page_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service
section_title: 1980–1989
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service / 1980–1989
caption_attribution_description: English: A starboard bow view of the Spanish navy's aircraft carrier PRINCIPE DE ASTURIAS (R-11) executing a turn during the joint exercise Dragon Hammer '92.
context_page_description: Aircraft carriers have their origins during the days of World War I. The earliest experiments consisted of fitting temporary "flying off" platforms to the gun turrets of the warships of several nations, notably the United States and the United Kingdom. The first ship to be modified with a permanent flight deck was the battlecruiser HMS Furious, which initially had a single flying-off deck forward of the original superstructure. Subsequently, she was modified with a separate "landing on" deck aft and later with a full flush deck. Other ships, often liners, were modified to have full flush flight decks, HMS Argus being the first to have such modification begun. Those first faltering steps gave little indication of just how important the aircraft carrier was to prove to be. During the inter-war years, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States built up significant carrier fleets so that by the beginning of World War II, they had 18 carriers between them. The 1940 Battle of Taranto and 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor in retrospect showed the world that the aircraft carrier was to be the most important ship in the modern fleet.
context_section_description: 1980
  HMS Bulwark placed in reserve.
  15 March – USS Carl Vinson launched.
  11 July – HMS Invincible commissioned; first purpose-built STOVL carrier, first ship to include a ski-jump ramp.
  1 August – USS Wright sold for scrap.
  22 September – HMS Ark Royal (Audacious class) sold for scrap.
  1981
  26 March – Giuseppe Garibaldi laid down.
  27 March – HMS Bulwark decommissioned.
  10 April – HMS Bulwark sold for scrap.
  9 May – First carrier fitted with a ski jump, HMS Hermes.
  2 June – HMS Ark Royal launched.
  13 October – USS Theodore Roosevelt laid down.
  9 December – HMS Triumph sold for scrap.
  1982
  25 February – Australian government announces its intention to purchase HMS Invincible and rename it HMAS Australia.
  13 March – USS Carl Vinson commissioned.
  19 March – Argentina invades South Georgia, launching the Falklands War; this war provides the impetus to slow the drawdown of the Royal Navy, including carrier aviation; deal to sell HMS Invincible to Australia cancelled.
  23 March – USS Intrepid struck, preserved as a museum ship.
  1 April – Baku launched.
  1 May – Argentine carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo detects and attempts airstrike against British fleet, but is unable to launch due to unfavorable winds.
  2 May – Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano sunk by British submarine; carrier Veinticinco de Mayo withdraws to safe port for the duration of the war.
  22 May – Príncipe de Asturias launched.
  30 May – HMAS Melbourne decommissioned.
  14 June – Argentine land forces in the Falkland Islands surrender, ending the conflict.
  20 June – HMS Illustrious commissioned.
  5 July – USS Shangri-La struck.
  September – Novorossiysk commissioned.
  1983
  22 February – Leonid Brezhnev laid down.
  4 June – Giuseppe Garibaldi launched.
  1984
  12 April – HMS Hermes decommissioned, placed in maintained reserve.
  27 October – USS Theodore Roosevelt launched.
  3 November – USS Abraham Lincoln laid down.
  1985
  ARA Veinticinco de Mayo inoperable, laid up for possible modernisation.
  HMAS Melbourne sold for scrap.
  30 September – Giuseppe Garibaldi commissioned as helicopter anti-submarine warfare carrier.
  1 November – HMS Ark Royal commissioned.
  5 December – Leonid Brezhnev launched.
  10 December – Riga laid down.
  1986
  April – HMS Hermes sold to India.
  15 April – U.S. 1986 Bombing of Libya by carrier- and land-based aircraft.
  25 August – USS George Washington laid down.
  25 October – USS Theodore Roosevelt commissioned.
  1987
  11 December – Baku commissioned.
  1988
  13 February – USS Abraham Lincoln launched.
  30 May – Príncipe de Asturias commissioned.
  9 August – USS Shangri-La sold for scrap.
  October – Leonid Brezhnev renamed Tbilisi.
  December – Ulyanovsk laid down.
  4 December – Riga launched.
  1989
  Giuseppe Garibaldi takes on Harrier aircraft, initiating Italian fixed-wing carrier operations.
  INS Vikrant ends CATOBAR operations and is converted with ski jump to all-STOVL operations.
  14 April – Charles de Gaulle laid down; first non-U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier.
  20 May – Ex-HMS Hermes commissioned as INS Viraat.
  25 July – USS Hornet struck, preserved as a museum ship; USS Oriskany struck to be preserved as a museum ship or scrapped.
  5 August – Dédalo decommissioned.
  20 September – USS Bon Homme Richard and USS Bennington struck.
  11 November – USS Abraham Lincoln commissioned.
caption: Spanish carrier Príncipe de Asturias
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