ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2)
Encyclopedia
The ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2) was an aircraft carrier
in the Argentine Navy
from 1969 to 1997. The English
translation of the name is the Twenty-fifth of May, which is the date of Argentina
's May Revolution
in 1810.
The ship previously served in the Royal Navy
as HMS Venerable
and the Royal Netherlands Navy
as HNLMS Karel Doorman
. She was deployed south during the Beagle Crisis
in 1978 and in the first weeks of the Falklands War
, where her aircraft were deployed against the Royal Navy task force, but spent the bulk of the war in port.
in Birkenhead
, England
during the Second World War for the Royal Navy. As a Colossus-class
aircraft carrier, she was named HMS Venerable
and saw service in the British Pacific Fleet
. However Venerable only served three years in the Royal Navy before being sold to the Dutch
as HNLMS Karel Doorman
.
After a boiler room fire, the carrier was rebuilt, and sold to Argentina. The Argentines already operated a carrier, the ARA Independencia, also a former Royal Navy Colossus-class. After Independencia was decommissioned in 1970, the Veinticinco de Mayo was the sole remaining carrier in the Argentine fleet. It could carry up to 24 aircraft.
The air group started with F9F Panther
s and F9F Cougar
s jets and later these were replaced with A-4Q Skyhawks
supported by S-2 Tracker
anti-submarine warfare
aircraft and Sikorsky Sea King helicopters.
On September 1969, during the voyage of the recently bought 25 de Mayo in the Netherlands, Hawker Siddeley demonstrated their Harrier GR.1 on board the carrier for a possible sale to the Argentine Navy.
During the Operation Soberania the Veinticinco de Mayo was planned to support the invasion of the Picton, Nueva and Lennox
islands.
the Veinticinco de Mayo was deployed in a task force north of the Falkland Islands
, with the ARA General Belgrano
to the south. The British had assigned HMS Spartan
, a nuclear-powered submarine, to track down the Veinticinco de Mayo and sink her if necessary. Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward
, commanding the British Task Force from HMS Hermes
stated in his book "One Hundred Days", that had Spartan located the carrier, he would have "Recommended in the strongest possible terms to the Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse
that we take them both out this night".
After hostilities broke out on 1 May 1982, the Argentine carrier attempted to launch a wave of A-4Q Skyhawk
jets against the Royal Navy Task Force
after her S-2 Tracker
s detected the British fleet.
However what would have been the only battle between aircraft carriers since World War II
did not take place, as poor winds prevented the heavily loaded jets from being launched. After the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror
sank the General Belgrano, the Veinticinco de Mayo returned to port for safety. Spartan never tracked down the carrier.
Her A-4Q Skyhawks flew the rest of the war from the naval airbase in Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego
, and had some success against the Royal Navy, sinking HMS Ardent
, although three Skyhawks were shot down by Sea Harriers.
In 1983, the Veinticinco de Mayo was modified to carry the new Dassault Super Étendard
jets Video but soon after problems in her engines largely confined her to port; she was deemed more or less unseaworthy.
, another Colossus-class ship which had been heavily modified in the Netherlands. Finally in 2000, she was towed to Alang, India for scrapping.
Although the Minas Gerais was offered to the Argentine Navy as a replacement in 2000 she was rejected due to her poor condition and high restoration and maintenance costs. Argentine cooperation with Brazil has meant that the naval air wing has continued to operate from the deck of carrier NAe São Paulo during ARAEX exercises and/or touch-and-go landings on US Navy carriers when they are in transit within Argentine coastal waters during Gringo-Gaucho
manouvres.
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
in the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
from 1969 to 1997. The English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation of the name is the Twenty-fifth of May, which is the date of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
's May Revolution
May Revolution
The May Revolution was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish colony that included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...
in 1810.
The ship previously served in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as HMS Venerable
HMS Venerable (R63)
HMS Venerable was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. She served for only the last few months of World War II, and in 1948 she was sold to the Netherlands and renamed HNLMS Karel Doorman and taking part in the military clash in 1962 in Western New Guinea...
and the Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy
The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
as HNLMS Karel Doorman
HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81)
HNLMS Karel Doorman was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship was the British HMS Venerable before she was sold in 1948 to the Netherlands as a light attack carrier. In 1960 she was involved in the decolonization conflict in Western New Guinea with Indonesia...
