Not so Illustrious

Regarding your report on the arrival of HMS Illustrious at Rosyth (News, 2 February),

the ship was not involved in the Falklands campaign. The carriers that took part in that campaign were the larger Hermes and a sister ship of Illustrious, HMS Invincible, the lead ship of the class. Hermes is now the Indian navy's Viraat, meaning India has a larger aircraft carrier than we have, but then so has Brazil.

Let's be frank, this is a light fleet aircraft carrier, a quarter of the tonnage of the US Nimitz-class carriers, and no longer has fighters since the withdrawal of the Sea Harrier. She has serious design flaws, such as an overlarge island, which is inboard from her starboard side instead of being flush, which limits flightdeck and hangar-deck capacity. In short, she is a "better than nothing" aircraft carrier, but far short of what the fleet needs, and deserves.

DAVID WRAGG

Stoneyflatts

South Queensferry

On his visit to HMS Illustrious, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy is quoted as saying: "It's amazing to think that in just a decade eight navy ships have been launched on the Clyde." It's perhaps more amazing to recall that, in their glory days, Clyde yards could turn out in excess of that number of fighting ships in any one year.

JAMES L SHEARER

Cargilfield View

Edinburgh