Visiting carrier

[202]

See RN aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious is berthing in Dublin Port this am for four days.

[matt_k]

Nice one...Is it just there to be admired or is there any chance of getting a visit?? Any planned displays or fly pasts by the harriers or Merlins??

[futurepilot]

I cant see it happening. The "anti-war" party Sinn Fein would go ballistic.

[P.Doff]

So much for hush hush!! LOL!!
Sea King Commando in the Don this morning bringing out VIP's to the ship!! Was it in the papers?

[futurepilot]

It was meant to be hush hush? It was in todays Indo and Times.

[202]

Where in the port is it moored?

[FMolloy]

How do you hush up a visiting aircraft carrier?

[P.Doff]

Dont know if it was actually meant to be on the QT (pretty hard with a carrier I suppose!!) but out here the arrival of the Heli was kept quite till the last minute??
Their more than likely here for the Rugby on sunday and also
the British forces team tend to play the DF team  around the same time as the National teams are playing!!
AHA, it all fits together now!!

[futurepilot]

I remember an interview with a RN officer on Skynews last year just after the Invincible(?) came back from Iraq. He said they were sailing to Ireland to conincide with the Queens visit after a weeks break. Neither the ship nor the Queen came.

[P.Doff]

By the way!! I meant to say that we knew nothing about the carrier out here, all we knew was that there was a heli coming in from God knows, the fact that it turned out to be RN and was landing on a ship off Dublin gave the game away in the end, and at that stage we thought the ship was staying out to sea, so you can see that the aul mushroom syndrome out here keeps "us" guessing sometimes!!

[yossarian]

That explains the dark sea king flying over my head in Ballsbridge at 8.40 this morning. Lovely.

[P.Doff]

I've been down to have a look!
She's moored on the south side on the very last berth near the Pidgeon House power station(the big red and white chimneys for those of you who dont know!) I can only assume shes not open to the public as this I think is inaccessable to the public. I had to stay on the noth side and got a good view of her from the Irish Ferries terminal on the North Wall.
Theres no A/C what so ever on deck so I can only assume that their their either stowed away in the hangers or not onboard at all and have landed somewhere else for the w/end. (Can all the a/c be hangered on this class of ship??)They may have gone to the don as I left early today but didnt hear anything about Harriers and the like coming in??

[FiannaFail]

Congratulations 202 for putting up thread number 600!!  Frank a cause for celebration!  Don't worry lads and ladies, Sinn Fein are too busy burning Northern Bank notes to notice the carrier in port!!
FiannaFail '>

[P.Doff]

No RN aircraft at the Don,but there have been a few visitors from the carrier i.e the Captain and a few others so I can only assume that the aircraft are hangered under her deck,DOH!!

[Irish251]

Illustrious has actually been on sea trials post-refit so she may not have squadrons embarked yet.