NAeL Minas Gerais (A-11)

The NAeL Minas Gerais with the designation A-11, was a light aircraft carrier operated by the Brazilian Navy.

It was originally the HMS Vengeance, the Minas Gerais was classifiend in england as a Colossus Class aircraft carrier, it was sold to Australia as the HMAS Melbourne (R-21).

History
Built in the UK between 1942 and 1945, where he was baptized with the name of HMS Vengeance, was classified in Class Colossus. He was 212 meters long, capable of 1,300 men and could carry up to 148 aircraft between aircraft and helicopters.

In late 1956, Brazil purchased the vessel from the Royal Navy, renamed it the Minas Gerais and leading to the yard in the Netherlands to undergo modifications and upgrades. Was incorporated into the Brazilian Navy in December 6th of 1960.

The purchase, at the time, raised serious crisis between the Navy of Brazil and the Brazilian Air Force, as the first, despite strong protests from the latter, claiming aviation control board. Thus, on February 6th of 1957 was created the 1st Naval Aviation Group, primarily for the purpose of manning the Navy aircraft carriers in Brazil. This group was originally organized with two squadrons, one fighter and another patrol, operating fixed-wing aircraft operating Grumman S-2 Tracker.

The question was extended by subsequent governments, only being resolved in August 1964 by then President of the Republic, Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco, who assured the FAB the possession of the onboard aircraft.

The vessel was built to the Brazilian Navy in 1960, has since been used to monitor the coast of the country as an aircraft carrier of anti-submarine warfare.

Despite several upgrades to the child, making it fairly updated, their machines developed only about 20 knots, three to four knots slower than would be necessary for full operation of most modern aircraft. Off in September October of 2001, was replaced by French aircraft carrier FS Foch, renamed as the NAe São Paulo (A-12)

In 2002 the Minas Gerais was retired. Among the twelve competitors, most wanted to turn it into scrap, recycling the steel of its hull. Among them, the highlight was a British company, who organized a campaign by internet under the name of Vengeance, the name of the Vessel at the time of World War II, with the project of restoration and upgrading of the vessel as a museum history-themed float on history of naval aviation. The historic ship was sold for 2 million dollars by an American company for events and navigation of Shanghai. In China, where he was transported. This company, having decided not to use the boat, sold it as scrap in Alang, India.

DimensionsMinas_Gerais_DN-ST-90-01334.jpg taking of the NAeL Minas Gerais]]

 * Lenght: 211,8m


 * Width: 36,3m


 * Draft: 3,6m

Performance

 * Range:' 19000Km


 * Maximum Speed: 24Knots

Armament

 * Main Weapons: 10x Bofors L-70


 * Aircraft Loaded: 6x Grumman S-2 Tracker and 4x Sikorsky SH-3 Seaking