COLOSSUS-Class
Light
Fleet aircraft carrier ordered under an
Emergency War Programme to be built by
Fairfield at Govan,
Glasgow. She was laid down on 6th January
1943 and launched on 6th July 1944.
as
the 3rd RN ship to carry
this name, introduced in 1786. It had
last been used for a cruiser in
1892 which was
sold in 1921. Build was
completed on 9th January 1946.
B
a t t l e H o n o u r s
TENERIFE
1797 -
NILE 1798 -
ACRE 1799 - BASQUE
ROADS
1809 - BENIN
1897 - DARDANELLES 1915-16
- KOREA 1950-51
H
e
r a l d i c D a t a
Badge: On a field Blue,
a demi
Minotaur
transfixed with a sword proper.
M
o
t t o
'Action always'
This
ship saw no
service during WW2.
S
u m m a r y o f
P o s t W a r S e r
v i c e
(for more
ship information,
go
to
Naval History Homepage
and
type name in Site Search
1
9 4 6
Contractors
trials.
Accepted into RN
service.
Work-up and embarked aircraft
Trials
and work up for operational service.
Prepared for duty in Far
East.
Passage to join Fleet at
Singapore
as
Flagship for FO Air, Far
East.
1
9 4 7
Deployed as Flagship,
1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron in British
Pacific Fleet.
On
return to UK
refitted for service in Home
Fleet.
1
9 4 8
On
completion joined 3rd Aircraft Carrier
Squadron, Home Fleet.
Deployed with Home
Fleet.
1
9 4 9
Squadron Flagship
duties in continuation.
1
9 5 0
Home Fleet service in
continuation.
Carried
out first carrier landings at night by jet
aircraft (19 June).
Taken in hand for refit.
Nominated
for service with United Nations naval units
off Korea
as relief for HM
Light
Fleet Aircraft Carrier TRIUMPH.
Passage
to Singapore
after
post-refit trials.
(Note:
Leads for gyro compass circuits were
found to have
been cut. but damage was repaired
without major
delay to ship's deployment).
Deployed off Korea
with UN in
British Task Group.
Embarked helicopters
from US Cruiser USS WORCESTER for mine
destruction duties.
UN
Deployment off east coast of Korea
in support of shore
operations.
(Notes:
This was first occasion on which helicopters
were flown from a British
warship in an
operational role.
Air
conditioning was not available in
accommodation spaces).
1
9
5 1
United Nations duties in
continuation.
Sikorski S51
Helicopter loaned by US Navy used for
Plane-Guard duty instead of SEA
OTTER
(Note:
Korean War experience of the value of
a helicopter in
this role saw the beginning of
operational use
of Rotary Wing aircraft by the RN).
Air
Group was awarded Annual Boyd Trophy as the
most outstanding naval
aviation.
unit. Over 2,500
landings had been made since entering
service (January).
(Note:
Since October 1950 no aircraft had
been unserviceable
for more than two hours and 1,300
landings had been
made without incident
Rocket. Assisted
Take-off was used in periods of low wind
speed.
Relieved in UN Task
Group by HM Light Fleet Aircraft Carrier
GLORY
April).
On,
relief took passage to UK
to rejoin Home Fleet.
(Note:
Transferred some aircraft and aircrew but
retained some SEA
FURY aircraft in case of
deployment in the
Persian Gulf
at Abadan
during return).
Joined Home Fleet as
Flagship 2nd Aircraft Carrier Squadron.
1
9 5 2
Home Fleet Flagship
duties in continuation.
Detached
to Mediterranean
to relieve sister ship HMS
GLORY for deployment east of Suez
for
service with UN
in Korea.
Took part in joint
exercises in Mediterranean
with Home
Fleet ships.
1
9 5 3
Home Fleet Flagship
service in continuation.
Detached
for service in the Mediterranean to relieve HMS OCEAN for UN service (April)
.
Attended
Coronation Review at Spithead
(June).
(Note:
197 RN ships including HMS VANGUARD, 5
Fleet Aircraft
Carriers, two Light Fleet
Aircraft Carriers and 10
cruisers).
Returned to the Mediterranean.
Aircraft carried out a
photographic survey to assess damage after
an earthquake in
Cyprus
to assess damage.
Landing
party assisted civil authority at Paphos.
1
9 5 4
Refitted for service in
Training Squadron, Home Fleet.
Joined
Home Fleet Training Squadron as Flagship as
relief for HM Fleet Aircraft
Carrier
IMPLACABLE.
(Note:
General Service Commissions,
introduced in 1954
lasted 18 months but for aircraft
carriers the
period was 2 years. Previously the period on
foreign
service
commissions
had lasted two
and a half years
1
9
5 5
Training Squadron
deployment in continuation.
Detached for service in
Mediterranean
to support
military operations in Cyprus.
Deployed with HMS OCEAN
to carry military equipment to Cyprus.
Resumed Home Fleet training duties
(December).
1
9 5 6
Training Squadron
deployment in continuation with HMS OCEAN
and HMS
BULWARK.
After
Egypt
nationalised Suez
Canal
embarked troops and stores
for passage to Cyprus.
Returned
to UK
on completion (July)
Converted
for use as helicopter carrier and on
completion deployed with HMS OCEAN in
support of
operations against Egypt
(August - September)
Landed
Royal Marines of 45 Commando with HMS OCEAN
(November)
Helicopters
were also used to bring back wounded from
landing are (November).
(Note:
The success of use of helicopters for
amphibious
operations at Suez later influenced
the decision to
carry out major conversion of HMS ALBION and
HMS BULWARK
for service as
Commando Carriers using only helicopters and
carrying Royal Marines).
1
9 5 7
Resumed Training Squadron duties
Despite
the success of this type of carrier for
amphibious operations it was decided
to place the ship
in Reserve (October).
1
9 5 8
Paid
off and reduced to Reserve status.
Placed on Disposal list
(Sales).
(Note: A
suggestion made at a NATO Council meeting
that HMS
GLORY, HMS OCEAN and
HMS
THESEUS be considered for conversion into
troop transports was not approved by
the British
government.
1
9 5 9 t
o
1 9 6 1.
Laid up in Reserve.
1
9 6 2
Sold to BISCO for
breaking-up at Inverkeithing,
Rosyth.
Arrived at breakers yard
on 29th May 1962.
click for
WWW.HMSTHESEUS.CO.UK
by
Bill Grace
with
thanks for the crest image
