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, taking part in the military clash in 1962 in Western New Guinea.

[5] The ship was powered by steam created by four Admiralty 3-drum type boilers driving two Parsons geared turbines, each turning one shaft.

The machinery was laid out in a unit arrangement, with two sets of two boilers and a turbine being widely separated to minimise the potential for a single torpedo hit to completely disable the ship.

[9] Landing parties from Venerable were used to help restore British rule to Hong Kong, duties including guarding a POW camp set up at Whitfield Barracks to hold Japanese personnel.

[14] In April Venerable temporarily returned to transport duties, replacing the escort carrier Speaker which had mechanical problems with her boilers.

[16] In February 1947, Venerable ended her service with the British Pacific Fleet and set out to return to Britain, arriving at Plymouth Sound on 26 March 1947.

[17] While Venerable had been in service for less than three years, the Royal Navy was in the process of demobilising after the end of the Second World War, and the carrier was placed in reserve and placed on the Disposal List.

Veinticinco de Mayo remained in service during the Falklands War in 1982, although the threat of British submarines resulted in the carrier being withdrawn to port after the sinking of the cruiser General Belgrano.

By 1988, Veinticinco de Mayo' machinery was in poor condition, and the carrier entered a refit, but this was never completed, and she subsequently provided spare parts for her sister ship, Minas Gerais.