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 the Second World War, 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 re-designated as 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 the war, 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 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and the Falklands War.
Despite being intended as 'disposable warships', all of the completed Light Fleet carriers exceeded their planned three-year service life. The maintenance carriers were the first to be paid off in the 1950s, and by the 1960s, all of the Royal Navy carriers, (bar , which was later recommissioned as a repair ship) had been sold to other nations or for ship breaking. The carriers in other navies had longer service lives. At the time of her decommissioning in 2001, Minas Gerais was the oldest active aircraft carrier in the world. Despite attempts to preserve several of these carriers as museum ships, the last surviving example, , was sold for scrapping in 2014.
Design and construction Experiences during the early part of the Second World War had demonstrated to the British that the Royal Navy needed access to defensive air cover for Allied fleets and convoys, which could only be provided by more aircraft carriers.Robbins, 2001, p. 91Ireland, 2008, p. 172 In mid-1941, the Director of Naval Construction was instructed to investigate how best to achieve this without the lengthy construction times normally associated with carriers. The options were to refit the surviving Hawkins-class cruisers with flight decks and aviation facilities, convert additional merchant vessels and passenger liners into vessels similar to but more capable than previous merchant aircraft carriers, or create a new design for a cheap, lightly armed, and unarmoured ship similar to the American escort carriers. In December 1941, it was decided that a new design was the best option.
This ship was conceived as an intermediate step between the expensive fleet carriers and the limited-capability escort carriers. The design had to be as simple as possible so construction time was kept to a minimum and so more shipyards (particularly those with no naval construction experience) could be used. However, the ships had to be capable of operating in fleet actions.Preston, Aircraft Carriers, p. 142 Originally designated the 'Intermediate Aircraft Carrier', the ships were reclassified as 'Light Fleet Carriers'.Konstam, British Aircraft Carriers 1939–45, p. 24 Because naval design staff were overworked, the carrier was primarily designed by shipbuilders at Vickers-Armstrong.
The Light Fleet design, completed at the start of 1942, was effectively a scaled-down Illustrious. Each carrier would displace 13,190 tons at standard load and 18,040 tons at full load, have a length of at the flight deck and overall, a maximum beam of , and a draught of at standard displacement, and at full load displacement. The hull was built to Lloyd's specifications for merchant vessels from keel to maindeck, but incorporated better subdivision of compartments to reduce secondary damage by flooding.Blackman (ed.), Jane's Fighting Ships (1968–69), p. 313
The propulsion machinery was of a similar design to that used in cruisers—some of the steam turbines were sourced from cancelled cruisers.Harding, The Royal Navy 1930–2000, pp. 79–80 The machinery was arranged in two compartments (each containing two Admiralty 3-drum boilers and a Parsons geared turbine), which were staggered en echelon, with the starboard compartment forward of the port. These provided 40,000 shaft horsepower to two propeller shafts, driving the carriers at a maximum speed of , with as the designated economical speed.
The carriers were intended to be 'disposable warships': to be scrapped and replaced at the end of the war or within three years of entering service.Hobbs, in The Navy and the Nation, p. 217 However, all exceeded this planned service life, with one ship operating from 1945 to 2001.
Colossus class Construction was approved by the Board of Admiralty in February 1942, with the first two ships, and , laid down in March. During 1942 and 1943, another fourteen Light Fleet carriers (named the Colossus class after the lead ship) were laid down under the 1942 Programme, to be constructed by eight British shipyards.Wright, Australian Carrier Decisions, p. 65Konstam, British Aircraft Carriers 1939–45, pp. 24, 26 Although it was originally planned that each Light Fleet would be ready for service in 21 months, modifications to the design saw the planned construction time increase to 27 months. Even with the omission of several important pieces of backup equipment, only two ships met this target.
The ships were launched from late 1943 onwards, with the first commissioned in December 1944. However, the delays meant that only four ships (, , , and ; formed up as the 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron) were completed before the end of the Second World War, and only eight of the sixteen planned Light Fleets were completed as Colossus-class carriers.
