Carriers as postwar transports and repatriation ships

After combat ended, the class's size and enclosed hangars made it useful for mass transport. Indefatigable was modified for about 1,900 passengers and sailed for Australia carrying 782 Royal Navy personnel and 130 Australian war brides. Most of the naval personnel disembarked at Colombo, and most of the war brides left at Fremantle before the ship continued to Sydney. On the return voyage she embarked a naval hospital with its patients and roughly a thousand officers and ratings. The carrier repeated this work, functioning much like a naval ocean liner during demobilization.