck finding one on the open market.

The Harrier actually launches horizontally on carriers like the Invincible, but they require the ski-jump to launch, and the deck isn't, I think, long enough for conventional carrier aircraft.

The Harrier does not usually launch vertically from these carrier either, but they are STOVL aircraft; I think you meant to say that the original poster meant to say that non-STOVL jets struggle to launch from them, which is still quite a leap from claiming that neither a helicopter nor a STOVL-capable plane is a full aircraft.

Apologies for the lack of clarity. I think by now you know what I meant, though.

If it can't launch fighter jets, then what is the sloped ramp used for?

Harriers. I don't know if ordinary fighter jets would even benefit from a ski jump, but the ski jump is to make up for how short the deck is (generally too short to launch a jet).

I thought harriers performed vertical takeoff, do they do traditional carrier launches as well?

Yes! Harriers can perform vertical takeoff, but they can carry much more weight launching horizontally. More weight means carrying more fuel and more weapons, which makes it much more useful.

See the links below; compare "max takeoff weight" for vertical takeoff ("VTO") and rolling takeoff (also called short takeoff, or "STO").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Harrier_II#Specifications_....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_AV-8B_Harrier...

I bet with some clever marketing you could get more if you sold a good portion of it off as keepsakes. It was at one time the Royal Navy flagship, and was in the Falkland Islands war. "Own a piece of British history!"

Soon to be joined, I expect, by one of the two brand new ones. Look sharp and you can also buy the aircraft to go with it, as the UK has decided to simply hope no carrier-borne aircraft will be needed for a decade or so.

Why?

Because it's cheaper.

I imagine the Falkland Islanders must be rather concerned at this development.

I like the "Add to Wish List" button on the website.

Please Santa, please!

True, also the "Availability: In stock" is pretty funny.

No engine, and the pumps and generator are bad. Seems like a good fixer upper (no thanks)?

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