ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2)

File:EscudoV-2.jpg.]]

The ship was built for the Royal Navy by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, England during the Second World War.Ireland, p. 147 As a {{sclass|Colossus|aircraft carrier|0}} aircraft carrier, she was named {{HMS|Venerable|R63|6}} and saw service in the British Pacific Fleet. Venerable only served three years in the Royal Navy before being sold to the Netherlands as {{HNLMS|Karel Doorman|R81|6}}.

After a boiler room fire, the carrier was rebuilt, sold to Argentina, and renamed Veinticinco de Mayo. The Argentine Navy already operated a carrier, {{ship|ARA|Independencia|V-1|6}} This ship was also a former Royal Navy Colossus class; however, Independencia's catapult was not powerful enough to launch jet aircraft,{{cite magazine| title=Historic Aircraft-The Navy's Frontline in Korea | publisher=U.S. Naval Institute| url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2008/april/historic-aircraft-navys-frontline-korea |date=April 2008|magazine=Naval History Magazine|volume=22|issue=2|first=Norman|last=Polmar}} while Veinticinco de Mayo had had a much more powerful catapult fitted during the Dutch rebuild. Independencia was decommissioned in 1970, leaving Veinticinco de Mayo as the sole remaining carrier in the Argentine fleet. She could carry up to 24 aircraft.

The air group started with F9F Panthers and F9F Cougar jets and later these were replaced with A-4Q Skyhawks supported by S-2 Tracker anti-submarine warfare aircraft and Sikorsky Sea King helicopters.

In September 1969, during the voyage of the recently bought Veinticinco de Mayo from the Netherlands, Hawker Siddeley demonstrated their Harrier GR.1 on board the carrier for a possible sale to the Argentine Navy.

File:A4-Q-decolando (2896702958).jpg

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 1981, when she received an update to her radar, arresting gear, steam catapult and (most noticeably) the forward edge of the port side angled deck was filled out via an enlarged sponson. These improvements would theoretically enable her to operate the Super Etendard strike aircraft purchased from France, but it was discovered during testing that the catapult had difficulties launching the aircraft type. As a result, her strike airwing was limited to the A-4Q Skyhawks.

File:PALVdeMayoV-2.jpg

{{main article|Operation Soberanía}}

During Operation Soberanía, Veinticinco de Mayo was planned to support the invasion of the Picton, Nueva and Lennox islands.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

File:Grumman Tracker ARA.jpg

During the Falklands War, Veinticinco de Mayo was used in support of the initial Argentine landings on the Falklands.{{cite web |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/argentina/25-de-mayo.htm |title=25 de Mayo |website=www.globalsecurity.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050424130640/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/argentina/25-de-mayo.htm |archive-date=2005-04-24}} On the day of the invasion, she waited with 1500 army soldiers outside Stanley harbour as the first submarine and boat-landed commandos secured landing areas and then Argentine marines made the main amphibious landing. Her aircraft were not used during the invasion.{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/HJA.htm|title=The Falkland Islands Conflict, 1982: Air Defense Of The Fleet|website=www.globalsecurity.org}}

Later, in defence of the occupation, she was deployed in a task force north of the Falkland Islands, with the cruiser {{ship|ARA|General Belgrano}} to the south. The British had assigned {{HMS|Splendid|S106}},{{cite book|author=Lawrence Freedman|title=The Official History of the Falklands Campaign: War and diplomacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BEjOdVzx9UcC|year=2005|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7146-5207-8|page=267}} a nuclear-powered submarine, to track down Veinticinco de Mayo and sink her if necessary. Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward, commanding the British task force from {{HMS|Hermes|R12|6}} stated in his book One Hundred Days that, had Splendid 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".Admiral Sandy Woodward One Hundred Days, pages 207 and 208. {{ISBN|978-0-00-713467-0}}

Following the outbreak of hostilities on 1 May 1982, the Argentine carrier planned an attack on the Royal Navy Task Force. Veinticinco de Mayo{{'}}s S-2 Trackers detected the British fleet late that day, and a strike by all eight A-4Q Skyhawk jets was prepared, scheduled to take-off at dawn. The attack did not take place, because subsequent Tracker sorties had failed to relocate the British fleet.Burden et al 1986, pp. 39–40, 49–50 After the British nuclear-powered submarine {{HMS|Conqueror|S48|6}} sank General Belgrano, Veinticinco de Mayo returned to port.Burden et al 1986, p. 50 The naval A-4Q Skyhawks flew the rest of the war from the airbase in Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego.

In 1983, Veinticinco de Mayo was modified to carry the Super Étendard,Moore 1985, p. 11 and her British-built CAAIS combat data system was replaced by a Dutch SEWACO system, which was compatible with the Argentine Navy's new {{sclass|Almirante Brown|destroyer}}s. From 1986, problems in her engines largely confined her to port; rendering her unserviceable.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 6

Work began in 1988 to refit the carrier, with it being planned to replace her steam turbines with gas turbines, while providing an auxiliary steam plant to power the ship's steam catapults. By 1994, the ship's machinery had been removed, but a shortage of funds led to work stopping.Hobbs 2013, p. 195 In December 1996, the Argentine Navy announced that Veinticinco de Mayo would be discarded.Baker 1998, p. 7. By this time, she had already been stripped of various major pieces of equipment, which were used as spares for the Brazilian carrier {{ship|Brazilian aircraft carrier|Minas Gerais||2}}, another Colossus-class ship which had been heavily modified in the Netherlands.{{Cite web |url=http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/vengeance/History_BN.html |title=History of the Colossus class carrier Minas Gerais (Ex HMS Vengeance) |year=2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229164158/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/vengeance/History_BN.html |archive-date=29 February 2012 |url-status=usurped}} Finally, in 2000, she was towed to Alang, India for scrapping.

