HMS Ocean was a Royal Navy Colossus-class light fleet aircraft carrier of 13,190 tons built in Glasgow by Alexander Stephen & Sons.

In order to allow speedy build, they were designed to mercantile rather than navy hull standards, while armour protection and long-range anti aircraft guns were not fitted.

[9] On 3 December 1945, a Sea Vampire flown by Eric "Winkle" Brown made the first ever carrier landing of a purely jet-powered aircraft onto Ocean (although earlier that year a composite jet and piston engined Ryan FR-1 Fireball had made a carrier landing under jet power after its radial engine failed.

In October 1946 she provided fire-fighting and medical support to the two destroyers Saumarez and HMS Volage (R41) when they struck mines in the Corfu Channel incident.

In August 1952 a formation of Hawker Sea Fury aircraft from the carrier engaged North Korean MiG-15 jets in air combat, shooting one down.

In October 1957, Ocean transported the Band of the Royal Marines, a party of Green Howards plus Admiral Lord Fraser of the North Cape as the Queen's representative to the funeral of King Haakon VII in Oslo.

[8] In his book on the Hungarian Revolution, Peter Fryer briefly refers to the "arrest of twelve British seamen in the aircraft carrier Ocean, following unlawful meetings" in October 1956.