The 1942 Light Fleet Aircraft Carriers: Part 2: The Colossus-class

The first ten Light Fleet Aircraft Carriers formed the Colossus-class, and these were:

HMS Colossus/FS Arromanches

FS Arromanches.

Commissioned too late for active service during the Second World War. Her armament was changed to 21 x 40mm Bofors anti-xddddccaircraft guns in 1945. In 1946 she was loaned to the French Navy and renamed Arromanches. She was bought by the French in 1951 and served until she was decommissioned in 1974. She was scrapped four years later.

HMS Glory

HMS Glory.

Commissioned too late for active service during the Second World War. Her armament was increased to 6 × 4-barrelled 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns and 32 x 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. She was deployed three times to support operations during the Korean War before being reduced to act as a ferry, troop carrier and helicopter base in 1954. She was placed in reserve in 1956 and sold for scrapping in 1961.

HMS Ocean

HMS Ocean.

Commissioned in August 1945, she was completed with a revised armament of 6 × 4-barrelled 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns and 32 x 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. She was modified soon after commissioning to act as a specialist night fighter carrier. She was also used for trials, and on 3rd December 1945 Eric 'Winkle' Brown made the first landing of a pure jet aircraft on an aircraft carrier. After service with the Mediterranean Fleet from the very end of 1945 until October 1954, she was deployed to support UN operations in Korea. By August 1954 she had returned to the UK and was part of the training squadron. She resumed active service in 1956 when she took part in the Suez crisis, where she acted as an interim helicopter assault ship. She went in reserve in 1958 and was scrapped in 1962.

HMS Venerable/HMNLS Karel Doorman/ARA Veinticinco de Mayo

HMNLS Karel Doorman.

Commissioned too late for active service during the Second World War. Her armament was increased to 6 × 4-barrelled 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns and 11 x twin and 10 x single 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. After the war ended, she was mainly used to transport former prisoners-of-war and demobilised troops. She was decommissioned in April 1947 and placed on the disposal list. She was purchased by the Netherlands Navy in 1948, and after being refitted she was commissioned as HMNLS Karel Doorman. Between 1955 and 1958 she was extensively reconstructed. As a result she emerged with an 8-degree angled flight deck, new lifts, a remodelled island superstructure, a new armament of 12 x 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, a steam catapult, and brand-new aviation facilities and electronics, including a Dutch-built new radar. In 1968 she suffered serious damage due to a fire in her boiler room and the damaged boilers were replaced with ones from the incomplete HMS Leviathan. However, due to the increasing cost of operating an aircraft carrier and repairing all the damage she had suffered as a result of the fire, she was withdrawn from service and sold to Argentina in 1969. She was commissioned into the Argentine Navy as the ARA Veinticinco de Mayo later that year. In 1982 she supported the invasion fleet that captured the Falkland Islands, but subsequently she played little part in the conflict. In 1988 she was withdraw from service and it was planned to replace her steam engines with gas turbines, but the cost proved prohibitive and she was never recommissioned. Parts from her were used as spares for her sister-ship, the Brazilian aircraft carrier Minas Gerais. She was sold for scrap in 2000.

HMS Vengeance/NAeL Minas Gerais

NAeL Minas Gerais.

Commissioned too late for active service during the Second World War. Her armament was increased to 6 × 4-barrelled 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns, 8 x single 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and 11 x single 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. She served in the Far East until th end of 1946, and on her return to the UK she became a training aircraft carrier. In late 1948 she was refitted for Arctic service and took part in several exercises in Arctic waters. In June 1951 it was decided to loan her to the Royal Australian Navy, and after a refit she was transferred to the RAN in November 1952. In 1954 she became a training ship and in 1955 she was returned to the UK, who then placed her on the disposal list before selling her to the Brazilian Navy in 1956. She was renamed NAeL Minas Gerais and after an extensive refit in the Netherlands, she joined the Brazilian Navy in December 1960. Her refit included an 8.5-degree angled flight deck, a more powerful steam catapult, stronger arresting gear, reinforced hangar lift, a mirror landing aid, a new island superstructure, and a completely new radar suite and fire control system. She was refitted twice (1976 to 1981 and 1991 to 1993) and this enabled her to remain in service until 2001. She was finally sold for scrap in 2004.

HMS Pioneer

HMS Pioneer.

She was completed in 1945 as an maintenance aircraft carrier with a modified armament of 6 × 4-barrelled 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns and 19 single 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. She supported fleet operations in the Far East until she returned to the UK in early 1946. She was then placed in reserve and sold for scrapping in September 1954.

HMS Warrior/ARA Independencia

ARA Independencia.

She was completed in April 1945 and loaned to the Royal Canadian Navy from 1946 until 1948. On her return she was used to conduct trialsto test the feasibility of using undercarriage-less aircraft and a flexible flight deck that had a rubber surface supported by air bags. The trials used a modified de Havilland Sea Vampire aircraft. Once these trial were concluded, she was deployed to Korea to support United Nations operations. She underwent a refit during 1952 and 1953 that saw her bridge enlarged and a new radar suite and associated lattice mast fitted. Two years later she was refitted for a second time during which she was fitted with a reinforced 5-degree angled flight deck, an improved catapult, strengthened arrester gear, and a mirror landing aid. After a short spell as a training and trials ship she was deployed to the Pacific to support Operation Grapple, the test ofthe UK's first hydrogen bomb. On her return to the UK she was decommissioned and put up for sale. She was bought by Argentina in 1958 and renamed ARA Independencia. She served in the Argentinian Navy until placed in reserve in 1970 and sold for scrap in 1971.

HMS Theseus

HMS Theseus.

She was completed and commissioned in 1946. For four years she acted as a training vessel, but after the outbreak of the Korean War she was deployed to support United Nations operations. She remained in Korean waters until 1952, when she returned to the UK. She joined the Home Fleet and took part in numerous NATO naval exercises. In 1956 she was quickly repurposed to become an interim helicopter assault ship so that she could take part in the Suez Crisis. In 1957 she was placed in reserve and sold for scrapping in 1962.

HMS Triumph

HMS Triumph.

Commissioned in 1946, she was completed with a revised armament of 6 × 4-barrelled 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns and 19 x single 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. After representing the UK at the USSR's Navy Day in Kronstadt in July 1946, she joined the Mediterranean Fleet, re she remained until August 1948. In 1950 she was deployed to the Far East and supported UN operations during the first year Korean War. She then returned to the UK and acted as a cadet training ship until 1955. It was during this period that she was used as a trails ship in 1952 for the new angled flight deck concept. Between 1956 and 1965 she was converted into a heavy repair ship and deployed to Singapore. She remained there until she was reduced to reserve status in Chatham in 1975. She was sold for scrapping in 1981.

HMS Perseus

HMS Perseus.

She was completed in 1945 as an maintenance aircraft carrier with a modified armament of 6 × 4-barrelled 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns and 19 single 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. During her career she supported fleet operations in the Far East as well as acting as an aircraft transport. She was also used for experimental trials of the steam catapult between 1950 and 1952 and of the anti-submarine version of the Westland Whirlwind helicopter in 1954. She was then reduced to reserve status and selected for conversion into a submarine depot ship, but this never took place and she was sold for scrapping in May 1958.

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As can be seen, the concept of a light fleet carrier was sound, and even though the first eight ships were of limited capability when compared to a fleet carrier, the majority performed excellent service and - in some cases - had far longer operational lives than their designers could ever have envisaged.