''Arromanches'' (R95) was an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, which served from 1946 to 1974. She was previously HMS ''Colossus'' (15) of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. 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 The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was a Royal Navy formation that saw action against Japan during the Second World War. It was formed from aircraft carriers, other surface warships, submarines and supply vessels of the RN and British Commonwealth ...

in 1945–46, as an aircraft transport and repatriation ship. In 1946, she was loaned to the

, and renamed ''Arromanches''; she was bought by the French in 1951. ''Arromanches'' participated in the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

in three campaigns from 1948 to 1954, and the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

of 1956. In 1968 she was converted to an

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

(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. ''Colossus'' was ordered on 14 March 1942 under Admiralty Job Number J 4576, one of three ''Colossus''-class carriers ordered that day. The ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

' High Walker shipyard on 1 June 1942 with the

Yard number The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9 ...

55 and was launched on 30 September 1943. ''Colossus'' was formally commissioned on 1 December 1944, being completed and handed over to the Royal Navy on 16 December 1944.

Weapons and systems

Radars

In 1947 she had for air scanning only, one 79B, for air and surface scanning, one 277 and one 281B. With those she also had a target indicator, a 293. Then in 1954 she still had in her possession a 281B for air and surface scanning a 291B and a 277. ''Arromanches'' also still had a 293 as her target indicator. Still for air scanning only she had the 79B, but she also gained later that year a YE and for navigation a DRBN-30. In 1959 she was down-graded and only had a YE in her possession left. That year she gained new scanning equipment. She had a DRBV-22 for air scanning and for surface scanning and navigation a new DRBV-31. And finally in 1972 she was fully downgraded and had her YE removed, but kept her DRBV-22 and DRBV-31 for air, surface, and navigation.

Armament

Weaponry

During her time in military service she had twenty-four Vickers-Armstrongs 2-pounder guns, thirty-two

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models empl ...

, later replaced in 1945 by twenty-one Bofors 40 mm guns and four Ordnance QF 3-pounder Vickers guns.

Aircraft

During her service with France before 1968 she carried the Breguet Br-1050 Alizé, the Vought F4U-7 Corsair, the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, the

Fouga CM-175 Zéphyr Fouga (also known as Air Fouga) was a French manufacturing company established by Gaston Fouga at Béziers during 1920. Originally specialising in the repair of railway rolling stock, the firm eventually became most noted for the aircraft it p ...

, the Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver, the Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless, the SNCASE Aquilon, the Supermarine Seafire Mk III and XV, and the Grumman TBM Avenger. After 1968, she was converted to a helicopter carrier and carried the

Alouette II Alouette or alouettes may refer to: Music and literature * "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song * Alouette, a character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' Aerospace * SNCASE Alouette, a utility helicopter developed in France i ...

and

Alouette III Alouette or alouettes may refer to: Music and literature * "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song * Alouette, a character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' Aerospace * SNCASE Alouette, a utility helicopter developed in France i ...

, the Sikorsky S-51,

Sikorsky S-55 The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw (company model number S-55) is a multi-purpose piston-engined helicopter that was used by the United States Army and United States Air Force. It was also license-built by Westland Aircraft as the Westland Whirlwin ...

, and

Sikorsky S-58 The Sikorsky H-34 (company designation S-58) is an American Reciprocating engine, piston-engined military utility helicopter originally designed by Sikorsky Aircraft, Sikorsky as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft for the United States ...

, the

Piasecki H-21 The Piasecki H-21 Workhorse/Shawnee is an American helicopter, the fourth of a line of tandem rotor helicopters designed and built by Piasecki Helicopter (later Boeing Vertol). Commonly called "the flying banana", it was a multi-mission helicop ...

and Piasecki H-25, and the Morane-Saulnier MS-500 Criquet.

Aeronautical installations

The carrier had a regular flight deck , catapult at the bow of the ship, two lifts (13.72 m x 10.36 m wide), and a hangar (104.24 × 15.85 m wide) fitted (in 1964) to accommodate 13 TBMs, 2 HUP-2s or 15 F4Us and 2 HUP-2.

Manning

As ''Colossus'', she carried 854 crew, plus 222

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

personnel in the air group. In French service, she carried 42 officers, 145 petty officers, and 516 sailors in peacetime. Her war complement was 60 officers, 171 petty officers, and 613 sailors.

Operational history

Royal Navy

After working up ''Colossus'' left

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on 12 March 1945 for the Far East. She carried 24 Vought Corsair IV fighters from 1846 Naval Air Squadron, and 18 Fairey Barracuda II torpedo bombers from 827 NAS. She arrived at

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, 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 Admiral Sir Cecil Halliday Jepson Harcourt (translated to Chinese as zh , t= 夏慤 , j=haa6 kok3 , labels=no; 11 April 1892 – 19 December 1959) was a British naval officer. He was the ''de facto'' governor of Hong Kong as commander-in-chi ...

, 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

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

s 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 Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in the Selborne drydock at Simonstown.

French Navy

In August 1946 ''Colossus'' was loaned to France and renamed ''Arromanches'', after the French commune of the same name, which was the site of the British

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

landings. In 1948, ''Arromanches'' participated in the

for three months. She returned to France in 1949. In 1951, France purchased the ship. She was again deployed to

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

in 1951–52, in 1952-53 and 1953–54. In 1956, ''Arromanches'' was deployed to the eastern

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

during the

. On 3 November, 18

F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

s from ''Arromanches'' and bombed

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian airfields around

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

.Arromanches
In 1957–58 ''Arromanches'' was reconstructed with a four-degree angled flight deck, a mirror landing sight and with other modifications for

, including operation of

Breguet Alizé Breguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker ** Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Breguet Aviation, ...

ASW aircraft. She was also equipped for training operations. In 1959 she returned once again to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

. In May 1967, she rescued the sole survivor from the Liberian tanker , which had exploded in the

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 French Marines may refer to any of the following: Historical * Troupes de la marine, the corps maintained by the French Navy to protect its ships ** Compagnies Franches de la Marine, the above which was renamed and retrained serve as amphibious t ...

, with up to 24 helicopters on board. This ended her role as a training carrier. ''Arromanches'' was decommissioned on 22 January 1974, and in 1978 broken up at

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

, a place of importance for both the first ''Colossus'' in 1793, and the last in 1978.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Maritimquest HMS ''Colossus'' photo gallery
*

on NetMarine.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Arromanches (R95)

Colossus Colossus, Colossos, or the plural Colossi or Colossuses, may refer to: Statues * Any exceptionally large statue; colossal statues, are generally taken to mean a statue at least twice life-size ** List of tallest statues ** :Colossal statues * ...

Ships built in Barrow-in-Furness 1943 ships World War II aircraft carriers of the United Kingdom Colossus-class aircraft carriers of the French Navy Cold War aircraft carriers of France Aircraft carriers of the French Navy