Arromanches (; R95) was an aircraft carrier of the French Navy, which served from 1946 to 1974. She was previously HMS Colossus (15) of the Royal Navy. She was the name-ship of the Colossus class of light carriers. She was commissioned in 1944, but did not see any action in World War II. She served with the British Pacific Fleet in 1945–46, as an aircraft transport and repatriation ship.

In 1946, she was loaned to the French Navy, and renamed Arromanches; she was bought by the French in 1951.

Arromanches participated in the First Indochina War in three campaigns from 1948 to 1954, and the Suez Crisis of 1956. In 1968 she was converted to an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) carrier. She was decommissioned in 1974, and broken up in 1978.

Design and construction

The Colossus class was designed to meet the Royal Navy's wartime need for more carriers as cheaply as possible. They were built to mercantile standards, with no armour, no heavy AA guns, and only speed. She arrived at Colombo, Ceylon, on 13 June 1945, sailing on to Sydney, Australia, where she arrived the following month. Here, her 20 mm Oerlikon guns were replaced by 40 mm Bofors guns. In August she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt, commanding the 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron (Colossus, , , and ). This force was sent to re-occupy Hong Kong. Colossus also headed a task force to occupy Shanghai, together with the cruisers and and five destroyers. In December 1945, Colossus transported released Dutch prisoners of war to Colombo. From 17 January to 26 March 1946, Colossus was refitted and repaired at Cape Town in the Selborne drydock at Simonstown. On 3 November, 18 F4U Corsairs from Arromanches and bombed Egyptian airfields around Cairo.

In 1957–58 Arromanches was reconstructed with a four-degree angled flight deck, a mirror landing sight

and with other modifications for anti-submarine warfare, including operation of Breguet Alizé ASW aircraft. In 1959 she returned once again to the Indian Ocean.

In May 1967, she rescued the sole survivor from the Liberian tanker , which had exploded in the Mediterranean Sea off the south coast of France with the loss of 38 lives. In 1968 Arromanches was converted to a helicopter carrier for the French Marines, with up to 24 helicopters on board.

See also

  • List of aircraft carriers

References

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Maritimquest HMS Colossus photo gallery
  • Porte-avions Arromanches on NetMarine.net