How light carriers outlasted their wartime brief

Ships conceived as temporary wartime gap-fillers remained front-line carriers into the late twentieth century. Vengeance later served Brazil as Minas Gerais, while Venerable became the Dutch Karel Doorman and then the Argentine Veinticinco de Mayo. In this account, a Royal Navy submarine nearly sank Veinticinco de Mayo during the Falklands War. The absence of heavy armour and full fleet-carrier structural complexity made repeated maintenance and modernization easier. Aircraft size still constrained the ships, but Harriers and similar light aircraft may have prolonged the usefulness of compact flight decks.