Ark Royal        

What’s in a name? The first Ark Royal was a 690-ton, 38-gun, timber sailing vessel built for Sir Walter Raleigh and which, under the command of Lord Howard of  Effingham, admiral of the English fleet, helped see off the Spanish Armada in 1588. Four centuries on, its flight deck warmed by Fife sunshine, the fifth ship to bear the name Ark Royal is berthed at the MoD Base at Crombie, near Rosyth, where the software for the missiles toted by its Sea Harrier jets is being upgraded. The fifth vessel to bear the proud name. Ark Royal was built by Swan Hunters Ship Builders’ yard at Wallsend in December 1978 and launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. HMS Ark Royal was accepted into service on July 1 1985.HMS Ark Royal is larger than her 2 sisters, Invincible and Illustrious, at 210 metres (683 feet) long. She has a maximum beam of 36 metres (117 feet) and a displacement of 20,000 tonnes. 4 Olympus gas turbine engines (like Concorde’s) propel the ship, which give a maximum speed in excess of 30 knots. A steeper ski jump than in the other ships of this class is fitted at the forward end of the flight deck. HMS Ark Royal is planned to remain in active service until 2015 when the next generation of aircraft carriers will enter service. The Ship's motto is 'Zeal Does Not Rest.' Saturday, 11 January, 2003, 13:18 GMT Ark Royal sets sail for Gulf. The ship left Portsmouth to the cheers of relatives The crew of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal have begun their voyage to the Gulf as part of the biggest British naval deployment for two decades. The 20,000-ton flagship began leaving Portsmouth at 1230 GMT with a total crew on board of 1,100.