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Invincible sought as marina breakwater
A MOTHBALLED Royal Navy aircraft carrier could find a new lease of life as a tourist attraction in a West Country fishing town.
Town hall leaders would like to buy HMS Invincible for her scrap value of 500,000 and run her aground off Brixham in Devon.
The 21,000-tonne warship would help protect the picturesque harbour from storms whipping in off the Channel.
Brixham is home to one of the UK's biggest trawler fleets and a yacht marina but efforts to revitalise the old port hinge on the creation of a 'northern arm' breakwater.
Now Anthony Steen, the town's Tory MP, has proposed towing Invincible from Portsmouth and sinking her in a specially constructed underwater trench.
Her cavernous hangar would be used as a car park, while her flight deck would provide the foundations for a maritime heritage centre and cafe.
Mr Steen has asked the Ministry of Defence to assess the merits of selling the vessel, which served in the Falklands War, to Torbay council.
Armed forces minister Adam Ingram has assured him that 'all disposal options will be considered'.
Mr Steen said: 'There were discussions in the 1980s about sinking a redundant cruiser or a destroyer off Brixham. I'd like to see it happen. It would change the town into one of the best yachting marinas in Britain.
'It would make a wonderful site for fishing and cost a tenth of the 20m it would cost to build a breakwater.'
Commander Dermot Rhodes, who served in Invincible, said: 'It's an intriguing idea but I wouldn't go near it.
'She may be large but the structure and build quality of modern warships is relatively flimsy, so I'm not sure how long she would last as a breakwater.
'If you live and breathe a ship for nearly three years, as I did, you would hope for a more dignified end for her.'
Invincible was decommissioned last year, soon after serving as flagship for the Trafalgar 200 fleet review in the Solent. She has been stripped of equipment and put into reserve until 2010.
jon.rosamond@thenews.co.uk
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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