Four Colossuses and all five completed Majestics were loaned or sold to seven foreign nations – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, and the Netherlands – with three ships serving in three different naval forces during their careers.

Experiences during the early part of the Second World War had demonstrated to the British that the Royal Navy needed access to defensive air cover for Allied fleets and convoys, which could only be provided by more aircraft carriers.

[1] The options were to refit the surviving Hawkins-class cruisers with flight decks and aviation facilities, convert additional merchant vessels and passenger liners into vessels similar to but more capable than previous merchant aircraft carriers, or create a new design for a cheap, lightly armed, and unarmoured ship similar to the American escort carriers.

[6] The hull was built to Lloyd's specifications for merchant vessels from keel to maindeck, but incorporated better subdivision of compartments to reduce secondary damage by flooding.

[1] During 1942 and 1943, another fourteen Light Fleet carriers (named the Colossus class after the lead ship) were laid down under the 1942 Programme, to be constructed by eight British shipyards.

[12] The impracticality of shore-based repair establishments in the Far East and Pacific theatres of the Second World War saw a requirement for aircraft maintenance carriers.

[13] Instead of building new ships from scratch, two under-construction Colossuses, Perseus and Pioneer, were marked for conversion as they would enter service quicker, and could be converted back into operational aircraft carriers if required, a need which never arose.

[1][14] As the ships were designed with the repair and transportation of aircraft in mind, much of the equipment required for carrier flight operations, including control facilities, arresting gear, and catapult, were not installed.

[citation needed] Two, Magnificent and Terrible, entered service more-or-less as designed, but the next three were heavily upgraded with three British developments allowing the operation of larger, faster, jet-propelled aircraft: the angled flight deck, the steam catapult, and the mirror landing aid.

[1] In RN service, the Barracuda was later replaced by the Fairey Firefly, and the Seafire was superseded by the Hawker Sea Fury during the Korean War.

[24] Early in their careers, Glory and Ocean were fitted out for night flying operations: these carriers were to embark a 32-strong air group; mixed between Fireflies and Grumman F6F Hellcats supplied by the United States as part of the Lend Lease program.

[6] The Light Fleets were the first British aircraft carriers where the ship's air group was seen as the 'main armament'; any mounted weapons were to be for close-range anti-aircraft defence.

[1][2] The four ships, assigned to the British Pacific Fleet, were instead used for the transportation of returning soldiers and rescued prisoners-of-war, to help alleviate the shortage of troopships and liners.

Following the invasion of South Korea by North Korea on 25 June, ships of the British Far East Fleet that were operating in Japanese waters, including the carrier Triumph, were placed under the United States Far East Commander, to operate in retaliation to the invasion under the instructions of the United Nations Security Council.

[34] Warrior also contributed to the Korean War effort by transporting replacement aircraft from the United Kingdom to British bases throughout the Far East region, which were then drawn upon by the active carriers.

[17][18] Demands for fiscal cutbacks, combined with the rapid obsolescence of the carriers by the development of jet aircraft, saw four of the eight Colossuses and all five completed Majestics sold off to other nations.

Independencia served as the Argentine flagship until she was replaced by the Dutch Karel Doorman (formerly HMS Venerable), which was sold on to Argentina in 1969 and commissioned as ARA Veinticinco de Mayo.

[42] Veinticinco de Mayo was initially equipped with F9F Panther and later with Douglas A-4 Skyhawk jet fighters; these were replaced with French Dassault Super Étendards in the 1980s.

After hostilities broke out on 1 May 1982, it attempted an attack on the Royal Navy Task Force which did not take place, as poor winds prevented the heavily laden A-4Q jets from being launched.

She remained confined to port for the rest of the Falklands War, particularly after the British submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

[46] The Admiralty deemed a Colossus-class Light Fleet to be the most appropriate aircraft carrier, and Venerable was initially proposed for transfer to the Royal Australian Navy as a gift or on loan.

[58][59] Melbourne was sold to China for scrapping in 1985; instead of being broken up, she was studied as part of the nation's top-secret carrier development program, and may not have been dismantled until 2002.

[42][63] From mid-1957 until December 1960, the carrier underwent a massive refit and reconstruction at Verolme Dock in Rotterdam; the work performed included the installation of an 8.5-degree angled flight deck and a steam catapult, strengthening of arresting gear, and reinforcing of the hangar lifts.

[63] The Brazilian carrier was equipped with Grumman S-2E Tracker fixed-wing aircraft, and Sikorsky ASH-3D Sea King, AS-355 Ecureuil, and AS332 Super Puma helicopters.

[45][66] In 1999, the MB acquired Douglas A-4KU Skyhawks—the first time Brazilian naval aviators were permitted to operate fixed-wing aircraft until the carrier's 2001 decommissioning.

[8][68] The carrier was marked for sale in 2002, and was actively sought after by British naval associations for return to England and preservation as a museum ship, although they were unable to raise the required money.

[70] Following wartime experience showing the effectiveness of naval aviation, the Royal Canadian Navy decided to acquire an aircraft carrier.

[73] The Colossus-class Warrior was transferred on a two-year loan from 1946 to 1948, so the experience gained by providing ship's companies for two British escort carriers during the war could be maintained.

[73] The modifications included an 8° angled flight deck and steam catapult, and she was equipped with American weapons, radars, and jet aircraft instead of their British equivalents.

[42] A modernisation from 1957 to 1958 saw the installation of a 4° angled flight deck and an optical landing system, allowing Arromanches to operate Breguet Alizé anti-submarine aircraft.