# HMS Intrepid - The last voyage



## FINNY (Sep 18, 2008)

Well yesterday saw the end of an era, HMS Intrepid which was last serving in the Falklands, went to its final destination for recycling. I was one of the guys who was involved in the towing of the vessel to Liverpool docks. Lets just say it was a very long day starting at 2.00am in the morning and eventually getting home around 6.00pm, but it was well worth it anyways here is a few pictures of the ship, whilst it was being towed and in the dry dock...

The ship situated in the dry dock in Liverpool.







The bow as it was at sea...






These 2 pics are taken from the front tower of the ship looking down.











One of the many kitchens onboard






AND FINALLY... the bridge


----------



## lost (Sep 18, 2008)

Stunning! Thanks for sharing it.


----------



## sqwasher (Sep 18, 2008)

Wow! Thanks for sharing these here. Great pics & some ace views!


----------



## mr_bones (Sep 18, 2008)

That really is something else! A very rare insight into the final trip of such a huge vessel. The photos are great - thanks very much for sharing.


----------



## FINNY (Sep 18, 2008)

Im hoping to get some more images over the coming months as she is cut up deck by deck...


----------



## jock1966 (Sep 18, 2008)

Fantastic set of photos thanks for posting.


----------



## spacepunk (Sep 18, 2008)

Brilliant! can't wait to see the rest.


----------



## Neosea (Sep 18, 2008)

Poor old girl, such a sad sight.


----------



## Foxylady (Sep 18, 2008)

Superb photos. What an opportunity for a great explore, eh! Excellent stuff.


----------



## steadyguy (Sep 18, 2008)

Thanks for great pics. Always sad when you see these nice looking ships taking their last run.
steadyguy,


----------



## oldscrote (Sep 19, 2008)

How sad.I wonder how old crew members feel seeing their old home going to that great skip in the sky.


----------



## King Al (Sep 19, 2008)

Excellent explore + pics FINNY, sad end to a good ship


----------



## FINNY (Sep 19, 2008)

oldscrote said:


> How sad.I wonder how old crew members feel seeing their old home going to that great skip in the sky.



Its old crew has actually set up a veterans association at hmsintrepid.com and a few of them were there for it to come into dock, we are also holding a visitors day for all the veterans who served on the ship before it gets dismantled.


----------



## smiffy (Sep 19, 2008)

I guess as far as the Navy goes she is probably worn out and completely out of date but i really hate seeing what looks like (to the rest of us anyways) as a perfectly good , useable ship with a few more years in her go to the cutters yard.........
Guess with scrap being so high a price lately thats the way its gotta go.........


----------



## Reaperman (Sep 19, 2008)

Cheers for posting these up. I dont suppose you had any photos of the engine room? Did you have anything to do with transporting the sister ship Fearless?


----------



## Lacelotte (Sep 19, 2008)

I love these two old girls. They are truely fantastic ships and I for one was sorry to see them leave service. 
I last seen them about two years ago moored in the middle of Portsmouth harbour with the other mothballed ships.

An interesting fact one Intrepid & Fearless was that towards the end of their operational life the navy only had one operational stern door for the ships and thats why you would only ever see one of them in service at a time. The other door would be swapped between ships and one would stay alongside.


----------



## FINNY (Sep 19, 2008)

Reaperman said:


> Cheers for posting these up. Really interesting. Did you have anything to do with transporting the sister ship Fearless?



Unfortunately not. Fearless was sold to a German company, pictures of Fearless being cut up can be found here
http://www.f913westhinder.be/fearless.htm


----------



## FINNY (Sep 19, 2008)

Lacelotte said:


> I love these two old girls. They are truely fantastic ships and I for one was sorry to see them leave service.
> I last seen them about two years ago moored in the middle of Portsmouth harbour with the other mothballed ships.
> 
> An interesting fact one Intrepid & Fearless was that towards the end of their operational life the navy only had one operational stern door for the ships and thats why you would only ever see one of them in service at a time. The other door would be swapped between ships and one would stay alongside.



