Centaur-class aircraft carrier

HMS Centaur in 1965
Class overview
Name	Centaur class
Builders	Harland & Wolff Swan Hunter Vickers Armstrong
Operators	Royal Navy  Indian Navy
Preceded by	1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier
Succeeded by	Invincible class
Subclasses	Hermes (completed to a modified design)
Built	1944-1959
In commission	1953-1983 (Royal Navy) 1987-2017 (Indian Navy)
Planned	8
Completed	4
Cancelled	4
Retired	4
General characteristics 1947 design
Type	Light aircraft carrier
Displacement	22,471 tons (standard)[1] 27,015 tons (deep)[1]
Length	736 ft (224.3 m)[1]
Beam	120.6 ft (36.8 m)[1]
Draught	27.2 ft (8.3 m)[1]
Installed power	76,000 hp (57,000 kW)[1]
Propulsion	2 shaft geared steam turbines, 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers[2]
Speed	28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph)[1]
Range	6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 20 kn[1]
Complement	227 officers, 1596 ratings[1]
Sensors and processing systems	1 x Type 980 air warning radar 1 x Type 293 gunnery air search radar 4 x Type 277Q air control radar
Armament	32 40 mm Bofors guns (2 × 6), (8 × 2), (4 × 1)[1]
Armour	1 in (25 mm) flight deck
Aircraft carried	50[1]
Aviation facilities	2 x BH V hydraulic catapults[1] Mk 11 arrestor gear[1]

The Centaur class aircraft carrier was the final iteration of the 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier developed by the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. They were designed in 1943 to operate higher-performance aircraft than the preceding Majestic-class aircraft carrier. Four ships were laid down in 1944-1945 and completed in 1953-1959. Rapid developments in carrier warfare and technology overtook the ships even as they were under construction, and the associated costs of modernization led to ships being completed to different specifications. Only the last ship, HMS Hermes (R12), was fitted as a modern fixed-wing carrier; she was also the last of the class to retire in 2017 as INS Viraat.