HMS Vengeance (R71)

The aircraft carrier Vengeance, during her loan to the Royal Australian Navy
History
United Kingdom
Name	Vengeance
Builder	Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Laid down	16 November 1942
Launched	23 February 1944
Completed	15 January 1945
Commissioned	1945
Decommissioned	1952
Fate	Loaned to Royal Australian Navy
Australia
Name	Vengeance
Commissioned	13 November 1952
Decommissioned	25 October 1955
Reclassified	Training ship (1954–1955)
Motto	"I Strike I Cover"
Fate	Returned to Royal Navy, then sold to Brazilian Navy
Badge
Brazil
Name	Minas Gerais
Acquired	14 December 1956
Commissioned	6 December 1960
Decommissioned	16 October 2001
Fate	Scrapped 2004
General characteristics (RN/RAN service)
Class and type	Colossus-class light aircraft carrier
Displacement	13,190 tons standard 18,040 tons full load
Length	695 ft (212 m)
Beam	80 ft (24 m)
Draught	23.5 ft (7.2 m)
Propulsion	Parsons geared turbines, 2 shafts, 42,000 shp (31,000 kW)
Speed	24.5 knots (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph)
Range	6,200 nautical miles (11,500 km; 7,100 mi) at 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Complement	1,076
Armament	Initial: 6 × quadruple QF 2 pounder naval guns 19 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 1945: 6 × quadruple 2-pounder guns 8 × Bofors 40 mm guns 11 × Oerlikons 1952: 12 × Bofors 32 × Oerlikons
Aircraft carried	30–40
Notes	Taken from:[1][2]

HMS Vengeance (R71) was a Colossus-class light aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy during World War II. The carrier served in three navies during her career: the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy (as HMAS Vengeance, from 1952 to 1955), and the Brazilian Navy (as NAeL Minas Gerais, from 1956 to 2001).

Constructed during World War II, Vengeance was one of the few ships in her class to be completed before the war's end, but she did not see active service. The ship spent the next few years as an aircraft transport and training carrier before she was sent on an experimental cruise to learn how well ships and personnel could function in extreme Arctic conditions. In late 1952, Vengeance was loaned to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as a replacement for the delayed aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne. She remained in Australian waters, operating as an aircraft carrier and training ship, for the majority of her three-year loan, and was returned to the Royal Navy (RN) in August 1955.

Instead of returning to RN service, the carrier was sold in 1956 to Brazil, and entered service after major upgrades, which allowed the ship to operate jet aircraft. Renamed Minas Gerais, the carrier remained in operation until 2001. Several attempts were made to sell the ship, including a listing on eBay, before she was sold for scrap and taken to Alang for breaking up.