. She was deployed south during the Beagle Crisis
Beagle conflict
The Beagle Conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war in 1978....
in 1978 and in the first weeks of the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, where her aircraft were deployed against the Royal Navy task force, but spent the bulk of the war in port.
History
The ship was built by Cammell LairdCammell Laird
Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...
in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the Second World War for the Royal Navy. As a Colossus-class
Colossus class aircraft carrier
The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, commonly referred to as the British Light Fleet Carrier, was a light aircraft carrier design created by the Royal Navy during World War II, and used by eight naval forces between 1944 and 2001...
aircraft carrier, she was named HMS Venerable
HMS Venerable (R63)
HMS Venerable was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. She served for only the last few months of World War II, and in 1948 she was sold to the Netherlands and renamed HNLMS Karel Doorman and taking part in the military clash in 1962 in Western New Guinea...
and saw service in the British Pacific Fleet
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
. However Venerable only served three years in the Royal Navy before being sold to the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
as HNLMS Karel Doorman
HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81)
HNLMS Karel Doorman was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship was the British HMS Venerable before she was sold in 1948 to the Netherlands as a light attack carrier. In 1960 she was involved in the decolonization conflict in Western New Guinea with Indonesia...
.
After a boiler room fire, the carrier was rebuilt, and sold to Argentina. The Argentines already operated a carrier, the ARA Independencia, also a former Royal Navy Colossus-class. After Independencia was decommissioned in 1970, the Veinticinco de Mayo was the sole remaining carrier in the Argentine fleet. It could carry up to 24 aircraft.
The air group started with F9F Panther
F9F Panther
|-Popular culture:The Panther played a prominent role in the 1954 movie Men of the Fighting Lady . The F9F was featured in the flying sequences in the 1954 movie The Bridges at Toko-Ri, although in the 1953 James A...
s and F9F Cougar
F9F Cougar
The Grumman F9F/F-9 Cougar was an aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. Based on the earlier Grumman F9F Panther, the Cougar replaced the Panther's straight wing with a more modern swept wing...
s jets and later these were replaced with A-4Q Skyhawks
A-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D...
supported by S-2 Tracker
S-2 Tracker
The Grumman S-2 Tracker was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare aircraft to enter service with the US Navy. The Tracker was of conventional design with twin engines, a high wing and tricycle undercarriage. The type was exported to a number of navies around the world...
anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
aircraft and Sikorsky Sea King helicopters.
On September 1969, during the voyage of the recently bought 25 de Mayo in the Netherlands, Hawker Siddeley demonstrated their Harrier GR.1 on board the carrier for a possible sale to the Argentine Navy.
Beagle Conflict
See Operation SoberaniaOperation Soberanía
Operación Soberanía was the codename of a planned Argentine military invasion of Chile to be carried out on 22 December 1978 due to the Beagle conflict dispute. The invasion was halted at the last minute and did not take place....
During the Operation Soberania the Veinticinco de Mayo was planned to support the invasion of the Picton, Nueva and Lennox
Beagle Channel cartography since 1881
The region of the Beagle Channel, explored by Robert FitzRoy eighteen-thirties, was one of the last ones to be colonized by Chile and Argentina. The cold weather, the long distances from other inhabited regions and the shortage of transport and subsistence kept it far from the governmental task.In...
islands.
Falklands War
During the Falklands WarFalklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
the Veinticinco de Mayo was deployed in a task force north of the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
, with the ARA General Belgrano
ARA General Belgrano
The ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Formerly the , she saw action in the Pacific theater of World War II before being sold to Argentina. After almost 31 years of service, she was sunk during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine ...
to the south. The British had assigned HMS Spartan
HMS Spartan (S105)
HMS Spartan is a nuclear-powered fleet submarine of the Royal Navy's Swiftsure class. HMS Spartan was launched on April 7, 1978 by Lady Lygo, wife of Admiral Sir Raymond Lygo. The boat was built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, England...
