5 Pounds - Elizabeth II HMS Ark Royal

HMS Ark Royal has carried the name through five distinct vessels in the Royal Navy, a lineage stretching back to the 1587 galleon that served against the Spanish Armada. The 2005 issue coincides with the centenary of naval aviation commemorations, tied to the then-current Ark Royal — the R07 Invincible-class carrier commissioned in 1985, which had seen service in the Adriatic during operations over Bosnia and later in the 2003 Iraq conflict. Guernsey has issued commemorative crowns prolifically since the 1970s, largely targeting the collector market rather than circulation.