ARA Veinticinco de Mayo ( V - 2 ) 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 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 . History . The ship was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead , England during the Second World War for the Royal Navy . As a " Colossus " - class aircraft carrier , she was named 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 1970s the ship was refitted and updated several times , though in each case the duration of each repair period was never more than 3 – 5 months , allowing her to be available to deploy . Her last pre - Falklands refit occurred during ths spring / summer of 1981 , when she received an update to her radar , arresting gear , steam catapult and ( most noticeably ) the port side angled deck was finally filled out via an enlarged sponson . These improvements would theoretically enable her to operate the Super Etendard strike aircraft purchased from France , however it was discovered during testing that the catapult had difficulties launching the aircraft type . Therefore her strike airwing was limited to the A - 4Q Skyhawks . Beagle Conflict . See " Operation Soberania " During the Operation Soberania the " Veinticinco de Mayo " was planned to support the invasion of the Picton , Nueva and Lennox islands . Falklands War . During the Falklands War ( ) the " Veinticinco de Mayo " was used in support of the initial Argentine landings on the Falklands and then in defence of the occupation she was deployed in a task force north of the Falkland Islands , with the ARA " General Belgrano " to the south . The British had assigned , 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 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 first 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 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 , 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 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 Gerais " , 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 manoeuvres .