page_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service
section_title: 1950–1959
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline for aircraft carrier service / 1950–1959
caption_attribution_description: A starboard beam view of the Brazilian aircraft carrier MINAS GERAIS (A 11), seen against the harbor skyline during UNITAS XXV, the silver anniversary hemispheric naval exercise involving Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
context_page_description: Aircraft carriers have their origins during the days of World War I. The earliest experiments consisted of fitting temporary "flying off" platforms to the gun turrets of the warships of several nations, notably the United States and the United Kingdom. The first ship to be modified with a permanent flight deck was the battlecruiser HMS Furious, which initially had a single flying-off deck forward of the original superstructure. Subsequently, she was modified with a separate "landing on" deck aft and later with a full flush deck. Other ships, often liners, were modified to have full flush flight decks, HMS Argus being the first to have such modification begun. Those first faltering steps gave little indication of just how important the aircraft carrier was to prove to be. During the inter-war years, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States built up significant carrier fleets so that by the beginning of World War II, they had 18 carriers between them. The 1940 Battle of Taranto and 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor in retrospect showed the world that the aircraft carrier was to be the most important ship in the modern fleet.
context_section_description: 1950
  HMS Indomitable recommissioned; HMS Indefatigable recommissioned as a training ship.
  3 May – HMS Ark Royal launched.
  13 May – USS Bataan recommissioned.
  June – USS Oriskany construction resumed.
  16 June – USS Kearsarge decommissioned, taken in hand for modernisation.
  25 June – Korean War begins.
  28 August – USS Princeton recommissioned.
  15 September – USS Monterey recommissioned.
  25 September – USS Oriskany commissioned.
  1951
  Aquila sold for scrap
  Arromanches purchased by France.
  January – USS Langley loaned to France.
  15 January – USS Bon Homme Richard recommissioned.
  16 January – USS Essex recommissioned.
  17 January – USS Antietam recommissioned.
  29 January – USS Independence sunk in weapons tests.
  3 February – USS Tarawa recommissioned.
  20 March – USS Hornet recommissioned.
  10 May – USS Shangri-La recommissioned.
  12 May – USS Hornet decommissioned for conversion to CVA.
  6 June – USS Langley recommissioned as La Fayette.
  July – First trials of a steam catapult, on HMS Perseus.
  31 July – HMS Vidal launched, first small ship designed to carry a helicopter.
  10 September – USS Wasp recommissioned as CVA.
  1 October – HMS Eagle commissioned.
  1952
  First trial of angled flight deck, on HMS Triumph.
  First trial of mirror landing aid, on HMS Illustrious.
  9 February – USS Intrepid recommissioned.
  15 February – USS Kearsarge recommissioned.
  31 January – USS Ticonderoga recommissioned.
  4 April – USS Ticonderoga decommissioned for conversion to CVA.
  9 April – USS Intrepid decommissioned for conversion to CVA.
  23 April – HMS Powerful sold to Canada, work recommenced.
  14 July – USS Forrestal laid down.
  19 September – USS Lake Champlain recommissioned.
  October – USS Boxer reclassified CVA.
  13 November – HMS Vengeance loaned to Australia, recommissioned as HMAS Vengeance; USS Bennington recommissioned as CVA.
  14 November – USS Shangri-La decommissioned for modernisation.
  16 December – USS Saratoga laid down.
  1953
  HMS Formidable sold for scrap.
  HMS Unicorn decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  16 February – HMS Hermes launched.
  20 February – USS Yorktown recommissioned.
  May – HMS Indomitable sold for scrap.
  15 May – USS Bon Homme Richard decommissioned, commenced extensive refit.
  1 July – USS Randolph recommissioned.
  27 July – Korean War fighting ends with the Korean armistice agreement.
  1 September – HMS Centaur launched.
  5 September – USS Belleau Wood loaned to France.
  5 September – USS Belleau Wood recommissioned as Bois Belleau.
  11 September – USS Hornet recommissioned.
  1954
  HMS Perseus decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  Mid-1954 – HMS Implacable and HMS Indefatigable decommissioned.
  15 February – USS Hancock recommissioned as CVA.
  9 April – USS Bataan decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  23 April – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt decommissioned for modernisation.
  26 May – HMS Albion commissioned.
  18 June – USS Intrepid recommissioned in reserve.
  1 August – First Indochina War ends.
  2 August – USS Ranger laid down.
  September – HMS Pioneer decommissioned and sold for scrap;
  11 September – USS Ticonderoga recommissioned after modernisation.
  15 October – USS Intrepid returned to full commission.
  4 November – HMS Bulwark commissioned.
  December – HMS Illustrious decommissioned.
  11 December – USS Forrestal launched.
  1955
  10 January – USS Shangri-La recommissioned.
  21 January – USS Cabot decommissioned, placed in reserve.
  25 February – HMS Ark Royal (R09) commissioned, incorporating an angled flight deck, two steam catapults, and a mirror landing system.
  6 April – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt recommissioned with angled flight deck, steam catapult and hurricane bow.
  14 May – Warsaw Pact formed.
  July – USS Midway decommissioned for modernisation.
  1 July – USS Independence laid down.
  13 August – HMS Vengeance returned to UK.
  15 August – USS Lexington recommissioned as CVA.
  6 September – USS Bon Homme Richard recommissioned.
  29 September – USS Forrestal commissioned.
  8 October – USS Saratoga launched.
  25 October – HMAS Vengeance decommissioned.
  26 October – HMS Majestic christened as HMAS Majestic.
  28 October – HMAS Majestic renamed and commissioned as 
caption: Brazilian carrier NAeL Minas Gerais
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