Colossus

HMS Colossus was a light aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. She was commissioned in 1944, but did not see combat during World War II. After a brief service with the Royal Navy repatriating Allied PoWs and internees, she was initially loaned to, and then bought by, France.

Background

The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, later renamed to the Colossus-class after the lead ship, was designed to be built quickly to provide the Royal Navy with additional aircraft carriers. They were designed to be built in civilian shipyards, providing more capability than the smaller and slower escort carriers while being cheaper to build than full-size fleet carriers. They had no armor, no heavy AA guns, and limited top speeds. Sixteen ships were laid down to the same specifications as Colossus; eight were finished to the original design, with the remainder being completed as maintenance carriers or with a modified design as the Majestic-class. They were intended to be “disposable warships” which would be scrapped after the war finished, however the last ship did not leave service until 2001.

Royal Navy Service

Colossus was ordered on 14 May 1942, one of three Colossus-class ships ordered at the same time. She was laid down in June 1942 at the Vickers Armstrong shipyard in Newcastle. The ship was launched on 30 September 1943 as the 6th Royal Navy ship to carry the name Colossus, dating back to 1787. She officially joined the Royal Navy on 16 December 1944.

She left the UK on 12 March 1945 for the Far East, with aircraft from 1846 NAS (Naval Air Squadron) and 827 NAS on board. She sailed via the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, and arrived at Colombo in Ceylon on 13 June 1945. She departed for Australia, and a brief refit and upgrade of her AA weapons, before joining the British Pacific Fleet as flagship of the 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron in August.

With the end of World War II, Colossus was part of the task force sent to re-occupy Hong Kong. She was also designated as the flagship for the occupation task force for Shanghai with the cruisers Bermuda and Argonaut, plus five destroyers. She spent the rest of 1945 transporting former PoWs and civilian internees from Japanese territory to the Philippines and India.

On 17 January 1946, Colossus arrived off Cape Town, prior to drydock at Simonstown. Her refit lasted until April, when she returned to the UK and was placed in reserve. She did not gain any battle honours for her Royal Navy service.

Marine Nationale Service

See here for links to Update notes.

• Available for testing by supertesters in the game starting from Update 12.0.

• First available for sale on 15 May 2023, as the last bundle out of 10, as well as through Royal Navy Premium containers. The final stage of these sequential bundles cost 1 credit, and unlocking Colossus cost players 23,250 doubloons, or 17,850 doubloons when discounted. The containers had a 1.5% chance of dropping her.
• Update 12.11:
  • Improved geometry and textures of the ship.
• Update 13.1:
  • Changed the parameters of Attack Aircraft:
    • Number of rockets per plane reduced from 6 to 5.
    • The size of aiming ellipse increased by 20%.
    • The amount of rockets that are guaranteed to hit closer to the center of the aiming ellipse reduced from 50 to 33%.