Poor old "Lusty". hms Illustrious, Britain's 25-year-old aircraft carrier, all too often sails without Harrier jump-jets because they are busy in Afghanistan. In the past few weeks, moreover, the flagship has had trouble putting to sea at all. On January 21st Lusty set out from Portsmouth to lead a multinational flotilla in the Indian Ocean, but soon returned (see picture above) to repair broken refrigerators. On February 8th she had to put in at Portland, some 70 miles farther west, to fix a problem in separating oil from bilge water. And on February 13th a faulty propel-lor-shaft had to be mended.
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