ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2)
Veinticinco de Mayo
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Venerable (R63) |
| Ordered: | 7 August 1942 |
| Builder: | Cammell Laird |
| Yard number: | 1126 |
| Laid down: | 3 December 1942 |
| Launched: | 30 December 1943 |
| Commissioned: | 27 November 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | April 1947 |
| Fate: | Sold to the Netherlands 1 April 1948 |
 Netherlands
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| Name: | HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81) |
| Namesake: | Karel Doorman |
| Acquired: | 1 April 1948 |
| Commissioned: | 28 May 1948 |
| Decommissioned: | 29 April 1968 |
| Refit: |
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| Fate: | Sold to Argentina 15 October 1968 |
 Argentina
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| Name: | Veinticinco de Mayo |
| Namesake: | Date of the May Revolution |
| Acquired: | 15 October 1968 |
| Commissioned: | 12 March 1969 |
| Decommissioned: | 1997 |
| Out of service: | Inoperable by 1990 |
| Refit: | 1969 |
| Homeport: | Puerto Belgrano Naval Base |
| Fate: | Provided spare parts for NAeL Minas Gerais and remainder was scrapped in 2000 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Colossus-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 19,900 tons |
| Length: | 192 m (630 ft) |
| Beam: | 24.4 m (80 ft) |
| Draught: | 7.5 m (25 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 24 knots (44 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,300 |
| Armament: | 12 × 40 mm AA guns |
| Aircraft carried: | 21 |
ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2) was an aircraft carrier in the Argentine Navy from 1969 to 1997. The English translation of the name is Twenty-fifth of May, which is the date of Argentina's May Revolution in 1810.
The ship previously served in the Royal Navy as HMS Venerable and the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Karel Doorman. She was deployed south during the Beagle Crisis in 1978 and in the first weeks of the Falklands War, where her aircraft were deployed against the Royal Navy task force, but spent the bulk of the war in port.
The ship was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, England during the Second World War for the Royal Navy. As a Colossus-class aircraft carrier, she was named HMS Venerable and saw service in the British Pacific Fleet. Venerable only served three years in the Royal Navy before being sold to the Netherlands as HNLMS Karel Doorman.
After a boiler room fire, the carrier was rebuilt, and sold to Argentina. The Argentines already operated a carrier, ARA Independencia, also a former Royal Navy Colossus-class. After Independencia was decommissioned in 1970, Veinticinco de Mayo was the sole remaining carrier in the Argentine fleet. She could carry up to 24 aircraft.
The air group started with F9F Panthers and F9F Cougars jets and later these were replaced with A-4Q Skyhawks supported by S-2 Tracker anti-submarine warfare aircraft and Sikorsky Sea King helicopters.
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Wikipedia