HMS Ark Royal (Documentary, English)
Status: Ended
Premiered: 2011-02-22
Ended: 2011-04-12
Network: Discovery
Country: GB
Airs on: Tuesday
Air time: 22:00
Runtime: 60 minutes
Filmed on board the Royal Navy's flagship over four months in 2010, the series followed the aircraft carrier's operations during what would turn out to be her last international deployment. With a 1000-strong crew, she was the United Kingdom's largest aircraft carrier and had been in service for 25 years. But in October 2010, shortly after the deployment ended, it was announced that she would be be decommissioned in early 2011, five years earlier than planned, along with the Harrier jets that flew from her deck. It was an eventful deployment that began in the Atlantic. But she was soon diverted to help pick up Britons stranded by the closure of the skies over Europe due to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. After returning briefly to the UK for repairs, she headed back across the Atlantic to Norfolk, Virginia to resume her planned mission.