Preface
In today's increasingly competitive world, the possession of powerful weapons is an important factor in deterring ill-intentioned forces if they want to ensure that their interests are not compromised.
Therefore, many countries are constantly increasing their own strength and developing more powerful weapons, but no matter how powerful the weapons are, the lifespan is limited.
Some countries will choose to sell decommissioned weapons to other countries in need, but no one thought that they could make crazy money by dismantling decommissioned aircraft carriers.
Retired Aircraft Carrier
The aircraft carrier that made Turkey's Leyal ship recycling group crazy for money is the British retired aircraft carrier "Excellence".
HMS Excellence was once an important part of the British Invincible-class aircraft carriers and was an important testimony to British military power at sea.
However, after the warship has stood the test of time, it finally ushered in the moment of decommissioning.
After the decommissioning of the Excellence, Britain used its surplus value.
The aircraft carrier, which once played a major role in protecting Britain, was sold to Turkey's Leyal Ship Recycling Group for 2.1 million pounds, or about 18.7 million yuan.
British politicians were still very proud of their decision, because they felt that they could make a lot of foreign exchange for the country by allowing this decommissioned aircraft carrier.
This would allow the UK economy to grow further, so they thought it was a wise decision.
But no one thought that this aircraft carrier, which seemed to have lost its use value, would be re-excavated into new value in the hands of the Turks.
It turned out that Turkey's Leyal Ship Recycling Group, after receiving the warship, made an unexpected move, that is, the warship was carefully dismantled.
The aircraft carrier was placed in a dedicated shipbreaking site, which was then dismantled by Leyal's team specializing in ship dismantling.
Because the British "Excellence" is very large, even among the world's aircraft carriers, it is also ranked first.
Therefore, the employees of Leyal spent a lot of energy in this aircraft carrier dismantling project, and it took a total of about two months to complete the dismantling project.
After the dismantling work was completed, the Turkish company Leyal gave full play to the value of the aircraft carrier and maximized its benefits.
They dismantled screws, steel and other scrap from aircraft carriers are remade into new objects, or these scraps are used in infrastructure construction.
In addition to these scraps, Leyal also removed 11,854 tons of ferrous metals, 611 tons of non-ferrous metals and 112 tons of cables from the carrier.
The 112 tons of cables alone, after being sold, brought a high profit of 35 million yuan to the dismantling company.
Not to mention other valuable resources, which Leyal sold and made a profit of up to £10 million.
So since the dismantling of aircraft carriers is so valuable, didn't Britain think of it at the beginning? Is it really that simple to dismantle aircraft carriers?
The purpose of decommissioned aircraft carriers
In fact, it is not the first case in the world that an aircraft carrier like the "Excellence" has been dismantled after being decommissioned.
After being decommissioned, many aircraft carriers are sent to dismantling plants in different countries for dismantling.
However, it is not a simple matter to disassemble the aircraft carrier, because the previous aircraft carrier used a lot of environmentally harmful substances during the construction process due to technical limitations.
For example, asbestos is a material with excellent flame retardant properties.
Therefore, in order to improve the performance of aircraft carriers, many countries have integrated asbestos into the construction process of aircraft carriers.
Although the use of this material can improve the performance of the aircraft carrier even more, the use of asbestos has a very big disadvantage.
That is, in the process of use, asbestos will continue to decompose into fine particles, which will be inhaled into the human body through the human body's respiratory movement.
The decomposition of asbestos into particles can cause irreversible harm to the human body, and the crew of the dismantling aircraft carrier will also face hazards from other toxic substances during the dismantling process.
Therefore, many dismantling companies are unwilling to take their own health because of limited interests.
Well, in addition to the fact that few dismantling companies are willing to take over, they are also constrained by the realities of the situation.
Because some retired aircraft carriers need to sail to the designated dismantling site by themselves before being dismantled.
This requires passing through certain countries, but in the process of driving, the aircraft carrier will produce a lot of harmful substances, causing non-negligible harm to countries along the route.
Therefore, many countries strictly prohibit such aircraft carriers from passing through their borders, so these aircraft carriers can only remain adrift on the sea and cannot be dismantled according to the predetermined plan.
Britain has repeatedly sold aircraft carriers
In addition to the sale and dismantling of the "Excellence", the United Kingdom, which was once a maritime power, has also sold its own warships many times.
More recently, Britain has once again been embroiled in disputes.
Because of the news from the British side, because the British government's budget for military spending has been reduced, the cost that can be used for the maintenance of warships has also been reduced.
Therefore, the British government came up with a bad idea, that is, it may sell the aircraft carrier "Prince of Wales", which requires huge maintenance costs, or mothball.
After this news was exposed by the media, it immediately caused heated discussions in the UK.
Because when the aircraft carrier "Prince of Wales" was built, it cost a full 3.5 billion pounds.
Moreover, the British military previously believed that only by retaining two aircraft carriers could the dignity of the British army at sea be maintained.
Although the "Prince of Wales" aircraft carrier also had many problems when it was in service, many British people have always been proud of the existence of the "Prince of Wales" aircraft carrier.
Therefore, after the news that the British government had sold the "Prince of Wales" aircraft carrier, it caused countless British netizens to be dissatisfied and complain.
Many British netizens believe that once these aircraft carriers are sold one after another, the strength of the British military will be greatly weakened.
At that time, Britain will completely lose its former dignity.
Write at the end
In any case, various phenomena prove that an aircraft carrier contains a lot of unknown wealth.
Because when these aircraft carriers were built, a lot of precious resources were used.
After the dismantling of the "Excellence" aircraft carrier, countries around the world have realized the value of the existence of retired aircraft carriers.
In the future, other countries in the world may undergo new changes in the retirement of aircraft carriers and reuse these aircraft carriers.
And Britain's action to sell aircraft carriers also reveals a sign, that is, Britain, once a world power, is constantly weakening its strength.
If the British government is unable to change the current status quo, solve the domestic crisis, and maintain the strength of its own army.
In the future, Britain's comprehensive national strength will be further weakened, and its position in the world will also be further reduced.
Key references:
Released by Huanqiu.com on January 17, 2023: Retired aircraft carriers are "hard to find", where is the difficulty in dismantling retired aircraft carriers?)
Observer.com published on March 21, 2017: Britain's last Invincible-class aircraft carrier was dismantled and will be turned into pots and pans)
Released by Strait.com on March 4, 2024: The British army was revealed to want to sell an aircraft carrier, British netizens: "This country is ruined")