HMS Ark Royal

Welcome to the website of HMS Ark Royal. I hope you will find the web pages informative and that you are able to learn more about the Ship, her people and her activities of interest. Please have a good look round our site and let us know if there is anything else you would like to see or want to find out and we will try to help.

Fleet Flagship

This is 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 1 July 1985 and finally Commissioned, again by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on 1 November 1985.

HMS Ark Royal is larger than her 2 sisters, Invincible and Illustrious, at 211.4 metres (693 feet) long. She has a maximum beam of 35 metres (114.7 feet) and a displacement of 20,235 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.

The ship's motto is 'Zeal Does Not Rest'. 

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