During operational service, the living conditions aboard the Colossus-class ships were criticised, which resulted in the abolition of hammocks in favour of fixed bunks and the introduction of centralised eating arrangements in later warship designs.Robbins, The Aircraft Carrier Story, pp. 91–2
Maintenance carriers The impracticality of shore-based repair establishments in the Far East and Pacific theatres of the Second World War saw a requirement for aircraft maintenance carriers.Ireland, 2008, p. 177 Instead of building new ships from scratch, two under-construction Colossuses, and , were marked for conversion as they would enter service quicker, and could be converted back into operational aircraft carriers if required, a need which never arose. Both ships were completed before the end of the war, with Pioneer sailing to the Pacific in company with the 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron; Pioneer had repaired 24 aircraft since her arrival in the Pacific.
As the ships were designed with the repair and transportation of aircraft in mind, much of the equipment required for carrier flight operations, including control facilities, arresting gear, and catapult, were not installed. This space was instead used for additional hangar room, repair and maintenance workshops, and system testing facilities.
Majestic class The six remaining Light Fleet hulls were originally to be completed as Colossus-class ships, but the rapid development of carrier-based aircraft and anti-aircraft weapons required modifications to the original design.Ireland, 2008, p. 173 The catapult, arrestor cables, and aircraft lifts had to be upgraded to handle faster and heavier aircraft, while the flight deck was reinforced. Improved weapons and radars were fitted, and equipment to perform replenishment at sea was installed. The modifications increased the full-load displacement by 1,500 tons, and the draught by . This led to the six ships being reclassified as the Majestic class in September 1945. Five carriers were launched before the end of the Second World War, with the sixth launched in late September 1945.Konstam, British Aircraft Carriers 1939–45, p. 26
Following the war's end, work on the Majestic class was suspended, then restored to a low-priority status, with the rate of work increasing as foreign nations purchased the ships. Two, Magnificent and Terrible, entered service more-or-less as designed, but the next three were heavily upgraded with three British developments allowing the operation of larger, faster, jet-propelled aircraft: the angled flight deck, the steam catapult, and the mirror landing aid.Hobbs, Aircraft Carriers of the British and Commonwealth Navies, p. 130Ireland, 2008, pp. 70–1 The sixth, Leviathan, was not completed.Hobbs, Aircraft Carriers of the British and Commonwealth Navies, pp. 129–30 Work was suspended in May 1946, and plans to convert her into a commando carrier or missile cruiser, or sell her to a foreign buyer, fell through. During the 1950s, she was used as an accommodation ship in Portsmouth Harbour and, in 1966, her boilers were removed and sold to the shipyard refitting the Colossus-class for Argentine service. Leviathan was scrapped in May 1968.Fontenoy, Aircraft Carriers, p. 353 None of the completed Majestic-class vessels saw service in the Royal Navy.
In 1943, eight 'Improved Majestics' were planned, but developments in carrier aviation and the rapid obsolescence of the Light Fleets and the wartime armoured carriers required a larger and more capable design, which became the four-ship Centaur class.Ireland, 2008, p. 178
Weapons
Aircraft
In the original design, each ship was capable of carrying 41 aircraft. A redesign of the available parking area on the flight deck in March 1942 saw the ships' air group expanded to 24 Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers and 24 Supermarine Seafire fighters, or 18 Barracudas and 34 Seafires. In RN service, the Barracuda was later replaced by the Fairey Firefly, and the Seafire was superseded by the Hawker Sea Fury during the Korean War.Ireland, 2008, p. 72 Early in their careers, and were fitted out for night flying operations: these carriers were to embark a 32-strong air group; mixed between Fireflies and Grumman F6F Hellcats supplied by the United States as part of the Lend Lease program.Robbins, The Aircraft Carrier Story, pp. 91, 284
To launch and recover aircraft, the carriers were initially equipped with hydraulic catapults, arresting gear, and crash barriers. Aircraft were stored in a single hangar measuring , with a height clearance of . This allowed the Light Fleets to later operate aircraft that the fleet carriers, which generally had two hangars with lower clearance in each, could not. The hangar was serviced by two aircraft lifts.
Armament The Light Fleets were the first British aircraft carriers where the ship's air group was seen as the 'main armament'; any mounted weapons were to be for close-range anti-aircraft defence.Harding, The Royal Navy 1930–2000, p. 79 The Colossus design called for six quadruple barrelled 2 pounder gun mounts, and 16 twin Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Two 4-inch (102 mm) guns were originally included, but an increase in the design's flight deck length in March 1942 saw them displaced. The ships were unarmoured, as increasing the size of the vessels was deemed more important than protection.