HMS Victorious remained useful after an extensive reconstruction, illustrating both the potential and the cost of adapting wartime hulls to the jet age. During the Suez Crisis, the Royal Navy assembled five carriers for operations. That number shows the scale Britain could still deploy in 1956 despite financial pressure and awkward modernization choices. The fleet's declining long-term margins had not yet erased its substantial mid-1950s carrier power.
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Five Royal Navy carriers deploy during the Suez Crisis
The 1956 Suez deployment demonstrates that Britain still possessed carrier capacity matched by almost no navy except the United States.