PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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HMS "ARK ROYAL" ANCHOR
HMS "Ark Royal" was was a Royal Navy aircraft carrier launched from the Cammell, Laird shipyard in 1955. She was the first such vessel to have an angled flight deck, which allowed landing and take-off to be carried out at the same time. She was a Devonport-based ship and underwent several re-fits at the Royal Dockyard. On December 4th 1978 she entered the Dockyard for the last time and was decommissioned on February 14th the following year. At first there was a plan to preserve the "Ark Royal" but on March 29th 1980 it was announced that she was to be scrapped instead. On Thursday April 24th 1980 Lord Hill-Norton, Admiral of the Fleet, on behalf of the Board of Admiralty, presented one of the anchors to the City of Plymouth and this was unveiled at the junction of Armada Way and Notte Street. Also present on that occasion, in addition to the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, were Admiral Sir Peter and Lady Berger, the Port Admiral, and Rear-Admiral and Mrs Ted Anson, the "Ark Royal's" last commanding officer. After the event, the guests went to the Council House, where they named one of the committee rooms the "Ark Royal Room". The ship herself was towed out of Devonport Dockyard on Monday September 22nd 1980 bound around Land's End for the Cairnryan scrapyard near Stranraer, Scotland. Principal Source:
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