HMS "Illustrious" was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and the second of three ships constructed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name "Illustrious", and was affectionately known to her crew as ""Lusty"". In 1982, the conflict in the Falklands necessitated that "Illustrious" be completed and rushed south to join her sister ship and the veteran carrier . To this end, she was brought forward by three months for completion at Swan Hunter Shipyard, then commissioned on 20 June 1982 at sea en route to Portsmouth Dockyard to take on board extra stores and crew. She arrived in the Falklands to relieve "Invincible" on 28 August 1982 in a steam past. Returning to the United Kingdom, she was not formally commissioned into the fleet until 20 March 1983. After her South Atlantic deployment, she was deployed on Operation Southern Watch in Iraq, then Operation Deny Flight in Bosnia during the 1990s and Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone in 2000. An extensive re-fit during 2002 prevented her from involvement in the 2003 Iraq War, but she was repaired in time to assist British citizens trapped by the 2006 Lebanon War.