Pride of the Royal Navy fleet, hacked apart in a Turkish scrapyard: HMS Ark Royal cuts a sorry sight as it's reduced to tin cans and razor blades

She once ruled the waves. Now the 22,000-ton HMS Ark Royal is being ripped apart in a Turkish scrapyard, another victim of British defence cuts.
After a quarter of a century of service, Ark Royal – the fifth vessel to bear a name that dates back to victory over the Spanish Armada – will shortly be reduced to tin cans and razor blades.
This picture shows workers from Leyal Ship Recycling – which paid £2.9 million for the aircraft carrier – stripping out valuable scrap items before larger sections are torn away.
The seven-month dismantling process has already laid bare the crew’s former living quarters.
Above them is Ark Royal’s hangar, once home to 22 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters – Harriers, Merlins and Sea Kings – but now merely an empty reminder of operations past.
At the top are the ship’s flying deck and the exhaust of her gas turbine.
Former First Sea Lord Admiral Alan West said: ‘It is so sad to see Ark Royal in this sorry state and a tragedy that she was prematurely withdrawn from service.’
When she was towed from Portsmouth in May, former crew lined the quay in black armbands.
The Navy has ordered two new aircraft carriers at a total cost of more than £6 billion. The first is due to enter service in 2020.
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