HMS Theseus 1946

The Colossus class was developed as a result of a requirement for an intermediate sized-carrier larger than the converted cruisers and C3 cargo ships (commonly known as ‘jeep’ carriers), and the larger fleet carriers. The Colossus class were designed to bridge this gap and were also designed to mercantile standards to allow them to be built in civilian yards. Considered a wartime expedient class with service lives of no more than three years, the Colossus (and later Majestic class, a slightly modified variant) proved to be more versatile for their size than expected. Several served with the Royal Navy after the war ended, but their greatest success was with smaller foreign navies, which purchased these ships after retirement by the RN and modified them for a variety of other purposes, including operating jet aircraft, for which they were modified with angled decks. The last unit of the Colossus class was not retired until 2001, and lasted long enough to be offered on eBay for scrap! The Colossus class is considered one of the most successful aircraft carrier classes ever, behind only the USN’s Nimitz and Essex classes.

THESEUS was commissioned in 1946. Completed too late to see action in WW2, she spent the postwar years as a training ship. She served with the British Pacific Fleet as flagship in 1947, and then with the Home Fleet until the outbreak of the Korean War. She conducted patrols in that conflict until January 1952, when she was relieved by her sister ship GLORY. THESEUS took part in the Suez operation in 1956, after which she was placed in reserve, and broken up in Scotland in 1962.