Because of the design nature of aircraft carriers in general, onboard armament beyond the air wing was largely defensive. Illustrious' long range reach was through a twin launcher firing the "Sea Dart" surface-to-air missile system. Twenty-two reloads were carried. Close-in defense was through 2 x 20mm Phalanx CIWS installations fore and aft. These were eventually replaced by the "Goalkeeper" system. A pair of single-barreled 20mm automatic cannons rounded out the defensive fit. Beyond the air wing and armament, Illustrious also carried a slew of defensive- and offensive-minded suites - air search radars, missile guidance radars, navigation/direction radars, a now sonar system, echo sounders and chaff launchers.
Illustrious' commissioning was on June 20th, 1982 which saw it appear operationally during the Falklands War with Argentina. This was not by sheer chance for the Illustrious was purposely hurried in its construction and trials to provide a relief vessel for Invincible during the conflict. She entered the active warzone with a complement of ten Sea Harrier aircraft and eleven Sea King helicopters. Nine of the helicopters were fitted with Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) kits while the remaining pair were for the Airborne Electronic Warfare (AEW) role (a typical peacetime air wing consisted of five Sea Harriers and ten helicopters).
Beyond the stated use of Sea Kings, Illustrious eventually fielded various medium-class helicopter types during her career. This has included the Boeing Ch-47 "Chinook" tandem-rotor transport, the Hughes AH-64 "Apache" attack helicopter, the AgustaWestland AW101 "Merlin" multi-role platform, and the AgustaWestland Lynx series. Before the end, she could field up to 22 Harrier strike fighters.
It was eventually decided to field a rotation of two aircraft carriers at any one time allowing the third to enter scheduled refits as needed. At one point, Invincible was considered for sale to Australia (as the HMAS Australia) but this process was cancelled due to the Falklands commitment. Illustrious was eventually brought up to a modernized standard that began with Ark Royal and Invincible followed.
Illustrious was then on station in the Middle East theater during "Operation Southern Watch" which attempted to curtail airborne actions by the government of Iraq, at odds with the West since its invasion of neighboring oil-rich Kuwait. The warship was then on station during the United Nations involvement in the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. Her next major commitment became Sierra Leone during 2000 and she followed this up with a refit period in 2002 - forcing her to miss all of the coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003. Her services were in play once more, this time in a humanitarian role, while retrieving British citizens from war-torn Lebanon in 2006.
All things changed for the vessel when the aging Harrier line (by this time improved "Harrier II" models) was eventually removed from her flight deck in 2010. From this point forward, the warship was used strictly as a conventional helicopter carrier until she was decommissioned on August 28th, 2014. It is intended that the vessel will be spared the scrapman's torch and set aside for preservation. Her successor is to become HMS Queen Elizabeth, the new generation of British carrier that includes HMS Prince of Wales. Commissioning of these vessels is scheduled around 2016.
During her time at sea, she fought under the motto of "Vox Non Incerta", meaning
No Uncertain Sound", and earned herself the nickname of "Lusty".
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.