20 May 2013  It was something of a sad occasion for the many ex-navy men who lined the shoreline on Monday 20th May 2013 to watch the Royal Navy’s former flagship, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, leave Portsmouth under tow for her final journey to a scrapyard in Turkey. 

Since finally lowering the White Ensign, the vessel had spent many months moored alongside in Portsmouth Naval Base being completely stripped of anything that might conceivably still be of use to the Navy. All that now remains of this once proud warship is an empty steel shell which is apparently destined for some foreign razor blade factory. 

Members of the NCI Gosport Watchkeeping Team, including some who had actually served aboard the ship during their own naval careers, lined the station’s observation gantry overlooking the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour to watch the ocean-going tug Christos XXIII ease Ark Royal out through the main channel for the last time assisted by four dockyard tugs. 

David Russell

NCI Gosport