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Majestic class Aircraft Carrier – 1946

This was a class of quick build carriers that were intended to provide the basis from Royal Navy carrier groups operating against the German and Japanese navies. The Majestic-Class aircraft carriers were initially intended to be part of the Colossus Class design but were instead built to a modified design allowing them to operate heavier aircraft.

In fact the war ended before any were completed and none served with the Royal Navy. With the end of hostilities work on all six vessels in this class was halted. Two each were bought by the Canadian and the Australian navies. The fifth, the Hercules, was suspended in September 1945 and she was laid up for ten years before being sold to the Indian Navy and renamed the Vikrant. The sixth, named the Leviathan, was scrapped.

By 1952 the only carrier of the "Majestic" class in British hands was "Majestic" herself and she was being completed for the Royal Australian Navy whose other carrier, H.M.A.S. "Sydney" had done such valuable work in Korean waters.