Hull wants Royal Navy's HMS Illustrious aircraft carrier for major new visitor attraction on River Humber

“SanDiegoTiger has the right idea, but unfortunately the council have let the grass grow and both the Spero and Lincoln Castle have gone for scrap relatively recently. A visit over to Holland will show what can happen if there's the will. A good start would be to allow free berthing in the pier area for historic vessels, old converted barges, drifters, etc. this would liven up the area no end and perhaps make it less easy to steal statutes with folk around! Problem would be that the area required is probably in private hands and they will want greedy rental fees...although there's nothing there now! Getting some HLF funding to bring back the steam trawler from South Georgia and putting it in the Dry Dock opposite the Deep would be a good start...private interests again allowing! This is where the Lincoln Castle should have gone! Note the Great Britain has a rotted hull...doesn't matter in a dry dock! Heliport also feasible for a carrier.”

“Another good reason for having her here is that she was built for helicopters which if you think about it gives Hull its very own heliport. That means people can have a quick hop across the Humber and back again which could take over what the Lincoln Castle used to do. Besides. It would look good for dignitaries to get off the plain at Humberside airport and hop over to the carrier for business meetings and the like, cutting out the long drive around via the bridge, perhaps flying over the city to give the dignitaries a birds eye view of the promised land which could influence them if be the case, to invest in us. Many great agreements have been sign aboard military vessels which I fell has a romantic element to it and I feel it would be good for us to adopt her!”

“I quite like the idea of adopting this historical artefact just for it's impressiveness. Can you imagine the sight of that thing parked off one of the docks looking up or down the Humber? Being selfish, I'd love to go and see a museum piece like this any time I want.”

“Bet the metal theives and *****s are rubbing their hands,if they can steal a statue from under everyones noses this should be a doddle!!!!!”

“To FCscuba
"What about sinking it in the bay as an artificial reef and diving attraction like the Sylla off Pormouth."
You'll have a long swim from Portsmouth to Scylla. She was sunk in Whitsand Bay off Plymouth.”

“Mark_Hull_65 Has got it spot on, the ship has no connection to this city and it would also be a financial disaster. Surely if river berths (enclosed docks is not the way forward) are to be used wouldn't it make more sense to encourage industry to develop these berths for commercial traffic and bring much needed (proper) jobs to this area instead of living in fantasy land ?”

“This has worked well in San Diego - we have the USS Midway berthed in port. Now the comments by Mark_Hull_65 make a lot of sense too!!

This could work if there is a long term plan, which would include bringing in other vessels and making it a Maritime Museum. Not sure I see that happening though. If the egg-heads think bringing in one old ship will draw the crowds, then it will fail.

The SD Maritime Museum, of which the Midway is not included, has several vessels; including the ship used in the Master and Commander movie. Even with that, the whole thing has a hard time staying above water!! Maybe because it's San Diego and there is plenty to do and see ...... and maybe 'cos they charge for everything, rather than one price covers admission to all ships.

Do it right and don't get greedy!”

“its a replacement for HMP HULL.”

“it's worth £3million scrap value

Just like the Ark Royal”

“What would the cost of this little enterprise be? Besides the cost of the vessel ( can't see the MOD giving it away) there is it's upkeep & maintenance + berthing fees.”