Although Minas Gerais was offered to the Argentine Navy in 2000 as a replacement, she was rejected due to her poor condition and high restoration and maintenance costs. As of the 2020s, the Argentine Naval Aviation has lost the use of carrier-capable fixed-wing aircraft. While five refurbished Super Étendard aircraft were delivered to the Navy from France in 2019, these aircraft were missing key spare parts and therefore remained unserviceable.{{Cite news|url=https://www.infodefensa.com/latam/2020/06/10/noticia-super-etendard-argentinos-estarian-operativos.html|title = Los Super Étendard argentinos estarían operativos en dos años|language=es|publisher=Noticias Infodefensa América|date = 10 June 2020}} In 2021, it was reported that the return of these aircraft to an operational configuration was also encountering problems as the ejector seats of the aircraft were the MK6, manufactured by British firm Martin-Baker.{{Cite news|url=https://en.mercopress.com/2021/05/26/argentine-air-force-faces-another-hurdle-for-its-re-equipment-plans|title = Argentine Air Force faces another hurdle for its re-equipment plans|date=26 May 2021}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.infodefensa.com/latam/2021/07/05/noticia-armada-argentina-licita-repuestos-asientos-eyectables.html|title=Argentina busca repuestos para los asientos eyectables de los Super Étendard Modernisé|language=es|publisher=Noticias Infodefensa América|date=5 July 2021}}

• List of aircraft carriers
• List of ships of the Argentine Navy
• Veinticinco de Mayo cruiser

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor-last=Baker |editor-first= A. D. III |title=The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1998–1999 |year= 1998 |location=Annapolis, Maryland, USA |publisher= Naval Institute Press |isbn=1-55750-111-4}}
• {{cite book | last1 = Burden | first1 = Rodney A. |last2= Draper |first2=Michael I. |last3=Rough |first3=Douglas A.| last4=Smith |first4= Colin R. |last5=Wilton |first5=David |title=Falklands: The Air War |year=1986 |publisher=British Aviation Research Group |isbn=0-906339-05-7}}
• {{cite book | editor1-last = Gardiner | editor1-first = Robert |editor2-last = Chumbley | editor2-first = Stephen | title = Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995 | year = 1995 | publisher = Naval Institute Press | location = Annapolis, Maryland, USA | isbn = 1-55750-132-7}}
• {{cite book |last=Hobbs |first=David |title=British Aircraft Carriers: Design, Development and Service Histories |year=2013 |location=Barnsley, UK |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |isbn=978-1-84832-138-0}}
• {{cite book |last= Ireland |first= Bernard |title= The Illustrated Guide to Aircraft Carriers of the World |year= 2007 |publisher= Anness Publishing Limited, Hermes House |location= London |isbn= 978-1-84477-747-1 |page= 147 }}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Moore |editor-first=John |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1985–86 |year=1985 |location=London |publisher=Jane's Yearbooks |isbn=0-7106-0814-4}}

• {{cite book |last= Bishop |first= Chris |author2=Chris Chant |title= Aircraft Carriers |year= 2004 |publisher= Summertime Publishing Ltd. |location= London |isbn= 0-7603-2005-5 |page= 83 }}
• {{cite book |last= Donald |first= David |author2=Daniel J. March |title= Carrier Aviation Air Power Directory |year= 2001 |publisher= AIRtime Publishing |location= Norwalk, CT |isbn= 1-880588-43-9 |page= 91 }}
• {{cite book |last= Secondi |first= Martín |author2=Jorge A. Leguizamón |title= 25 de Mayo Portaaviones |year= 1999 |publisher= Ayer y Hoy Ediciones |location= Buenos Aires, Argentina |language=Spanish |isbn= 987-9249-06-2 |page= 72}}
• {{cite book |last=Sciaroni |first=Mariano |title= A Carrier at Risk: Argentinean Aircraft Carrier and Anti-Submarine Operations Against Royal Navy's Attack Submarines During the Falklands/Malvinas War, 1982 |year= 2019 |publisher=Helion|series=Latin America@War|isbn=978-1-911628-70-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvVqugEACAAJ}}

{{Commons category|ARA Veinticinco de Mayo (V-2)}}

• [http://www.histarmar.com.ar/Portaaviones/25deMayo.htm Historical Pictorial]
• [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8868080698453380235&q=armada+argentina Google Video] of Super Etendards practicing touch & go on ARA 25 de Mayo
• [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7722450037880206441&q=armada+argentina Google Video] of A-4 Skyhawks on ARA 25 de Mayo
• [http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-04CV-Venerable.htm Naval-History.net HMS Venerable]

{{1942 design aircraft carrier}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veinticinco de Mayo}}

Category:Colossus-class aircraft carriers of the Argentine Navy

Category:Ships built on the River Mersey

Category:1943 ships

Category:Cold War aircraft carriers of Argentina

Category:Falklands War naval ships of Argentina