In mid-2003, HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier entered a further refit at Rosyth Dockyard. This refit involved the total rebuild of the ski jump, the adding of better communications and reconfiguring the ship so that it can be more quickly switched between the light aircraft carrier and helicopter carrier roles. The refit should enable her to carry on until 2014, when it is expected that the first of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers will come into service. Illustrious returned to Portsmouth following the completion of the refit in December 2004.
HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier was re-dedicated in 2005, and following the death of the ship's original sponsor Princess Margaret, her daughter Lady Sarah Chatto agreed to attend in a new role as Ship's Friend.
| General characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Displacement: | 22, 000 tons |
| Length: | 686 ft (209 m) |
| Beam: | 118 ft (36 m) |
| Draught: | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × Rolls-Royce Olympus TM3B gas turbines providing 97, 000 hp (75 MW) 8 Paxman Valenta diesel generators. |
| Speed: | 30 knots (56 km/h), 18 knots (33 km/h) cruising |
| Range: | 5, 000 nautical miles at 18 knots (9, 300 km at 33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 685 crew 366 Fleet Air Arm |
| Armament: | 3 × Goalkeeper CIWS 2 × GAM-B01 20 mm close-range guns |
| Aircraft carried: | Harrier GR.7/9 fighter/bombers; Sea King ASaC, Merlin HM Mk.1 helicopters |
HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy carried out two weeks of fixed wing flying serials exercises in the North Sea 20 miles (32 km) off Hartlepool in March 2007, during which seven GR9 Harriers from IV (Four) Squadron Joint Force Harrier touched down on her flight-deck. Also during these exercises, seven of her crew had to be airlifted to hospital in Middlesbrough on 13 March suffering from fume inhalation and throat and eye irritation after an accident with chemicals in cleaning a junior ratings' toilet area. HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier sailed on to Portsmouth, where they rejoined her on leaving hospital.
From 25 to 30 May 2007, after an exercise in the Baltic Sea, HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier was the first British aircraft carrier ever to dock in Tallinn, Estonia. The visit provided rest for the ship's crew after the Baltic exercise, acted as a diplomatic visit, and also involved naval and air exercises with the Estonian Defence Forces.
Next, in July 2007, HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier took part in a US-led Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFX) off the eastern coast of the United States (for which she took on-board 14 US Harrier jets and 200 US Marines) before returning to Portsmouth the following month.
HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier set sail from Portsmouth on 21 January 2008 as head of the multi-national Task Group 328.01, under Operation Orion 08, which from January to May 2008 carried out exercises and diplomatic visits to twenty ports in the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East, and south-east Asia. However, on 23 January, whilst still off the coast of southern England, she sailed back to Portsmouth for repairs to a minor fault in a meat freezer. It was felt to be important to repair this before sailing to a warmer climate, and Navy spokesman Anton Hanney stated that flying in an emergency plumber whilst she was underway would be more expensive than turning back whilst HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier was still in the English Channel. She sailed back out at 1pm on 24th and made up the lost 24 hours. Her ports of call included Valletta, Malta 26–29 February 2008.
This 2008 assignment was filmed and shown on Channel 5 as the 6-part TV documentary Warship transmitted on Mondays from May 19 2008. This documentary aimed to show life on-board the now-ageing carrier in much the same way that the Ark Royal was shown in the 1976 Sailor. HMS Illustrious (R06) Royal Navy aircraft carrier was commanded by ex-Chatham commanding officer Captain Steve Chick CBE BSc, who had also commanded HMS Chatham during the 2005 BBC documentary named Shipmates.
By the end of July, she had returned to Portsmouth where she took part in the 2008 navy open-day. She proved to be popular with visitors and the queue to tour her was long. On-board, she displayed a life-size model of the F-35B Joint Combat Aircraft which will replace the Harriers currently used by the ship. She was the only aircraft carrier to be part of the event, although the inactive HMS Invincible was also visible to the public.
On 17 October she, along with HMS Cattistock, sailed into Liverpool where she was open to the public on Saturday 18 October.
On 4 November she dropped anchor at Greenwich, arriving to take central part in the Royal Navy's remembrance week. The F-35 mock-up remained on deck.
On 17 June 2009, she arrives to Tallinn. Where on 20 June game between Sharks and the British warship HMS Illustrious rugby teams will be held.