There is a spare door actually in the rear of Intrepid, totally unused in primer red.


----------



## Lacelotte (Sep 19, 2008)

There must have been a spare door to put on the back of the ship that stayed alongside but as far as I was told by a number of RN personel only one could be used at a time. Perhaps it was a particular mechanism that operated the door? Who knows... Two fantastic ships non the less


----------



## FINNY (Sep 19, 2008)

Heres one of Fearless and Intrepid on the 19th June 2008 when I first went onboard






and another detail one from Intrepid..


----------



## Bunk3r (Sep 19, 2008)

nice pics.


FINNY said:


> Lacelotte said:
> 
> 
> > An interesting fact one Intrepid & Fearless was that towards the end of their operational life the navy only had one operational stern door for the ships and thats why you would only ever see one of them in service at a time. The other door would be swapped between ships and one would stay alongside.
> ...



ha, maybe it wasnt a spare door but the door that belonged to Fearless buried in the back of Intrepid. so all these years theyve been sharing the other one, lol.


----------



## FINNY (Sep 19, 2008)

lol unfortuantely not lol. Just been routing through pictures from when the 2 ships were together in June, just before Fearless went for scraping...

as you can see they both have a rear door, and intrepid with a spare...


----------



## fatdeeman (Sep 19, 2008)

Great pics, thanks for posting!

Found this great photo on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/2804096770/sizes/o/


----------



## freebird (Sep 19, 2008)

Wow, some excellent pics there! It is really good to see a battleship but it is so sad to know its to be cut in to bits! The pic from the front of the deck is brilliant!


----------



## Dutchess (Sep 19, 2008)

Thanks for these marvellous pics of a proud old lady. I come from a sea-faring family and these sort of vessels tend to pull at the old heart strings when they are on their final voyage  

D.


----------



## TK421 (Sep 20, 2008)

I go to work and have meetings and do other equally boring things, you tow a ship to the breakers ! What a job that is mate. Unless I have missed it, where is it getting broken up? Great photos by the way


----------



## FINNY (Sep 20, 2008)

I dont do it for a living, its just the company I work for has purchased the ship and was offered the opportunity to be onboard as part of the towing crew.

It is moored up in Liverpool docks, its the canada docks


----------



## Bryag (Sep 20, 2008)

Very good post Finny, this one was bugging me though, but your last few pics resolved my mental challenge. Intrepid and Fearless (the latter being the better known) were primarily landing craft deployment vessels (although they were capable of accepting MTB's and MLV's also, since neither were long range vehicles, they could be tarnsported to the theatre of conflict in this type of vessel). The rear of the ship was flooded and the door lowered allowing the deployment of landing craft for beach landings. Both Fearless and Intrepid were used in the Falklands conflict. It is sad that these fine Ships are being scrapped, but modern warfare has no use for their particular type of weaponry/troop deployment.

Please share more pics, if/when you are able


----------



## TK421 (Sep 21, 2008)

Thanks for clarifying that Finny, great report


----------



## Urban-Warrior (Sep 25, 2008)

there stands a wonderful ship a real piece of our modern naval history, shame to see it go thanks for sharing


----------



## T-bar (Sep 25, 2008)

shame but age takes its toll on everyhting. Love the way its no longer SCRAP but RECYCLING lol


----------



## shatters (Oct 3, 2008)

Bryag said:


> It is sad that these fine Ships are being scrapped, but modern warfare has no use for their particular type of weaponry/troop deployment.



Quite the opposite, I worked on their replacements HMS Albion and HMS bulwark. Both built by Bae systems in Barrow-in-Furness






Phil


----------



## Solo1 (Oct 4, 2008)

shatters said:


> Quite the opposite, I worked on their replacements HMS Albion and HMS bulwark. Both built by Bae systems in Barrow-in-Furness



From the same angle you would struggle to tell the old and new apart !!


----------

