Navy: Loss of Ark Royal devastating blow, says city leader

The aircraft carrier is to be decommissioned early because of

Government cuts.

It was "adopted" by Leeds as the ship's affiliated city a week before the third vessel to carry the name was torpedoed and sunk in 1941.

Coun Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds City Council, said Ark Royal "has a huge place in Leeds's heart".

"This is a devastating loss and a body-blow to the city's immense pride in what is a long-standing and very warm relationship," he said.

"The ordinary people of the city threw their weight behind a mammoth effort to fund its replacement.

"Leeds is no ordinary city and Ark Royal is no ordinary ship. Our civic life will be the poorer for its passing."

Ark Royal was awarded the Freedom of the City of Leeds in 1973, at a ceremony attended by the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The ship's company have invoked their right to march through the

streets of the city every two years since.

Ark Royal is arguably the most famous name in British naval history. The first, in 1588, was the flagship of the English fleet during the Spanish Armada campaign.

Four more were named in her honour and the current carrier, the fifth, was launched in 1981.

It will now be decommissioned almost immediately, rather than in 2014 as originally planned.

Despite the news a visit by the Queen to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the commissioning of the flagship will still go ahead.

Work on the Ark Royal began at Swan Hunters Ship Builders' yard at Wallsend in December 1978 and was launched by the Queen Mother.

She also accepted the carrier into service on July 1, 1985, and finally commissioned it into service on November 1, 1985.

The Queen last crossed paths with the Ark Royal when she inspected it as part of an international fleet review held by the Canadian Navy in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in June.

The move to scrap Ark Royal, combined with the decision to also remove the iconic Harrier jump-jet from service in 2011, will leave future aircraft carriers without aircraft, a decision slammed by the ship's former commanding officer as "incoherent" and "unstrategic".

Rear Admiral Terry Loughran, said: "Ark Royal is the best known ship's name to the nation and it's very sad to see the pride of the fleet to go in this way.

"But the ship itself is only steel and its heart is the people in it and that support will live on.

"However, it is the scrapping of the Harriers that gives me the greatest concern and highlights that the review is far from strategic.

"The Harriers were the logical link to the Joint Strike Fighters and I have heard Dr Liam Fox say that we have done without them before, but flying from sea is a very perishable skill.

"If we get rid of the Harriers, where in fact will the next batch of fixed wing pilots go for the next 10 years?"