, a nuclear-powered submarine, to track down the Veinticinco de Mayo and sink her if necessary. Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward
Sandy Woodward
Admiral Sir John Forster "Sandy" Woodward GBE, KCB is a British Admiral who commanded the British Naval Force in the South Atlantic during the Falklands War.-Naval career:...
, commanding the British Task Force from HMS Hermes
HMS Hermes (R12)
HMS Hermes was a Centaur-class British aircraft carrier, the last of the postwar conventional aircraft carriers commissioned into the Royal Navy.-Construction and modifications:...
stated in his book "One Hundred Days", that had Spartan located the carrier, he would have "Recommended in the strongest possible terms to the Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse
John Fieldhouse, Baron Fieldhouse
Admiral of the Fleet John David Elliott Fieldhouse, Baron Fieldhouse GCB, GBE was a high ranking officer in the Royal Navy...
that we take them both out this night".
After hostilities broke out on 1 May 1982, the Argentine carrier attempted to launch a wave of A-4Q Skyhawk
A-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D...
jets against the Royal Navy Task Force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
after her S-2 Tracker
S-2 Tracker
The Grumman S-2 Tracker was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare aircraft to enter service with the US Navy. The Tracker was of conventional design with twin engines, a high wing and tricycle undercarriage. The type was exported to a number of navies around the world...
s detected the British fleet.
However what would have been the only battle between aircraft carriers since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
did not take place, as poor winds prevented the heavily loaded jets from being launched. After the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror
HMS Conqueror (S48)
HMS Conqueror was a nuclear-powered fleet submarine that served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1990. She was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead...
sank the General Belgrano, the Veinticinco de Mayo returned to port for safety. Spartan never tracked down the carrier.
Her A-4Q Skyhawks flew the rest of the war from the naval airbase in Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego
Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego
-External links:* * * *...
, and had some success against the Royal Navy, sinking HMS Ardent
HMS Ardent (F184)
HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy Type 21 frigate. Built by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland. She was completed with Exocet launchers in 'B' position...
, although three Skyhawks were shot down by Sea Harriers.
In 1983, the Veinticinco de Mayo was modified to carry the new Dassault Super Étendard
Dassault Super Étendard
The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard is a French carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft designed for service with the French Navy...
jets Video but soon after problems in her engines largely confined her to port; she was deemed more or less unseaworthy.
Disposal
The Argentine Navy could not procure the funds for a modernization and new engines, leading to decommissioning by 1997. By this time she had already been stripped of various major pieces of equipment that were used as spares for the Brazilian carrier NAeL Minas GeraisNAeL Minas Gerais
NAeL Minas Gerais was a operated by the Marinha do Brasil from 1960 until 2001. The ship was laid down for the Royal Navy during World War II as , but was completed only shortly before the war's end, and did not see service...
, another Colossus-class ship which had been heavily modified in the Netherlands. Finally in 2000, she was towed to Alang, India for scrapping.
Although the Minas Gerais was offered to the Argentine Navy as a replacement in 2000 she was rejected due to her poor condition and high restoration and maintenance costs. Argentine cooperation with Brazil has meant that the naval air wing has continued to operate from the deck of carrier NAe São Paulo during ARAEX exercises and/or touch-and-go landings on US Navy carriers when they are in transit within Argentine coastal waters during Gringo-Gaucho
Gringo-Gaucho
Gringo-Gaucho are a set of maneuvers performed between the Argentine Naval Aviation and United States Navy's aircraft carriers. The US Navy refers to them as Southern Seas in their last edition.-History:...
manouvres.
See also
- List of aircraft carriers
- Veinticinco de Mayo cruiserARA Veinticinco de Mayo (cruiser)The ARA Veinticinco de Mayo was a cruiser which served in the Argentine Navy through World War II. The English translation of the name is the Twenty-fifth of May, which is the date of Argentina's May Revolution in 1810....
- List of ship launches in 1943
- List of ship commissionings in 1969
- List of ship decommissionings in 1997
External links
- Historical Pictorial
- Google Video of Super Etendards practicing touch & go on ARA 25 de Mayo
- Google Video of A-4 SkyhawkA-4 SkyhawkThe Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a carrier-capable ground-attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated the A4D...
s on ARA 25 de Mayo - Naval-History.net HMS Venerable