1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier

The Colossus-class carrier HMS Triumph underway off Subic Bay, Philippines. Supermarine Seafires and Fairey Fireflies are on her flight deck.
Class overview
Operators:	Royal Navy  Argentine Navy  Royal Australian Navy  Brazilian Navy  Royal Canadian Navy  French Navy  Indian Navy  Royal Netherlands Navy
Succeeded by:	Centaur-class aircraft carrier
Subclasses:	Colossus class Majestic class
Built:	March 1942 – April 1961
In commission:	December 1944 – October 2001
Planned:	16
Completed:	8 Colossus class, plus 2 maintenance carriers 5 Majestic class
Cancelled:	1
Scrapped:	15
Preserved:	0
General characteristics (Colossus class: as designed)
Displacement:	13,200 tons (standard) 18,000 tons (full load)
Length:	690 ft (210 m) (flight deck) 695 ft (212 m) overall
Beam:	80 ft (24 m)
Draught:	18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) (standard) 23 ft 3 in (7.09 m) (full load)
Propulsion:	Parsons geared turbines 4 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW) 2 propeller shafts
Speed:	25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range:	12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement:	1,050
Armament:	6 × 4-barrelled 2 pounder anti-aircraft guns 16 × twin 20 mm Oerlikon mountings All weapons later replaced by 40 mm Bofors in varying configurations
Aircraft carried:	Up to 52
General characteristics (Majestic class: as designed)
Displacement:	15,750 tons (standard) 19,500 tons (full load)
Draught:	19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) (standard) 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m) (full load)
Armament:	30 × 40 mm Bofors (6 twin mountings, 18 single mountings)
Notes:	Other characteristics as above

The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, commonly referred to as the British Light Fleet Carrier, was a light aircraft carrier design created by the Royal Navy during World War II, and used by eight naval forces between 1944 and 2001. They were designed and constructed by civilian shipyards to serve as an intermediate step between the expensive, full-size fleet aircraft carriers and the less expensive but limited-capability escort carriers.

Sixteen Light Fleet carriers were ordered, and all were laid down to the Colossus class design during 1942 and 1943. However, only eight were completed to this design; of these, four entered service before the end of the war, and none saw front line operations. Two more were fitted with maintenance and repair facilities instead of aircraft catapults and arresting gear, and entered service as aircraft maintenance carriers. The final six were modified during construction to handle larger and faster aircraft, and were redesignated the Majestic class. The construction of the six ships was suspended at the end of the war. Five were eventually completed with the last commissioning in 1961; however, the sixth, Leviathan, was dismantled for spare parts and scrap.

Although not completed in time to fight in World War II, the carriers in Royal Navy service participated in the Korean War and the Suez Crisis. During the latter, two Colossus-class ships performed the first ship-based helicopter assault in history. Four Colossuses and all five completed Majestics were loaned or sold to seven foreign nations – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, and the Netherlands – with three ships serving in three different naval forces during their careers. Foreign-operated Light Fleets took part in the Korean War, the First Indochina War, the Vietnam War, the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, and the Falklands War.