French aircraft carrier Arromanches ( R95 ) Arromanches ( R95 ) was an aircraft carrier of the French Navy , which served from 1946 to 1974 . She was previously HMS " Colossus " ( R15 ) of the Royal Navy . She was the name - ship of the " Colossus " - class of light carriers . She was commissioned in 1944 , but was not used for combat flying in World War II . She served with the British Pacific Fleet in 1945 – 46 , as an aircraft transport and repatriation ship . In 1946 , she was loaned to the French Navy , and renamed " Arromanches " ; she was bought by the French in 1951 . " Arromanches " participated in the First Indochina War in three campaigns from 1948 to 1954 , and the Suez Crisis of 1956 . In 1968 she was converted to an anti - submarine warfare ( ASW ) carrier . She was decommissioned in 1974 , and broken up in 1978 . Design and construction . The " Colossus " class was designed to meet the Royal Navy ' s wartime need for more carriers as cheaply as possible . They were built to mercantile standards , with no armour , no heavy AA guns , and only speed . She was laid down 1 June 1942 by Vickers - Armstrongs , launched on 30 September 1943 , and commissioned on 16 December 1944 . Weapons and systems . Radars . In 1947 she had for air scanning only , one 79B , for air and surface scan ning , one 277 and one 281B . With those she also had a target indicator , a 293 . Then in 1954 she still had in her possession a 281B for air and surface scanning a 291B and a 277 . Arromanches also still had a 293 as her target indicator . Still for air scanning only she had the 79B , but she also gained later that year a YE and for navigation a DRBN - 30 . In 1959 she was down - graded and only had a YE in her possession left . That year she gained new scanning equipment . She had a DRBV - 22 for air scanning and for surface scanning and navigation a new DRBV - 31 . And finally in 1972 she was fully downgraded and had her YE removed , but kept her DRBV - 22 and DRBV - 31 for air , surface , and navigation . Armament . Weaponry . During her time in military service she had twenty - four Vickers Armstrongs 2 pounder guns , thirty - two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon , later replaced in 1945 by twenty - one Bofors 40 mm gun s and four Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers guns . Aircraft . During her time in service , before 1968 she also carried the Breguet Br - 1050 Alizé , the Vought F4U - 7 Corsair , the Grumman F6F - 5 Hellcat , the Fouga CM - 175 Zéphyr , the Curtiss SB2C - 5 Helldiver , the Douglas SBD - 5 Dauntless , the SNCASE Aquilon , the Supermarine Seafire Mk III and XV , and the Grumman TBM Avenger . During her time in service , after 1968 , she also carried the Alouette II and Alouette III , the Sikorsky S - 51 , Sikorsky S - 55 , and Sikorsky S - 58 , the Piasecki H - 21 and Piasecki H - 25 , and the Morane - Saulnier MS - 500 Criquet . Aeronautical installations . She had a regular flight deck , catapult at the bow of the ship , two lifts ( 13 . 72 m x 10 . 36 m wide ) , and a hangar ( 104 . 24 x 15 . 85 m wide ) fitted ( in 1964 ) to accommodate 13 TBMs , 2 HUP - 2s or 15 F4Us and 2 HUP - 2 . Manning . As " Colossus " , she carried 854 crew , plus 222 Fleet Air Arm personnel in the air group . In French service , she carried 42 officers , 145 petty officers , and 516 sailors in peacetime . Her war complement was 60 officers , 171 petty officers , and 613 sailors . Operational history . Royal Navy . After working up " Colossus " left Glasgow on 12 March 1945 for the Far East . She carried 24 Vought Corsair IV fighters from 1846 Naval Air Squadron , and 18 Fairey Barracuda II torpedo bombers from 827 NAS . She arrived at Colombo , Ceylon , on 13 June 1945 , sailing on to Sydney , Australia , where she arrived the following month . Here , her 20 mm Oerlikon guns were replaced by 40 mm Bofors guns . In August she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Cecil Harcourt , commanding the 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron ( HMS " Colossus " , , , and ) . This force was sent to re - occupy Hong Kong . " Colossus " also headed a task force to occupy Shanghai , together with the cruisers and and five destroyers . In December 1945 , " Colossus " transported released Dutch prisoners of war to Colombo . From 17 January to 26 March 1946 , " Colossus " was refitted and repaired at Cape Town in the Selborne drydock at Simonstown . French Navy . In August 1946 " Colossus " was loaned to France and renamed " Arromanches " , after the French commune of the same name , which was the site of the British D - Day landings . In 1948 , " Arromanches " participated in the First Indochina War for three months . She returned to France in 1949 . In 1951 , France purchased the ship . She was again deployed to Indochina in 1953 – 54 . In 1956 , " Arromanches " was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Suez Crisis On 3 November , 18 F4U Corsair s from " Arromanches " and " Lafayette " bombed Egypt ian airfields around Cairo . In 1957 – 58 " Arromanches " was reconstructed with a four degree angled flight deck , and with other modifications for anti - submarine warfare , including operation of Breguet Alizé ASW aircraft . She was also equipped for training operations . In 1959 she returned once again to Indochina . In 1968 " Arromanches " was converted to a helicopter carrier for the French Marines , with up to 24 helicopters on board . This ended her role as a training carrier . " Arromanches " was decommissioned on 22 Jan 1974 , and in 1978 broken up at Toulon , a place of importance for both the first " Colossus " in 1793 , and the last in 1978 .